Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, well, let me be very clear: The Democrats are ready. Republicans wanted this vote-arama. Republicans picked this fight. If Republicans want to slog this out on the floor, so be it.

But imagine, America, this is what the Republicans are fighting for-- to maintain two unchecked, rogue Agencies that are dreaded in all corners of this country instead of reducing your healthcare costs, your housing costs, your grocery costs, your gas costs. Can you believe it? Can you believe it?

When America is crying out for real relief on the skyrocketing cost of living, Republicans are spending another $140 billion on Trump's private militia--on these two rogue Agencies--that have no restraint and ignore people's real needs.

If you ever wanted to know what a bubble these Republican Senators are in, look right here. Look right here. They are tying the Senate in a knot, holding back, moving forward--all so they can fund with no restraint Agencies that have been discredited widely in America.

Are you Republicans kidding us? Are you kidding the American people? That is your priority--not lowering costs but billions for ICE; not helping families but billions for masked agents--while America is forking up $4 a gallon at the pump while families are set back thousands more a year because of inflation. Where the heck are you? Where the heck are you? Republicans think the best thing to do right now is to cut another $140 billion check for unaccountable rogue agents.

Democrats are ready to go. We will go to bat for the American people anytime, anyplace, against anyone. America will see even more clearly tonight where the Republicans are--not on the side of lowering costs but on the side of masked agents occupying our streets.

Where the heck are you?

America is crying out for relief from high costs, and you are here, adding $140 billion to an Agency--two groups, Border Patrol and ICE-- that nobody respects in this country.

On a whole series of amendments now, we are going to contrast where we are--we Democrats--and where the Republicans are. The Republicans will either side with the American people on high costs or bow to Donald Trump and

Stephen Miller and tell the American people to take a hike. ``We don't give a damn about you.'' This will be a reconciliation of contrasts. The contrasts are stark. They are damning. Republicans are bending the knee to Donald Trump and to Stephen Miller. Democrats are standing up for the American people. Republicans are fighting with each other because they know the box they are in--all kinds of dissension--but you brought it on yourselves and have no one else--no one else--to blame.

So Democrats are united and strong, focused like a laser on reducing costs. This will be a reconciliation of reckoning for Senate Republicans who will continue to pay the price for their actions tonight.

This reconciliation, this budget act, will show who is on whose side, and clearly, if Republicans vote against our amendments, they are not on the side of the American people.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 4799 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. President, Republicans say they want to lower healthcare costs. Well, here is a chance. Here is a chance for you, a chance for Republicans to join Senate Democrats to start doing something about it once and for all.

Tonight, with the very first amendment of the evening, I am offering Republicans an exceedingly simple option: We should not consider any reconciliation bill that does not lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs for the American people.

Republicans slashed $1 trillion from our healthcare system as part of their ``Big Ugly Bill.'' Since then, premiums have soared by thousands of dollars a month for millions of people, prescription drugs are up by 600 percent, and out-of-pocket costs have gone up for people with Medicare, Medicaid, ACA.

Instead of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into ICE and Border Patrol, Republicans should be working with Democrats to lower out-of-pocket costs.

Republicans, listen to the American people. They are crying out for you to lower their healthcare costs, not play these ridiculous, ridiculous, games--

--by adding so much more to ICE and CBP.

So, Republicans, listen to the American people, say no to billions more for unrestrained, rogue agents, and say yes to lower premiums, lower healthcare costs.

I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, I move to waive all applicable sections of that act and applicable budget points of order for the purpose of the pending measure and ask for the yeas and nays.

Vote on Motion

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, tonight, Senate Republicans showed the American people where they stand, not for families struggling with the high cost of childcare, groceries, gasoline, electricity but for pumping $140 billion toward rogue Agencies.

All night long, we gave the Republicans a chance to do the right thing by voting for our amendments. We gave Republicans a chance to vote for an amendment to lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs.

They said: No.

We gave Republicans a chance to lower childcare costs.

They said: No.

We gave Republicans a chance to stop insurance company delays, to protect school meals, to give people a hand at the grocery store.

And Republicans said: No, no, and no, again.

What kind of bubble are they living in? How apart are they from people's real needs? And, instead, take that money, which should have gone to lowering people's costs, and give it to an Agency that everyone knows needs reform.

Republicans can rest assured that when reconciliation comes back up in a few weeks, they are going to have to face these votes again. Democrats will make sure that they do. We will continue to force vote after vote on the most pressing issue facing Americans today: their high, high, all-too-high costs.

Democrats are going to hold Republicans' feet to the fire because the American people demand it. The American people are hurting right now because of the soaring cost of living, and that is why it is so important that Democrats continue to force Republicans to take these votes and go on record about their disastrous agenda.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, last week, in Nevada, Donald Trump said ``the war in Iran is going along swimmingly . . . it's perfect.'' From Trump, again: ``The war in Iran is going along swimmingly.''

The truth is that the Trump administration is barely treading water, caught in the riptide of its own incompetence. Donald Trump has become so frustrated by his inability to end his own war of choice that he warned yesterday that ``lots of bombs will start going off'' if his cease-fire expires tomorrow. He also repeated his threat ``to knock out every single powerplant and every single bridge in Iran.'' That would constitute a war crime.

Trump has backed himself in a corner, and he knows it. Thirteen American servicemembers have been killed, hundreds of others wounded. Gas is over $4 a gallon and won't be coming down anytime soon.

Only one in four Americans--only one in four Americans--thinks Trump's war has been worthwhile, and Trump's approval rating has sunk to its lowest point on record.

And Trump says everything is ``perfect.'' What planet is he on?

It is absurd. It is an insult to the American people.

And Senate Republicans have backed Trump up the entire way. Four times now, Senate Republicans have voted against our War Powers Resolution, and they have surrendered one of Congress' most important responsibilities under the Constitution to Donald Trump.

Senate Democrats will force a fifth vote on our War Powers Resolution tomorrow, and we will continue to force votes every week this catastrophe continues.

Make no mistake, every time Senate Republicans continue voting against our resolution, they tie themselves more tightly to this failed war policy and this failed President. Republicans can try to duck and dodge responsibility all they want, but unless Republicans join us on our resolution, they

will go down with Donald Trump's ship.

Mr. President, on Kevin Warsh--Kevin Warsh's confirmation hearing comes at a dire time for an independent Fed and for the American economy at large. Donald Trump continues his brazen efforts to force the central bank to serve his personal political interests rather than the best interests of the American economy and the American people.

Trump's attempt to oust Lisa Cook from the Fed Board and his sham investigation against Chair Jerome Powell have threatened the independence of the Fed, one of the most important financial institutions in the world.

If you are worried about the cost of living, if you don't want to see interest rates go up, then Donald Trump's meddling in the Fed should alarm you. If there is one thing markets do not like, it is chaos. And the more Donald Trump meddles with an independent Fed, the more chaos he injects into the markets. And the more chaos he injects into the markets, the more interest rates go up.

The markets hate chaos. Do you hear that, Donald Trump? The markets hate chaos, and you are causing chaos in the markets with your on- again, off-again, hot, medium, cold statements about this war.

No new Fed Chair should be confirmed under this body under a cloud of coercion and uncertainty that has been created by Donald Trump. It would set an awful precedent for the future independence of the Fed.

I urge Senate Republicans not to proceed with Warsh's confirmation so long as these attacks on the Fed's independence continue, as Senator Tillis has pledged to do.

With inflation rising, costs soaring amidst Trump's disastrous war of choice with Iran, Trump will even put more pressure on the Fed to manipulate interest rates to serve as part of his agenda. Whoever serves as the next Chair must be able to withstand that immense amount of pressure.

From Trump's blundering war in Iran to his costly and constantly changing tariffs, the Trump administration has poisoned our economy with uncertainty. Senate Democrats will not allow Donald Trump to inject more chaos into our economy by undermining the Fed.

Mr. President, on reconciliation, instead of focusing on the issues that Americans truly care about right now, Senate Republicans will entangle the Senate in the partisan sideshow that is reconciliation. In just a few hours, Republicans will release a budget resolution that will demonstrate just how out of touch they are with the American people.

Senate Republicans want to pour $75 billion into ICE and Border Patrol without putting any restraints on these rogue Agencies' rampant violence in our streets. That is not what the American people want.

Americans want us to lower their costs, to end this debacle in Iran; to reopen FEMA, the Coast Guard, TSA, and other Agencies Republicans have shut down. And they do not want us to waste our time and their tax dollars empowering Trump's personal police force.

For weeks, Democrats have been ready and willing to address Americans' priorities. For weeks, Republicans have chosen to put the partisan policies of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller first.

Americans want to know why Republicans aren't fighting to lower their gas, healthcare, grocery, and housing costs. During reconciliation, Democrats are going to make sure this majority answers to the American people, and we will put a focus on lowering the costs of healthcare and gas and groceries and housing costs and many other costs that have gone up due to Trump's incompetence.

Mr. President, on Haiti, later today, I am meeting with Haiti Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime to discuss how we can support Haiti's path to security and democracy by helping its government stop violence and root out corruption.

The Haitian community is woven into the fabric of American society, and it is particularly true in New York, which is the proud home of the largest Haitian-American diaspora in the country.

Sadly, Donald Trump continues to vilify and demean Haitian-Americans with his bigoted attacks. He repeated vile, baseless stereotypes about Haitians on the campaign trail and tried to strip them of temporary protected status.

In defiance of the process that Congress established, Trump threatened Haitians' TPS, even though the dangerous conditions they fled in Haiti persist and are even getting worse. That is cruel, and that won't fix our broken immigration system.

I will continue fighting for the Haitian community in New York and beyond to help Haiti make progress on the challenges it faced today, and I look forward to meeting with the Prime Minister.

Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk due a second reading.

In order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceedings.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, earlier today, we caught our first glimpse of the Senate Republicans' budget resolution. Forget being on the same page; Republicans aren't even on the same planet as the American people. They want to give $140 billion for ICE and Border Patrol without any reforms but zero dollars to lower Americans' costs.

Let me say that again: $140 billion for ICE and Border Patrol--no reforms, no accountability, no strings attached; zero dollars to lower Americans' costs.

That is their priority. That is why they are dragging the Senate through an arduous, convoluted reconciliation process--to put money in the coffers of Trump's rogue Agencies rather than in Americans' pockets.

Democrats want to lower Americans' grocery, gas, healthcare, and housing costs. Senate Republicans want to appease Donald Trump and Stephen Miller by giving ICE and Border Patrol tens of billions of dollars to continue spreading violence in our streets.

Democrats are going to make sure that the contrast is on open display during reconciliation. If Senate Republicans would rather acquiesce to Donald Trump and Stephen Miller than stand up for the American people, so be it. We are going to make them own that decision amendment after amendment, vote after vote.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, before I begin, I want to express my deepest and dearest sympathies for our friend Mark Warner, his wife Lisa, and the rest of their family as they mourn the terrible loss of their daughter Madison.

I know how close the family was to Madison, and the depth of that loss is unfathomable. The Warner family should know that we are keeping them in our prayers. We are wishing them strength. May Madison's memory be a blessing.

Mr. President, on Kash Patel, the American people expect competence from the President's Cabinet, not the unmitigated and continuing chaos we see every day.

Over the weekend, more damning reports about FBI Director Kash Patel's disorderly, drunken, and deranged behavior came to light. The Atlantic's reporting only confirmed what Senate Democrats have said from the start: Kash Patel is not simply unqualified, he is a grave risk to the rule of law and to American national security.

I have called on Acting Attorney General Blanche to preserve all records, all communications, and other evidence regarding Kash Patel's dangerous behavior before the Trump administration tries to brush it under the rug again.

We are asking--we are calling on Acting Attorney General Blanche to preserve all records, communications, and other evidence regarding Kash Patel's dangerous behavior before the Trump administration tries to brush it under the rug.

The Atlantic interviewed dozens of people who have observed Patel's erratic behavior, his excessive drinking. Apparently, Patel frequently misses key briefings and meetings because he is too hungover to attend. Patel's security detail often struggles to wake him up after his nights of partying and once even had to ask for breaching equipment because Patel was unresponsive behind a locked door.

All of this is made even worse by the reports of Kash Patel's constant jet-setting on the taxpayers' dime, his illegal crusade against Trump's political enemies, and his purge of countless counterintelligence officers focused on Iran just days before Trump launched this reckless war.

Americans deserve steady, sober leadership from their FBI Director, and they are not getting it--it seems--in any way.

Kash Patel's job is to protect the American people and our Constitution, not to party on the job. Patel must resign immediately. Every day he remains in office subjects America to serious and unnecessary risks.

Mr. President, Donald Trump continues to demonstrate that he has no plan to end his disastrous war of choice with Iran and no idea just how badly the American people are hurting because of him.

Companies and airlines are charging Americans an Iran war surcharge. Mortgage rates are climbing. Gas is still over $4 a gallon.

Over the weekend, Trump's Energy Secretary said that gas prices won't be normal until 2027. If you don't believe Chris Wright, believe Donald Trump. Trump said gas prices will be ``around the same'' or ``maybe a little bit higher''--his quote--by November--his words, not mine.

Just the other day, Trump said that $4 for a gallon of gas is ``not very high''--that is what he said--and that ``everything's doing really well.''

Really, Mr. President, spoken like a man who doesn't have to fill up his own tank.

Try telling the American people, who will spend an average of $740 more this year on gas because of this war, that ``everything's doing really well.''

And, unfortunately and sadly, there is no end in sight. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Iran fired on commercial ships over the weekend. The United States seized an Iranian vessel.

According to Trump, JD Vance will be on his way to Pakistan soon. But it is unclear whether the Iranians will even agree to meet with him, let alone agree to open up the Strait.

Mr. President, 51 days into this war, and Donald Trump still does not have an objective, strategy, or exit plan. The American people have questions. Congress must demand answers.

Last week, Senate Republicans had their fourth opportunity to support our War Powers Resolution, and for the fourth time, Senate Republicans acquiesced to Donald Trump and gave this historic blunder their stamp of approval.

Tomorrow, Senate Democrats will force a fifth vote on our War Powers Resolution. We will continue to force votes on our resolution every single week that Trump's war continues.

The most important vote a Senator can take is whether to go to war. Senate Republicans cannot sit on the sidelines while our servicemembers are risking their lives on the frontlines.

I don't know how Trump's war will end, but I do know that Trump's war cannot end soon enough.

Mr. President, what does this majority choose to spend our time on instead?

Any hour now, Republicans are expected to release a budget resolution that adds tens of billions of dollars to the national debt and pumps colossal sums into ICE and Border Patrol without any reforms, all while doing absolutely nothing to lower costs for hard-working Americans.

We need to pause and examine how we got to this moment, because in a well-functioning Congress, the majority focuses on solving people's problems, not constantly cleaning up their own messes and shoveling tens of billions more into unaccountable rogue Agencies.

Remember, last year, in Donald Trump's ``Big Ugly Betrayal,'' Republicans rammed through $75 billion for ICE and tens of billions more for Border Patrol, with virtually no guardrails, minimal training standards, and no real idea of what they were unleashing. Well, that led to disaster, as could have been predicted.

In January, Federal immigration officers in Minneapolis murdered two American citizens in broad daylight, triggering a reckoning across the country. After the murders of Alex Pretti

and Renee Good, the American people wanted change.

Democrats told our Republican colleagues we needed to work together to rein in ICE and Border Patrol and prevent this kind of violence from happening again. We put forth commonsense reforms modeled on guardrails law enforcement already follows in the States: no masked agents in unmarked vehicles, no bursting into people's homes without warrants, and body cameras for all agents.

But after weeks of back and forth, it became painfully obvious that Republicans were not serious about reform. Instead of listening to the people, Senate Republicans listened to Donald Trump and Stephen Miller. Even when Democrats offered to narrow the reforms to a small, targeted set of proposals in exchange for funding, Republicans, afraid of Trump, afraid of Miller, said no.

Leader Thune eventually brought a bill to the floor that would fund the rest of the Department of Homeland Security, while leaving ICE and Border Patrol aside, as negotiations on reform continued. Democrats unanimously supported this bill. It was something we had been pushing for weeks because we believed FEMA, the Coast Guard, CISA, TSA, and the other four Agencies of DHS must be able to serve the American people.

But that agreement is now collecting dust in the House. Speaker Johnson and House Republicans refuse to move it.

And that brings us to where we are today. It is Republicans who have chosen to keep FEMA, the Coast Guard, CISA, TSA, and all other DHS Agencies shut down. It is Republicans' own divisions and their own inability to govern that have led to the longest shutdown of an Agency in American history.

Even now, instead of working with Democrats, Republicans want to waste even more time by going it alone through reconciliation. Any moment now, they are expected to release a budget resolution that would tee up more than $75 billion over 3 years for ICE and Border Patrol through reconciliation, while doing nothing--absolutely nothing--to lower costs for hard-working Americans.

Let's be clear. What the Republicans are doing is not how a well- functioning Congress should be spending its time. We should be debating legislation to help people pay for groceries, afford the rent, and bring down electric bills. We should be focused on outrageous gas prices and on retiring Donald Trump's costly military endeavors. Instead, Republicans are preparing to spend precious time bogging the Senate down by partisan bickering.

And at a moment when President Trump claims we cannot afford Medicare or daycare, Republicans somehow think that we can give ICE and Border Patrol a blank check. Isn't that amazing? People are suffering because they can't pay for their healthcare needs, and, instead, the Republicans want to send more money to ICE and Border Patrol.

One thing is clear--one thing is very clear: Americans cannot afford the cost of Republicans' continued chaos.

Mr. President, finally, on Haiti, after spreading hateful, bigoted lies on the campaign trail, Trump continues to target the Haitian community as President. Despite ongoing violence--gang violence--civil instability, terrible medical infrastructure, and poor food access in Haiti, Trump directed Kristi Noem to strip Haitian immigrants of their TPS--their temporary protected status--disregarding the process Congress set into law.

Last week, a bipartisan majority in the House--bipartisan--passed legislation on a discharge petition to extend temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants.

In New York, home of the largest Haitian-American community in the Nation, we cherish our Haitian neighbors and value the many contributions they have made to America. I will do everything I can to protect the Haitian community.

There are many Haitians in New York and beyond who anxiously await word on whether they will be forced to return to the dangerous circumstances they fled in Haiti.

That is why I will rule XIV this bill, so that the Senate can give this issue the consideration that it deserves without delay. I urge Leader Thune to put this legislation on the floor.

Mr. President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for a second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. President, 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, today Trump is in Las Vegas trying to sell the American people on his tax policies and convince them that everything is going just dandy, but the reality for American families is that thanks to these deleterious policies people are hurting worse than before. Working families are hurting worse than before, middle- class families are hurting worse than before; overall, because of Trump's policies, people are hurting.

Here is the truth in Las Vegas. Here is the truth. If you are a hotel or casino owner in Las Vegas, if you are a multimillionaire, Donald Trump's tax policies have been very good to you; but if you are a hotel staffer, a waiter, a janitor, a DoorDash delivery driver, the tax policies don't come close to undoing the economic damage he has done to you.

Again, if you are a hotel owner, a casino owner in Las Vegas, if you are a multimillionaire, Trump's tax policies

have been very, very good to you; but if you are a hotel staffer, a waiter, a janitor, a DoorDash delivery driver, Trump's tax policies don't come close to undoing the economic damage Trump has done to you and your family.

And there are three major reasons Donald Trump's ``Big Ugly Bill'' has turned out to be a giant scam for most Americans. First, Republicans promised their ``Big Ugly Bill'' would mean tax refunds of more than a thousand dollars. That promise was false. The average refund is less than one-third of what the Republicans promised.

Second, whatever benefit families may have gotten has already been devoured by Trump's policies that have led to higher gas prices, higher grocery prices, higher electric costs.

For example, the average tax cut is maybe an extra $350. But thanks to Donald Trump's war in Iran alone, Americans will pay an extra $740 this year just to fill up their tanks. Just like that, your tax break is gone, America. And that doesn't include the increase to healthcare costs, grocery costs, housing costs, electricity costs, and so much more.

So the tax cut is more than undone by the rise in costs, the rise in costs that Americans feel just about across the board, so many of them, because of Donald Trump's policies.

Third, Donald Trump's ``Big Ugly Bill'' is overwhelmingly skewed to benefit the rich. This is an old Republican trick: Give most of the tax breaks to the very wealthy, let a little bit trickle down to middle- class people and call it a middle-class tax break. It is a tax break for the rich.

While the average American might see a small tax increase, the ultrarich will see their taxes cut by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade.

Republicans, if you wanted to make the tax cut a middle-class tax cut, put all of the money into the middle class, not a nickel to billionaire-millionaire tax cuts.

The largest corporations will see a $65 billion tax cut in just 1 year alone. Multimillionaires are getting a tax cut worth more than $300,000 a year.

The vast majority of these tax breaks go to the very wealthy and the big corporations. To label this package of tax breaks a middle-class tax cut is just as close to lying as it comes.

And for those of you who live in Las Vegas, don't forget, Trump's disastrous tariff policies and foreign policies are greatly cutting down on tourism in the United States and will greatly cut down on tourism to Las Vegas and Nevada, particularly this summer, the lifeblood of the Las Vegas and Nevada economies.

And then when you add in the soaring costs of jet fuel that will raise airline tickets, that will be far more damage to the Nevada economy and Nevada families than any gain from Trump's tax policies.

So, yes, if you are a multimillionaire or giant corporation, Trump's policies are really helping you. With Trump's policies, the owners of Las Vegas big hotels will do far better than the staff, the custodians, the drivers, or the servers.

If you have to work for a living, Donald Trump's tax breaks, coupled with his other policies, are turning out to be a giant failure for you, putting your family in an economic hole.

Department of Homeland Security

Mr. President, on Department of Homeland Security, well, all this week the Republican leader has come to the floor to try and pin his party's failure to fund the Department of Homeland Security on Democrats. He did it again today. He said we--Democrats--``shut down the appropriations process,'' and that ``Republicans have been forced to do this the hard way.''

Let's be very clear about all of this. DHS has been shut down now for over 60 days for one reason and one reason only: Republicans have been so paralyzed by their own dysfunction that they cannot govern.

Republican leaders in the House and the Senate are busy fighting with each other, and that is what has caused this paralysis.

Remember, it was Thune's bill that we passed in the Senate at the end of the last work period, not a Democratic bill. It was Thune's bill. Thune put the bill on the floor to fund every single Agency within DHS except for ICE and Border Patrol, and it passed unanimously.

It was Thune's bill; Democrats agreed and voted yes. In fact, Democrats agreed twice. It was Speaker Johnson, cowed by radical rightwing Republicans in the House, who stood in the way--not Democrats.

If Johnson would have put the bill on the floor, which he was afraid to do, it would have passed. So if the majority leader wants to put an end to this Department of Homeland Security shutdown, he should start talking to Speaker Johnson in the House instead of pointing fingers at us.

That is why DHS remains shut down, even though every single Democrat stands ready to fund agencies like TSA, FEMA, Coast Guard, and CISA and at a moment's notice.

But this is not the path Republicans want to take. They do not seem interested in reaching a compromise to rein in ICE with exceedingly simple guardrails.

We were clear from the start about what kind of reforms the American people want, and Republicans have never moved, never budged. Republicans seem so sickened, in fact, by the idea of basic reforms to ICE that they would rather take up weeks of the Senate's time, ramming through a party-line reconciliation package without a shred of the reforms that Americans demand, commonsense reforms that police departments in every part of the country obey: no masks, warrants when you break into someone's home, cooperating with local authorities.

That is right, instead of passing legislation to lower gas prices, lower grocery prices, lower energy costs, Republicans want to hijack the Senate and spend weeks on reconciliation to ram through billions more for ICE with zero reforms.

So while I have great respect for the Republican leader, the plain facts are these: Democrats are not the ones dragging this shutdown on; Republicans are.

And, again, I say this to Leader Thune: Republicans could open DHS today, all they have to do is start listening to the American people and stop obeying Donald Trump and the MAGA radical right.

Iran

Mr. President, on Iran, there is an old saying that says ``success has a thousand fathers, but failure is an orphan.'' The Republicans who voted against our War Powers Resolution yesterday, they may try and dodge responsibility for Trump's failed war, but they have joint custody over this debate. And certainly the war is a debacle.

After 48 days of destruction, carnage, and soaring costs here in America and around the world, Trump has no idea how to end this war, just as he had no plan when he started it. All this war has gotten us is a more radical Iranian regime with greater nuclear ambitions, a closed Strait of Hormuz, skyrocketing gas costs, and the ire of the world.

Is anyone surprised that only one in four Americans think that ``Operation Epic Failure'' has been worth it? That is what we call it, Operation Epic Failure.

Trump isn't practicing the ``Art of the Deal''; Trump is practicing the ``Art of Defeat'', and he seems all too good at it. Republicans are kidding themselves if they think they can distance themselves from Trump's Iran blunder by sitting on the sidelines.

When it comes to war and peace--the most important decision a legislator can make--Republicans in the Senate and the House have an obligation to take a stand, but they are putting their heads in the sand. They haven't even had one hearing on this war. This is a war that has gone on close to 50 days, creating huge problems for our economy, huge problems for our national security, and not one hearing? What are you afraid of?

Republicans have had four opportunities to support our War Powers Resolution, to finally reassert Congress' constitutional authority, and each time they have said no. But the debate is not over. Next week, Republicans will have to answer the question again: Do you want endless war with Iran, yes or no?

Senate Democrats will bring our War Powers Resolution to the floor for a vote next week and every week that Trump's war continues.

Republican silence is a stamp of approval. Republican silence is a stamp

of approval, saying they will support, acquiesce, and go along with this disaster.

I thank Senator Duckworth for introducing this resolution and arguing for it so eloquently as only she can.

And I want to thank Senator Kaine for keeping this pressing issue on the top of the mind for the Senate and for the Nation. The same goes for Senator Booker and so many in our caucus who have participated in this debate.

Tribute to Assistant Chief Sean P. Gallagher

Finally, on Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher, I want to join the rest of the Senate today in saying thank you and goodbye to one of the most beloved members of the Capitol Police, Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher. He retires today after 25 incredible years. He joined the Department in April of 2001 and has been a part of keeping the Capitol Complex safe during some of the most consequential moments in our Nation's history, from national crises, to Presidential inaugurations, to papal visits, and so much more.

After January 6, he led the establishment of the Department's peer support program, and helped create the Howard C. Liebengood Center for Wellness to support officer well-being.

We thank Assistant Chief Gallagher for 25 years of service to the U.S. Capitol Police, to Congress, and to our Nation.

We say goodbye and thank you on your retirement.

I yield the floor.