Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, yesterday an Ipsos poll found that fewer than one in four Americans think Trump's war in Iran has been worthwhile. And who can blame them? Every metric indicates that Donald Trump's handling of Operation Epic Fury has been an epic failure.

Donald Trump promised this war would be won in a matter of days or weeks. It is now day 47. And let's take stock of the 47 days into this historic blunder. Thirteen U.S. servicemembers have been killed. Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured across the region. The Strait of Hormuz is not only closed, it has become an Iranian cash cow. And Iran's control of the strait is greater today than before when Trump started the war.

Iran's nuclear ambitions have only grown, and the Iranian regime is even more radical than before the war. Americans, meanwhile, are shelling out more than $4 for a gallon of gas, on average.

Now Donald Trump says that gas prices ``could be the same'' or ``a little higher'' by November. Those are his words. Trump says gas prices ``could be the same'' or ``a little higher'' by November. Unbelievable.

Trump's No. 1 promise entering the White House was to bring inflation down, and now he is admitting his own war could drive gas prices up for much of the rest of the year. When Donald Trump admits his own war will drive gas prices up through November, you know there is trouble coming down the road for American motorists.

Donald Trump is learning the hard way that ending a war is a lot harder than beginning one. He would rather pick a fight with the Pope online than reckon with what is truly on the line right now: the lives of American servicemembers and the livelihood of American working families.

And throughout all this miasma, all this mess, this horrible war, where are the Senate Republicans? Months into this war, still no hearings, no testimony, no clarity on how it will end. Don't the Republicans, when we are in war, don't they know their responsibility? I don't care if they are the same party. Don't they know they have a responsibility to get the facts out and let the American people know what is going on here? Because Trump isn't giving people any idea, but he still keeps changing his mind and his goals in the war, none of which he has achieved.

So where are Senate Republicans? The American people have a right to ask. Enough is enough. Trump may not understand how damaging his war has been to the American people. Republicans may be hiding from having hearings or asking questions, but Senate Democrats who know how damaging the war has been are asking a whole lot of questions.

That is why we will force a vote on another War Powers Resolution. This is the fourth since the war began. I thank Senator Tammy Duckworth for her work on this week's resolution. I thank Senators Kaine and Booker and other Members of our caucus for their continuing leadership on this crucial issue.

Republicans have voted against this resolution three times now. But as the war drags on for 47 days with no end in sight, they should join us on this resolution and end the war once and for all--and all the troubles it is bringing to Americans once and for all. It is 47 days already, where are you?

If the Republicans vote no again, we will continue to force votes on these resolutions every week until either this war ends or the Republicans get the courage to stand up to Donald Trump.

Mr. President, on tax day, not a single American would say that tax day is their favorite date on the calendar. Republicans, however, seem to think today will mark an inflection point in their political fortunes. Evidently, they haven't been paying much attention.

When Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, they promised Americans that their tax refunds would grow

by a thousand dollars, on average. Well, the results are in, and the massive tax relief Republicans promised has turned out to be a dud.

Refunds, on average, have changed only by a third, about $350, and Americans need every penny they can get, but a couple of hundred dollars doesn't go very far on a tax break when the average American family will pay an extra $2,000 on tariff taxes and $740 this year to fill up their tank.

That is right. Donald Trump's war in Iran alone has wiped out any tax refund Americans will see this year.

Let me say that again: Donald Trump's war in Iran alone has wiped out any extra tax refund Americans will see this year, and that is not including all the increases they are paying because of tariffs and higher electric bills and what they are doing to healthcare.

No wonder only one in four Americans believe the One Big Beautiful Bill is helpful, only one in four. That means there are some Republicans who don't like it. Seven in ten Americans, meanwhile, say they are still paying too much in taxes. Seven in ten Americans say they are paying too much in taxes while the ultrawealthy aren't paying their fair share.

And they are right. Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill has been a dud for working families, but millionaires got a $300,000 tax cut. Big corporations got a tax cut of $65 billion. Republicans want to call their bill a working- and middle-class tax cut, but truth be told, it should be called a massive giveaway to the ultra-ultrawealthy. The lion's share of the benefits go to those at the very top, while inflation and Trump's war has eviscerated any shred of benefit felt by the rest of Americans.

That is not tax relief. That is not tax relief. That is a brazen betrayal of working Americans. If Republicans think that rebranding their toxic bill will make Americans forget the economic pit that Trump and the Republicans pushed them into, they will be sorely mistaken.

Mr. President, on the Fed, this morning, once again, Donald Trump escalated his attacks on the independence of the Federal Reserve.

In an interview on Fox Business, the President renewed his threats against Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying that if Powell doesn't leave, he will fire him. There are no legitimate grounds for the President to remove the Chair of the Federal Reserve for simply doing his job.

Trump's threats against the Fed does nothing but rattle markets, undermine confidence, inject more chaos into the financial system, and then raise rates. Doesn't Trump understand something rudimentary? When there is uncertainty about the Fed's path, rates go up. Trump, are you hearing that?

The more you screw around with the Fed, the higher rates will be, and you want lower rates.

He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what he is talking about. He doesn't understand the economy, the Fed, or interest rates.

To every American who is struggling with high prices, if you want mortgage rates to come down or if you are worried about the economy getting worse, the President's attacks on the Fed should alarm you. And meddling with the Fed will certainly drive up interest rates because the markets hate uncertainty.

We know what is going on. Donald Trump--typical--is angry that his own policies have driven up prices and killed jobs. But instead of owning up to his mistakes, he continues to look for a scapegoat, someone else to blame.

That is all he does. He screws things up and then blames somebody else.

Doesn't he realize that is not going to solve the problem?

That is not going to solve the problem. Blame Donald Trump. That is not going to do it. It may make you feel better for a minute or two, but it sure doesn't solve the problem. And it doesn't solve the American people's firm, strong disagreement with what you are doing.

Trump wants to fire Powell because he won't lower interest rates, but Trump's Treasury Secretary said yesterday that the Fed shouldn't lower interest rates because of the chaos of the Iran war.

What is going on in this administration? Trump says one thing. His Treasury Secretary says another.

Senate Republicans have an obligation to push back when Donald Trump threatens the independence of the Federal Reserve. And so long as these bogus investigations and intimidation tactics continue, the nomination of Kevin Warsh should not--should not--move forward.

Mr. President, pursuant to section 1013 of the Department of State Authorization Act, fiscal years 1984 and 1985 (50 U.S.C. 1546a), and in accordance with section 601(b) of the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act, I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S.J. Res. 123, to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific authorization for use of military force.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, first, I want to thank my colleagues--my colleague from Illinois, who has done such a good job and knows all about what our veterans go through in the horrors of war; my colleague Tim Kaine, who has been so involved in this issue of War Powers Resolutions for decades--or a decade--and so many others of us who are introducing resolutions on this issue.

Now, Republicans have voted against this resolution three times now. But as the war drags on for 47 days, with no end in sight, they should join us today on this resolution to end this war once and for all.

With gas costs costing over $4 a gallon, with inflation climbing, with mortgage rates going up, the American people literally cannot afford for Republicans to forego another opportunity to work with Democrats to end Trump's disastrous war, at long last.

Congress cannot simply sit on the sidelines while our brave servicemembers are risking their lives on the frontlines. The stakes are too high, and the risks are too great for Republicans to stay silent.

I urge my Republican colleagues to listen to the majority of Americans who are calling for an end to Trump's wanton war of choice. We still don't know the goals. We still don't know the costs. We still don't know the length of time.

There are so many unanswered questions on the most important issue that this Senate can face, which is whether to go to war, and then total silence from the other side--not a single hearing, not a single discussion on this.

Well, I am going to tell my Republican colleagues: They are not going to be able to escape continuing to vote on this. Until our Republican colleagues join us, we will continue forcing a vote on our War Powers Resolution, week after week after week.

This is an American issue, not a partisan one. This is one of the worst forays America has ever made, with so much damage that is going to be lasting.

And so I urge my colleagues to do what they know is the right thing and join us in voting for Senator Duckworth's resolution.

I yield the floor.

Vote on Motion to Discharge

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

Mr. President, just days ago, Donald Trump declared his war in Iran a ``total and complete victory. 100 percent. No question about it.''

Again, Donald Trump saying about his war:

A total and complete victory. 100 percent. No question

about it.

But for the American people, for our troops, for our allies, for our economy, there is nothing but questions about it. In fact, to a majority of Americans, it is a total disaster.

In just about every way, things are worse today than they were before Trump started his war of choice.

The Strait of Hormuz? Worse, closed and unstable. The Iranian regime? Worse, more entrenched and more radical.

Gas prices? Worse, over $4 a gallon.

Iran's nuclear ambitions? Worse. They are still intact.

And America's standing in the world? Worse, as the Europeans and our Asian and Middle Eastern allies and so many others are very exasperated with Donald Trump and this country right now.

So Strait of Hormuz? Worse. Iranian regime change? Worse. Gas prices?

Worse. Iran's nuclear ambitions? Worse. American credibility? Worse.

Everything--everything--has been made worse by Donald Trump's war of choice. Donald Trump promised ``total and complete victory.'' Instead, he delivered total and complete chaos. That is not victory; that is failure.

Donald Trump hasn't even clearly articulated what victory would look like, let alone achieved it. Instead, he has lurched from one reckless idea to the next, with no strategy, no endgame, no coalition of allies, and the consequences, unfortunately, are piling up.

Russia's oil revenues are surging, buoyed by Donald Trump's decision to ease pressure and destabilize global markets. An adversary that is fueling the war in Ukraine is now benefiting from this chaos.

And at home, Americans are paying a very high price. Inflation is rising again, driven, in part, by the spike in energy costs. So Americans are paying the price there. Mortgage rates are climbing. Consumer confidence has hit record lows.

Donald Trump is leading our troops into a literal minefield abroad and leading American families into an economic minefield here at home.

So let's call Trump's Iran policy for what it is, not Operation Epic Fury, ``Operation Epic Failure.'' ``Operation Epic Failure'' is a much more appropriate name for Trump's war of choice.

And 45 days into this war, Congress has been sidelined because our Republican colleagues refuse to take a strong stand against this war and duck it completely because they are afraid of Trump.

No hearings, no oversight--no serious oversight--no accountability, not one. I say to my Republican friends: This is not how democracy conducts a war. That is not what the Constitution allows. So if Republicans refuse to do their job, Senate Democrats will force the issue.

Under the War Powers Act, we will bring a resolution to the floor this week, led by Senator Tammy Duckworth, a combat veteran who understands the true cost of war far more than Donald Trump ever has.

And we will not stop there. If Republicans block it, we will vote again and again and again, every single week, until ``Operation Epic Failure'' ends or Congress does its job and authorizes it--which I know it won't, given how bad this war is--because our troops deserve a mission, not a mess. They deserve a strategy, not chaos. And they deserve leaders who understand that sending Americans into harm's way is the most serious decision a nation can make.

Our Republican colleagues face a simple choice: Stand with Americans or stand with Trump's failed war. Stand with our troops or keep them in harm's way without a plan. Stand with the American people or keep asking them to pay more for gas, more for groceries, and more for a war that has made everything worse.

We will keep forcing that choice. We will keep forcing that choice, my Republican colleagues. You won't be able to keep ducking it.

I would like to thank Senator Kaine for his tremendous leadership on this issue. I would like to thank Senator Booker and the Members of our caucus for working with me to ensure we have these votes week after week, unrelenting, until Republicans are ready to stand up, listen to the pleas of Americans, and do their job.

Mr. President, now on the Department of Homeland Security and reconciliation, like Trump's disasters abroad, Republicans are ignoring their disasters domestically as well. Instead of ending Trump's disastrous war in Iran and addressing the affordability crisis that is crushing working families across the country, Republicans continue to sow chaos here at home by keeping the Department of Homeland Security in a state of shutdown.

Democrats put forward commonsense, bipartisan reforms to rein in ICE and Border Patrol's lawless activity; reforms, I might add, that most Americans support and that local police departments across the country practice every single day.

To be clear, Republicans could open DHS if they wanted to. We also passed twice a bill that would easily fund all of DHS, aside from ICE and CBP. But, no, House Republicans would rather bog down the Senate in a partisan clown show with their reconciliation proposal. Why? To placate Stephen Miller, an unelected ideologue that has built a career rooted in cruelty.

So let's be clear what Republicans have chosen: not a clean funding bill with commonsense reforms, not bipartisan solutions because they can't support these things. Instead, they fight them because Trump and Stephen Miller force them to be opposed to the commonsense proposals we have made that most Americans support.

The Republicans here in the Senate and the House have chosen chaos. They are dragging the Senate through a painful, arduous, and partisan reconciliation process, not because it is the best path but because they cannot and will not rein in ICE and Border Patrol or stop the violence.

They want less accountability, not more, because Donald Trump and Stephen Miller told them so. That is disgraceful, dysfunctional, and a disservice to the American people. Americans want ICE and Border Patrol reined in. They do not want to see the Senate give ICE and CBP a blank check so that these rogue Agencies can continue to act with impunity, unleashing violence and disorder on our streets.

They do not want to see an extremist like Stephen Miller calling the shots on American immigration policy. Instead of listening to Americans, Republicans in the House and Senate are obeying their orders from Trump and Stephen Miller.

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

Mr. President, over the last 2 weeks, Americans were aghast watching two disasters unfold simultaneously: one abroad, one right here in this Chamber. Abroad, Donald Trump is escalating his ill- conceived Iranian incursion, threatening to wipe out an entire civilization, driving up gas prices with no plans and no end in sight.

And right here at home, congressional Republicans are keeping the Department of Homeland Security shut down because they cannot govern themselves, let alone govern this country.

Why? Because Stephen Miller won't let them. Stephen Miller, an unelected ideologue, is calling the shots on immigration policy in this country, not Congress, not Senators, not the Appropriations Committee-- Stephen Miller.

Here is the bottom line: Stephen Miller and Donald Trump refuse to accept commonsense, bipartisan reforms to ICE and Border Patrol. Republicans would rather keep DHS shuttered than cross the man who has made cruelty the centerpiece of this administration's immigration agenda.

Republicans are rejecting bipartisan reforms--reforms rooted in transparency and oversight and rule of law--because they refuse to cross the one man whose agenda is built on cruelty.

So let's be clear: What have Republicans chosen? What have Republicans chosen? Not a clean funding bill with commonsense reforms, not bipartisan solutions. They have chosen--the Republicans have chosen chaos. They are dragging the Senate through a painful, arduous, and partisan reconciliation process, not because it is the best path but because it is the only way they can avoid accountability for how ICE and Border Patrol operate.

They would rather walk the plank politically, vote after vote, amendment after amendment, than show a shred of independence from Stephen Miller. That is not leadership. That is not governing. That is dysfunction, plain and simple.

And to make matters worse, they can't even agree among themselves on how to do it.

On the SAVE Act, Republicans continue to push forward on their effort to pass the SAVE Act. While Republicans claim it is a voter ID bill, the insidious truth is, it is a subterfuge for a voter suppression law that would disenfranchise millions of Americans.

The SAVE Act purges millions of Americans from voter rolls. The SAVE Act kills online mail-in voter registration. The SAVE Act rejects common IDs to register, forces Americans to register in person, and punishes married women. The SAVE Act does all of that.

This isn't about protecting elections. That is a lot of bull. Republicans are

going all out to pass the SAVE Act because they are afraid they will not win the midterms and are trying to cheat to get ahead. If Republicans can't win over the voters, they just don't get to write American voters out of the system.

Instead of reversing course on their unpopular agenda, the Republican answer to their political problems is to make it harder for people to vote.

Senate Democrats will continue to fight this SAVE Act with everything we have.

Mr. President, on Iran, and all the while that that is happening, Trump took America to war. He did it without consulting Congress. He did it without an authorization of the use of military force. He did it without a plan, without a strategy, and without so much as a clear definition about what winning even looks like. That is the war that Trump is putting us into.

Now, 44 days later, everything is worse than when Trump started this war. His leadership of the war might as well be called ``Operation Epic Failure.'' The Strait of Hormuz, chaos; the Iranian regime, still standing; gas prices at the highest level in years; Iran's nuclear ambitions, exactly the same; American credibility in the world, worse.

The war planning is an epic--this war planning is an epic failure, and it all belongs to Donald Trump.

Just look at what the war has done to the American economy. Energy costs surged in March, led by a more than 20-percent increase in the price of gasoline, accounting for roughly three-quarters of the entire month's inflation increase.

Gas prices remain above $4 a gallon nationally. Oil is over $100 a barrel, and U.S. inflation is soaring on higher energy costs--far ahead of where it was before this war started. Companies are adding fuel surcharges. Small businesses across the country are being squeezed between rising costs and customers they cannot afford. Now it looks like, as long as oil prices keep driving up inflation, interest rates are going to remain higher for longer.

This is the Iran war tax. American families are paying every time they fill up the tank, every time they buy groceries, every time they book a flight. This is one of the very worst military and foreign policy operations that the United States has ever taken.

And now let's talk about the Strait of Hormuz, because nothing captures the chaos of this administration's nonstrategy better than what happened this weekend.

Donald Trump spent weeks demanding Iran reopen the strait. He threatened to bomb powerplants. He threatened to bomb bridges. He issued ultimatum after ultimatum. Then, this Sunday, he announced that the United States would begin blockading the very strait he was demanding remain open--what folly.

But it gets worse. While all of this was playing out, the Trump administration was quietly allowing Iran to sell its own sanctioned oil on the global market, actively financing the war being waged against us.

Trump is financing the war that Trump started. He is giving finances to be used against us in the war he started because they had no other way to keep gas prices from rising even further.

And guess who gets a hall pass to sell gas and oil: another active enemy--Russia and Putin--who are giving battlefield intelligence to Iran to target and kill our troops and use the billions they get from the Trump oil sanction exemption to finance their war of aggression against our ally Ukraine.

This is not a strategy. This is not a diplomatic solution. That is not a plan. That is chaos, and it is an epic failure.

Talks with Vice President JD Vance and Iranian officials in Islamabad fell apart in less than a day, with each side blaming the other.

And what has the Republican majority in this Chamber chosen to do while this dramatic, dramatic disaster of a war that Trump started unfolds? Absolutely nothing. They are silent, and their silence is deafening. There have been no hearings. There have been no investigations. There have been no attempts to stand up to Trump.

Well, our servicemembers deserve better than this. Republicans have had three opportunities to stop this war by passing a War Powers Resolution. Republicans have fallen in behind Donald Trump, and they own ``Operation Epic Failure'' as much as Trump does. That is why, again, this week, Democrats will force a vote on a War Powers Resolution to stop hostilities in Iran and return the power to go to war back to Congress, where it always should be. Republicans will, once again, have the chance to do the right thing and vote to end this war.

To my Republican colleagues, history is going to record this moment. It is going to record whether you stood up for the Constitution or whether you handed your power away to a President who threatened to wipe out an entire civilization and then turned around and blockaded the very strait he demanded Iran open.

And this Chamber is not a spectator. Congress must do its job and make sure that no President--not this one, not the next one--can drag this country into war alone and without consequence. It is time to put an end to ``Operation Epic Failure.''

Mr. President, on Pope Leo, last night, Donald Trump reached a new low when he insulted Pope Leo--the first American Pope--by calling him, among other things, weak on crime and too liberal.

What is going on in that man's head?

Trump said this in response to the Pope's comments during Easter Sunday, calling for peace. It is the same Donald Trump who has called the Bible his favorite book on the campaign trail but can't name a single verse, who sells a Trump-branded ``Presidential Edition'' of the Bible made in China for $100, and who we all remember held up a Bible in front of St. John's Episcopal Church here in DC after ordering protestors for racial justice to be tear-gassed. Maybe Trump has forgotten what is written in that Bible or, more likely, he never knew it in the first place.

Trump followed up his criticism of Pope Leo by posting an AI- generated image of himself as a Christlike figure. Can you believe this? Can he get any lower?

This sort of behavior makes a mockery of millions of Christian Americans, many of whom voted for Trump and who fervently believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. More broadly than that, it is a disgusting affront to anybody who expects an American President to lead with dignity.

Trump's defenders, no doubt, will manage to find a way to hand-wave or ignore this latest temper tantrum--his blindly loyal and devoutly Catholic Vice President included.

Can you imagine, if a Democrat had done this, the outcry we would be hearing?

But, really, how much clearer could it be that the despised villains we read about in the New and Old Testaments--power-drunk and violent authoritarians like the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar or King Herod of Judea--bear many parallels to Donald Trump, who--let me repeat--has viciously attacked Pope Leo for calling for peace in the world.

If King Herod had had a Truth Social account in the first century, I think he would have probably described Jesus Christ, who saved the penitent thief crucified alongside him, as weak on crime as well.

The shortest verse in the Bible is ``Jesus wept.'' Maybe Donald Trump can manage to remember that one.

(Mrs. BRITT assumed the Chair.)

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

Mr. President, well, today, Senate Republicans are once again wasting time on voter suppression instead of paying TSA.

Republicans have an amendment on the Senate floor dressed up as what they call commonsense voter ID, but let's be very clear what this amendment is: It is a wolf in sheep's clothing, and it is a giant coverup to cover up what their bill really does, which is dramatic voter suppression, kicking 20 million or more people off the rolls without their knowledge or consent.

The point here is not at all about voter ID. In fact, 99 percent of the SAVE Act doesn't talk about voter ID. Most of their bill is kicking people off the voter rolls and making reregistering, once you are kicked off, a bureaucratic nightmare, an almost impossibility for many people.

And, once again, the public saw the SAVE Act for what it really is--a voter suppression bill. And once that happened, Republicans had to do something. So they cobbled together this amendment as a coverup. It was never in the original bill, and now they pretend it is reasonable policy on voter ID.

But let's get to the facts. The amendment Republicans are pushing today would impose the single strictest voter ID law in America-- stricter than Texas, stricter than Florida, stricter than any State in the country.

Republicans are calling this amendment common sense. But if it is so common sense, why is it stricter than what every single red State already offers?

Many States already have rules in place for voter ID, and every State has some method to verify the identity of voters.

Republicans pretend like States don't have backup verification systems, backups to those backups, and redundancies in place to ensure that our elections are safe and secure, but we do. And it is why voter fraud--this whole bill is hidden, covered up because they say they need to stop voter fraud. There isn't any to mention at all. That is how absurd this is.

The Heritage Foundation, a rightwing conservative organization, studied voter fraud and found only 77 cases of noncitizen voting in 24 years. And we are going to upend our whole system of how people register to vote for that because of those 77 cases in 24 years?

Just 0.04 percent of voter verification cases are returned as noncitizens. Now you see what the Republicans are doing. It is what Trump said. They want to determine who should vote. Trump wants people--Noem said this as well that the only people who should vote are people who agree with them. It is disgraceful, disgusting. This radical amendment would toss out every single voter ID requirement in all 50 States for Federal elections and put in an overly restrictive, one- size-fits-all approach except only a handful of IDs.

Let's talk about vote-by-mail. Under this ridiculous amendment--this amendment--voters who choose to vote by mail, which is about one in three Americans, guess what they would have to do? They would have to add a photocopy of their ID with their ballot.

So the election officials would open up the envelope and could see how you voted. The sacred secrecy of our ballots would be undone by this amendment. It is ridiculous.

Again, anyone who voted by mail would have to put a voter ID inside the envelope, and the board of elections would have to open it up and see how you voted. It is incredible.

It would also leave people susceptible to identity theft. It would violate basic privacy. So let's be clear. Most people wouldn't like the idea of having to stick a copy of their photo ID with their ballot in the mail. This requirement is another Trojan horse for trying to weaken and kill vote-by-mail altogether.

Democrats are supportive of commonsense voter ID standards. Just look at the Freedom to Vote Act, which had the full support of the Democratic caucus. It set flexible, comprehensive standards based on West Virginia's then-law for voter ID requirements.

Their amendment--this amendment--is not about security; it is about exclusion. It is not about security; it is about exclusion. The SAVE Act is not about protecting our elections; it is about suppressing the vote.

I yield the floor.

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

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