Floor Statements

Mr. President, in accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby provide notice that I intend to move to suspend the operation of rule XXV, paragraph (n)(1) to permit the Committee on Rules and Administration to consider the following motion with respect to the message to accompany S. 1383:

Motion to refer with instructions: That the Message to

accompany S. 1383 be referred to the Committee on Rules and

Administration with instructions that the Committee considers

legislation that funds the Department of Homeland Security,

except for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S.

Customs and Border Protection, through fiscal year 2026.

Mr. President, I understand that there are four bills at the desk due for a second reading en bloc.

In order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceeding en bloc.

Mr. President, there are so many issues Senate Republicans could be working with us on this week that Americans actually care about. Republicans could focus on whether Americans can afford groceries or on lowering healthcare premiums or bringing down childcare costs or fixing our power grid.

But what have MAGA Republicans chosen to focus on this week? Voter suppression. That is what the Republican Senate is wasting our time on, pushing a voter suppression bill that most Americans do not support--a bill that appeals to only the most fringe element of the MAGA base.

If this is the path our Republican colleagues want to take, Democrats are ready. We will hold the line to ensure the forces of voter suppression do not win the day. We will debate this bill for as long as Republicans want because the more time we spend on this bill, the more Senate Democrats will expose it for what it really is.

I heard our Senator from Utah last night talk on the floor, and he talked--the times I heard him--about having an ID when you go to vote. This SAVE Act is not about voter ID. In fact, the original bill didn't even have a sentence about voter ID, and they had to put it in at the last minute so it could meet their subterfuge argument.

Democrats support commonsense voter ID, but this bill is not that-- not at all. So don't lie and make it seem like that is the purpose of this bill, because it isn't. It is just a sentence that was added at the last minute so they could engage in this subterfuge.

This is suppression, a MAGA power grab that could disenfranchise more than 20 million American citizens--because what is the core of the bill? The core of the bill is handing the voter rolls over to DHS, putting them through an algorithm designed by DOGE and Musk that supposedly knocks out illegal immigrants from voting.

But the evidence is almost no illegal immigrants vote, and on an experiment in a county of Missouri, more than half the people knocked out were American citizens, using this algorithm.

Is that what the Senators from Missouri or any other State want-- their legitimate citizens being knocked off the ballot, being purged, and then not knowing about it until you show up to vote on election day, and you say to the person at the election facility: Well, I voted at this booth for the last--I have voted at this place for 20 years. I have used the same ID.

Well, you were knocked off.

And to get back on is very onerous and very difficult. It is harder to reregister under this bill than it is to purchase a firearm. It is absolutely crazy.

And it is all based on one fact: that Donald Trump has lied that our elections are rife with voter fraud. We know that is bull. Even the Wall Street Journal--no friend of Democrats; certainly, no friend of mine--said in an editorial yesterday--the Wall Street Journal said the President's voter fraud claims ``aren't backed by hard evidence.'' And yet that is what this bill is supposedly all about.

I hope every single Republican, yesterday, read the editorial in the Wall Street Journal because they may not listen to us from this side of the aisle, but maybe they will listen to the Journal. The SAVE Act makes voting harder and makes registration much harder for U.S. citizens--for U.S. citizens.

The Journal notes: ``Many driver's licenses wouldn't'' comply-- ``wouldn't qualify.''

So I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: Do you want to tell your voters--your citizen voters--that if they move and have to reregister, it is much harder? I don't think so.

The Journal makes another important point. It says the SAVE Act ``can't save Republicans from voter anger at unpopular policies.''

Let me say that again, the Wall Street Journal editorial page says: ``It can't save Republicans from voter anger at unpopular policies.''

Even the Wall Street Journal seems to recognize why Donald Trump and MAGA radicals are so obsessed with this bill. They think it will save them from what otherwise looks like a bad November--a November where voters are fed up with Trump's policies. That is what is going on here.

If Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are so worried about November, the answer shouldn't be to take away the vote. They should try to come up with policies that are popular, rethink their awful policies that have made life more expensive and painful for working people.

If Donald Trump and Republicans are worried about November, then maybe they should focus on lowering costs instead of kicking millions of people off healthcare. Maybe Donald Trump should not have started an unpopular war in the Middle East, with no plan on how to get out.

Maybe MAGA Republicans should stand up to Donald Trump's tariffs. A lot of them didn't like them.

A headline from AP reads:

Trump's tariffs are hurting American manufacturers instead

of helping them.

Of course, Trump would say we should get rid of the AP when they don't agree with him. That is another issue.

Maybe Republicans should fight against Donald Trump's corruption, his lavish gifts, his pardoning of ultrarich fraudsters, his administration's crypto get-rich-quick schemes.

But instead of doing any of these things, instead of doing what Americans want Republicans to do, MAGA radicals, instead, are trying to tick away the vote. They want to short-circuit the mechanisms of accountability that underpin our democracy.

If MAGA Republicans want to waste this week and beyond on voter suppression, we are happy to have the debate. We are happy to show the American people how radical the SAVE Act is and how out of touch Republicans have become by wasting time on this bill, instead of lowering costs like people want; how they are going to, with this bill, disenfranchise millions of their own voters--Republican voters in red States--by doing this bill.

Iran

Mr. President, on Iran, well, we are 3\1/2\ weeks into Donald Trump's Iran war, and, today, the price of Brent crude hit nearly $110 a barrel. Experts say that even if the war ended tomorrow, it would take a long time for prices to come back down. We know oil prices are sticky for going down. When oil prices spike quickly, they tend to fall very slowly.

And now central banks are worried that Trump's war is driving up costs not just for energy but for transportation, for shipping, and other key goods that pass through the Middle East.

Mortgage rates, after inching down, are moving back up, and the worst part is there are no signs the war is going to end tomorrow, next week, or any time soon.

Donald Trump, the old saying is: If you break it, you buy it.

Donald Trump is breaking the Middle East, but now he is trying to dodge the cost and leave the American people with the bill.

So I will affirm again what Democrats have been saying for days. We need Cabinet officials to testify because the story from the administration does not add up.

This morning, before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard insisted in her prepared remarks that Donald Trump's operation from last year, Midnight Hammer, did, in fact, obliterate Iran's nuclear enrichment program.

She noted that ``there has been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.''

So what gives now, Tulsi? Why did Donald Trump strike Iran again if you say that Midnight Hammer did, in fact, obliterate the nuclear enrichment program?

And, of course, nobody wants a nuclear Iran.

Why do the American people still not have any clear answers on the goals and timeline of this war?

Secretary Rubio needs to publicly testify under oath. He must answer tough questions from both sides of the aisle--which there will be--in public.

Hegseth needs to testify publicly under oath.

The American people deserve to directly hear from them. They deserve answers. They deserve accountability, and they need to hear from the administration about how we are going to get out of this before it is too late.

Nomination of Markwayne Mullin

Mr. President, finally, on Senator Markwayne Mullin, he has been testifying before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs as President Trump's nominee to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security.

I will not be supporting Senator Mullin's nomination, should it come before the Senate. The problems at DHS, especially at ICE and CBP, run far deeper than who is in charge. What Americans need far more than just a change in leadership is a change in policy. Americans demand legislation to rein in ICE and end the violence.

But the White House is still refusing to engage on some of the most pressing demands that Democrats have called for since day one.

We are going to continue to engage the White House and congressional Republicans, but we need them to get serious about responding to the chaos we have seen in too many American cities. If ICE is not reformed and reined in, sooner or later, another American citizen is at risk of getting killed.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, in a moment, my good friend my colleague from Georgia will offer a resolution that is very simple: It says fund TSA. Period. No ands, ifs, or buts, no excuses, no secondary reasons.

If Senators want to fund TSA, they should simply support the resolution of Senator Warnock. No ands, ifs, or buts.

Who is blocking TSA money from being approved? Republicans.

On several occasions, Democrats have gone to the floor and said: Let's just fund TSA. We know that there are discussions about ICE and Border Patrol that we haven't resolved, but why hold TSA hostage? Why hold passengers at our airports who are waiting on long lines hostage?

All the Republicans have to do is say: Yes, and those lines will be greatly reduced or go away, the waiting will be greatly reduced, and people will be much happier.

So to hold our airport travelers and our TSA workers as hostages is so much the wrong thing to do, and the American people don't like it.

But the American people should know, if they get up and block the Warnock resolution, it is Republicans blocking funding for TSA, creating those long lines, and standing in the way of funding our hard- working TSA workers.

Democrats are giving Republicans another chance. We can fund TSA workers today. We can make sure our airports are secure today. We can make sure the workers are paid today. They just need to get out of the way and stop blocking TSA officers' paychecks.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Booker for leading this important measure.

Thirteen U.S. servicemembers have been killed since the start of the Iran war. Another 200 have been injured. Thousands more across the Middle East have been killed or injured. We pray for all those killed and hurt. We pray for their families.

Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz traffic has crawled to a halt. The price of Brent crude has risen to $110 a barrel. Americans are now paying an average of $3.80 or more at the pump. And when Donald Trump was asked last week if we were toward the beginning of this war or toward the end, he said both. He said both.

Enough is enough. Trump's war in Iran is turning into a disaster, and there is no end in sight. We do not know Trump's goals. We do not know Trump's timeline. We do not know what victory even looks like in his eyes. Enough is enough.

A few weeks ago, Senator Kaine, Senator Schiff, Senator Paul, and I brought a simple resolution to the floor affirming that Donald Trump cannot send our servicemembers into war without coming to Congress first. Republicans voted no.

Today, we are pushing another War Powers Resolution led by Senator Booker, and I want to thank him for his leadership.

To my Republican colleagues, the American people are watching. They oppose this war. They expect us to do our jobs.

No more senseless wars in the Middle East, no more gas prices shooting through the roof, no more U.S. servicemembers fighting and dying in endless wars--enough is enough. The Senate will put a stop to it tonight.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, this afternoon, Republicans will move to bring a pernicious, radical bill before the Senate, the so-called SAVE America Act. At a moment when war is consuming the Middle East, when costs are rising, when ICE agents are terrorizing our communities, and when job growth in America is weakening, MAGA Republicans have chosen to focus on voter suppression.

We all know why Donald Trump wants this bill. He is afraid Republicans will lose in November. Trump says: Pass the SAVE Act, and it will ``guarantee the midterms.'' Imagine manipulating the electoral process to try to make himself the winner when he thinks he is going to lose--not surprising, I suppose, from Donald Trump.

The senior Senator from Utah says:

Republicans will lose power--likely for a long time--if we

don't get SAVE America passed.

It is funny. I don't remember MAGA Republicans screaming about stolen elections and voter fraud after the 2024 election that they won. Well, the same rules that governed the 2024 election are going to be the ones that govern the 2026 election. The only difference is that this time, MAGA Republicans know they are in trouble politically, so now they are suddenly saying that the system is compromised and broken and that it needs to be changed.

It is all lies--all lies. And they want to drag down the entire Senate for who knows how long in a vain attempt to pass this bill.

Let's be clear. Senate Democrats will never allow the SAVE Act to pass this Chamber. If a small band of MAGA Senators wants to drag this out on the Senate floor, keep us here through the night, through days, or longer, while stalling all other important business, they can try. It will not work.

MAGA Republicans, Senate Democrats will hold the line as long as necessary because with this bill, democracy is at stake.

I want to be very clear. The SAVE Act is not about voter identification; it is about voter suppression. Under the SAVE Act, every single State would be required to share its voter rolls with the Department of Homeland Security--something even many Republican States do not want to do.

Those rolls would be reviewed by a system designed by none other than Elon Musk and his DOGE, using an algorithm that has already been shown to be deeply flawed.

Millions would be kicked off the rolls for no reason. This means American citizens--many, millions--would be booted off the rolls wrongly. If you are kicked off the rolls, you may never be told. There is no requirement to let you know. Then when you show up on election day ready to vote and a poll worker tells you ``Sorry, you are not registered; you are not in the system,'' what do you do? You can't reregister that day, especially with the onerous requirements for registration in the SAVE Act.

As I said, it is not just as simple as reregistering. Under the bill, Americans would have to run through an obstacle course of redtape unlike anything we have ever seen in voter registration. A driver's license would no longer be enough. A military ID would no longer be enough. You would need something like a passport, which most Americans do not have, or a birth certificate, which many Americans cannot easily find. If you cannot produce these documents, you could be out of luck, even if you are an American citizen with every right to vote. That is almost certainly the majority--the vast majority--of who would be thrown off the rolls.

Meanwhile, say goodbye to some of the safest, most convenient, and most effective ways to register to vote. No more registering online. No more registering in churches. No more registering at college campuses. No more registering at the DMV. No more registering by mail. No more vote-by-mail. Many red States love vote-by-mail. Yet MAGA radicals want to eliminate it almost entirely.

I ask my Republican colleagues: How does it protect our elections to stop people from registering at church or at the DMV? How does it make our democracy safer to tell seniors, people with disabilities, or working Americans they cannot register online and must find their way to an election office, which is something only a fraction of Americans do today--5.9 percent, to be more precise. How does getting rid of vote-by-mail--something red States do, something blue States do-- strengthen democracy? The answer is, it does not.

The SAVE Act is not about election integrity; it is about voter suppression, plain and simple. MAGA Republicans would rather take democracy down than back away from their own rightwing, extreme policies that have killed jobs, started wars, and exploited working people to benefit the ultrarich. Senate Democrats will not let them succeed.

I tell my Republican colleagues: Hear me--we will hold the line for as long as it takes.

Mr. President, on Iran, each day brings more evidence that Donald Trump has no idea what he is doing in Iran. Yesterday, the President effectively admitted his administration badly miscalculated Iran's responses to his attacks.

As he put it:

They hit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait. Nobody

expected it. We were shocked. They fought back.

Comments like that show that Donald Trump is in over his head.

The old saying goes: If you break it, you buy it.

Well, Donald Trump, you broke it badly, and now you are trying to get out of paying the price.

The Strait of Hormuz is effectively shut down. Oil prices continue to rise. Yesterday, we learned that about 200 American troops have now been injured in this conflict. Thirteen servicemembers have made the ultimate sacrifice. We pray for them, their families, and for everyone in harm's way.

But, again, I repeat to Donald Trump: If you break it, you buy it.

Donald Trump broke it badly, and now he is trying to get out of paying the price.

Donald Trump promised this would be over in a matter of days or weeks. Well, we are now in week 3. There is still no sign this war is close to ending. In fact, despite severe blows, most reporting suggests Iran's regime remains intact and has hardened rather than collapsed.

This war needs to come to an end. In the meantime, I repeat what I said last week: Donald Trump's Cabinet must come before the Senate. We need public hearings. We need to hear from Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth, and others under oath, and answer tough questions. They need to answer some very basic questions: Why are we at war? What is the objective? Will there be American boots on the ground? How exactly do they plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz? What is the exit strategy?

Right now, we do not have answers to questions that should be easy for any competent administration to answer, and that should alarm every one of us.

Mr. President, if MAGA Republicans want to bog down the Senate over a debate on voter suppression, Democrats are ready. We are ready to be here all day, all night--as long as it takes--to ensure the powers of voter suppression do not win the day.

Let me be very clear: The SAVE Act is not a voter ID bill. It is, in every sense, a voter suppression bill. It could purge millions of American citizens from the voter rolls through a screening algorithm designed by Elon Musk's DOGE squad. It could disenfranchise over 20 million American citizens. It would kill online voter registration. It would kill vote-by-mail. It would kill voter motor registration.

What does any of that have to do with election security? It doesn't. It is a naked attempt to rig our elections.

The SAVE Act also rejects the most common forms of ID for anyone trying to register.

The way this works is that you don't have to be notified if you are kicked off the rolls. You show up on election day. They say: We are sorry, Mr. Smith or Ms. Jones. You are not on the rolls anymore.

Then they make it impossible to reregister. Certainly, on that day, you would lose your right to vote.

Driver's licenses are no longer enough. The most common ID forms for anyone to register are rejected in the SAVE Act for the first time in just about every State. Not even military IDs would be enough.

Can you believe that? That would be radical. It would force Americans to register only in person--something only 5 percent of Americans do today.

It punishes married women who change their last names.

The SAVE Act is not about protecting the vote. It is about making it harder to vote and easier to steal an election.

We know what the deal is here. Donald Trump said, if Republicans pass the SAVE Act, it will guarantee his midterm. The senior Senator from Utah said Republicans will lose power, likely for a long time, if they don't get the SAVE Act passed.

That is the whole game. It is cynical. It is beneath the Senate. It is beneath democracy.

Senate Democrats will never let this rotten bill move through this body.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, I understand that there are four bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Madam President, I now ask for a second reading, and I object to my own request, all en bloc.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, Americans are watching in horror as Donald Trump bumbles this country into war. The latest job numbers show our economy is even weaker than we thought. But what are MAGA Republicans prioritizing in the Senate this week? They are conspiring with Donald Trump to undermine democracy and disenfranchise millions of Americans by pushing the SAVE Act.

MAGA Republicans want to drag this Chamber down and waste time on a bill that not too long ago was considered fringe but now is part of the Republican mainstream. Not a single Democrat will support the SAVE Act. It is a radical bill, and if Republicans try to burn time on this legislation here on the floor, we will oppose them for as long as it takes.

Donald Trump and Senate Republicans know their numbers are sinking badly. They know the American people are souring on their agenda. They know that with each passing day, their prospects for November get worse. So what do they do? Do they change course? Do they try to work with Democrats to lower grocery costs, stop the Iran war, help lower people's energy bills? No. Instead, MAGA Republicans try to rig democracy and disenfranchise American citizens. That is exactly what the SAVE Act is all about.

Remember, all the election laws that govern how the 2026 midterms will operate were in place during the 2024 election--the election of Donald Trump again. The laws that will be in effect in 2026 were the same laws during the 2024 election. That was the election that Donald Trump won. You don't hear Donald Trump and Republicans complain that the 2024 election was rigged.

But now the main difference is that Donald Trump and Republicans are horribly unpopular. So, suddenly, they want to change the rules. Donald Trump said it himself. He said if Republicans pass the SAVE Act, ``it'll

guarantee the midterms.'' He is saying: Fix the election so that we can win.

This isn't the first time he has tried to do that, albeit in a different way this time.

Think about that. The President of the United States is saying out loud that making it harder to vote will help his party win. That is how an autocrat talks. That is how a thug talks. That is how someone who knows they are about to lose talks.

Now, MAGA Republicans keep calling this voter ID, but the SAVE Act is not a voter ID bill; it is a voter suppression bill. The SAVE Act would make it easier to buy an AR-15 than to register to vote. Republicans won't tell Americans, for example, that under the SAVE Act, States would be required to hand over voter records to be screened through a DHS system rebuilt by Elon Musk's DOGE squad. Do you think that is on the level? No way.

This is not about protecting democracy; this is about giving Trump and his allies more power to decide who gets to vote and who does not. If, God forbid, this bill passed and your State turned over its election rolls and it went through the system that DOGE has imposed at DHS, you could be very easily purged from the rolls through no fault of your own and nothing you have done. But once you are purged, you may not even know that you were purged until you show up to cast your ballot on election day.

Republicans won't tell Americans that their bill would wipe out the most common ways Americans register to vote. No more registering by mail. No more voter registration drives at churches or on college campuses. No more registration when you get a driver's license.

Under the SAVE Act, Americans would be forced to register in person even though only 6 percent of Americans registered in person to vote in 2022, and Republicans want to make this the only option. They won't tell Americans that a driver's license or State-issued ID would no longer be enough to register.

Indeed, many Americans would need additional paperwork like a passport or a birth certificate. Fewer than half of Americans even have a passport. Millions of Americans do not have easy access to a birth certificate. If you changed your name after marriage, you could run into problems too.

And now, Donald Trump says he doesn't even want vote by mail. Tell that to seniors, tell that to disabled Americans, tell that to Americans who live in rural communities far from an election office. Put simply, the SAVE Act is designed to make it harder to vote and easier to steal an election.

Once again, let me just repeat: You can be purged from the rolls. There is no requirement that you be notified that you were purged. You did nothing wrong. You were the same person who voted that way 2 years earlier.

And guess what. You show up at the polling place, and they say: Sorry, Mr. Jones, sorry Ms. Smith, you are not on the rolls anymore. You had no way of knowing, and then you can't vote because you are just finding out when you show up to the polls to vote on election day. It is outrageous. It is cynical. It is un-American. It is autocratic.

Donald Trump knows that if the election is fair, he could lose. So instead of changing his policies, he and the MAGA Republicans--now, all we see are so many Republicans, too many, seem to be going along, want to make it harder for Americans to vote.

That is who Donald Trump is. He is a bully. He does not know how to persuade. He threatens. He coerces. And now he is trying to do that to American democracy itself.

Senate Democrats will not let Donald Trump ram this bill through the Senate, not this week, not next week, not ever.

Mr. President, the Senate's prayers are with the families of the six servicemembers killed in a plane crash late last week in Iraq. Thirteen U.S. servicemembers have now been killed.

We hold them in our hearts, as well as everyone killed and injured in the Middle East, as well as their families.

The war Donald Trump promised would be over quickly is now entering its third week, and no end is in sight. Iran is fully exerting its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices surging across the globe. Brent crude is once again above $100 a barrel. Right now, gas is $3.70 at the pump. Oil executives told the White House last week: No matter what happens next, prices are likely to rise even higher in the weeks ahead.

So what is Donald Trump's plan to bring this economic pain to an end? Sadly, America, he doesn't have one. It is something different every day. No plan. No followthrough.

If you listen to his press conference earlier today, it was obvious: Donald Trump is flailing. Donald Trump claimed he predicted long ago that the Strait of Hormuz would be used as a weapon.

Well, if that is true, then he has done a terrible job planning in advance for how to stop it from being used as a weapon, and he continues to do a terrible job containing the damage that is now occurring.

Trump also claimed today:

They want to make a deal. They are talking to our people.

And then moments later he said:

All their leaders are dead. We don't even know who we are

dealing with.

Which one is it? The leaders want to make a deal or we don't know who the leaders are? If you can say those two contradictory things within the same few minutes, something is dramatically wrong, and it is with Donald Trump.

Does Donald Trump know whom he is talking to or not? Are talks even happening? The Commander in Chief seems totally lost and in over his depth.

Donald Trump now claims that other countries are going to help the United States clear the Strait of Hormuz and bashed our own allies for voicing hesitation about putting troops in harm's way. And so far, no country has publicly said it would step up.

Now, Donald Trump even says his administration has been asking China to help us out in the Strait of Hormuz. China. Are you kidding me? China--relying on China to get us out of a mess that Donald Trump created. They are not going to do that. Fat chance they will do that.

Donald Trump created a mess in the Middle East, and he clearly has no plan for how to end it. That is a huge problem for our country. War-- unneeded, unnecessary, endless war.

Madam President, in accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby provide notice that I intend to move to suspend the operation of rule XXV, paragraph (n)(1) to permit the Committee on Rules and Administration to consider the following motion with respect to the message to accompany S. 1383:

Motion to refer with instructions: That the Message to

accompany S. 1383 be referred to the Committee on Rules and

Administration with instruction that the Committee consider

legislation that fully funds the Transportation Security

Administration (TSA) through fiscal year 2026.

Madam President, in accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby provide notice that I intend to move to suspend the operation of rule XXV, paragraph (n)(1) to permit the Committee on Rules and Administration to consider the following motion with respect to the message to accompany S. 1383:

Motion to refer with instructions: That the Message to

accompany S. 1383 be referred to the Committee on Rules and

Administration with instruction that the Committee consider

legislation that restricts a current President of the United

States of America from receiving payments from the Department

of Justice.

Madam President, in accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby provide notice that I intend to move to suspend the operation of rule XXV, paragraph (n)(1) to permit the Committee on Rules and Administration to consider the following motion with respect to the message to accompany S. 1383:

Motion to refer with instructions: That the Message to

accompany S. 1383 be referred to the Committee on Rules and

Administration with instruction that the Committee review the

compliance of the Department of Justice with the requirements

of P.L. 119-38, the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

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

Mr. President, yesterday, for the second time in less than a week, Republicans were given the opportunity to fund TSA and to also fund FEMA, to stand up for our Coast Guard, and to make sure core DHS operations are funded while negotiations on ICE and Border Patrol continue. And for the second time in less than a week, Republicans said no. Well, we are giving them another opportunity later this morning-- another opportunity to end their blockade of TSA. We are giving Republicans the opportunity to end their blockade of FEMA. We are giving Republicans the opportunity to end their blockade at CISA and to end their blockade at Coast Guard and much else.

The bottom line is very simple. It is easy. You don't have to follow politics very closely to see it. Democrats are ready to fund TSA; Republicans are blocking it. Democrats are ready to fund CISA; Republicans are blocking it. Democrats are ready to fund FEMA and Coast Guard and most of DHS operations. We will give Republicans a chance--a chance--to say yes.

We all know that we do not have agreement on how to deal with ICE. We know, very simply, that Democrats just want ICE to behave like any police department in America and use warrants and not wear masks, but we don't have to tie that disagreement up and use people at the airports and American citizens as hostages and say: We are not going to fund FEMA; we are not going to fund TSA unless you give in to our unreasonable and unpopular demands on reforming ICE. So we are going to offer these bills one at a time and see where our Republican colleagues go.

We know the American people are on our side. We know that the only thing Republicans need to do is stay out of the way and these programs will be funded today and problems at the airports will go away.

I will.

I am well aware, but that hasn't worked. What can work--

No, no. I--

--am not yielding back.

The bottom line is, Democrats are ready today. America, watch. We will have Members on the floor saying ``Let's fund TSA'' with no other preconditions. What will Republicans do? They are going to see Republicans get up and block it. It is that simple.

Now, my friend--sometimes--much of the time.

My friend, the Republican leader, says: Well, we will only do it if you go along with what we want on ICE and what we want on Border Patrol--highly unpopular and wrong. So who is standing in the way, America? Look at it. We are not putting any preconditions on funding TSA. The Republicans are. And why?

I will not yield.

No. In a minute.

Why? Because Republicans are in obeisance to Donald Trump's insistence on having these marauding forces of ICE go through our cities. We saw what they did in Minneapolis. We saw what

they did in Los Angeles. We saw what they did in other places. Americans don't like it. Trump's numbers have suffered.

And so it is simple: Don't attach preconditions, fund TSA, fund CISA. You will have that opportunity in a few hours. And if you get up and block it and say ``We will only do it unless,'' Americans will know who is to blame.

I yield.

Would my colleague--

--yield for a question?

Will he support, without any Republican blocking it, a straight motion to just deal with TSA and get it funded while we are trying to work out these negotiations? Will he support that? No ands, ifs, or buts; no preconditions, no keep negotiating on ICE but just get it done. Will he support that?

Reclaiming my time. I rest my case. What the leader is saying is he will only fund TSA if we will continue to fund--for a short time, for a long time--ICE and Border Patrol, which he knows is gridlocked, which he knows we don't agree with, and so it is clear. He has made it clear.

Just fund TSA. That is it. He has a lot of rigamarole attached to funding TSA: but do this, but do that, but do this.

You can't win the argument, Leader. It is simple. We are being clear. We are being concise.

So the question is very simple. I say to my Republican friends: Support the legislation that is coming on the floor today. And if you do, TSA is funded like that. Every Democrat is for it. My guess is, half to three quarters of the Republicans are wishing they would be for it, but their leadership is insisting on attaching preconditions on ICE negotiations and Border Patrol negotiations.

So all I say to my Republican colleagues: Stop the speeches that you care about TSA. Don't talk the talk. Walk the walk. Let the legislation that we are proposing go forward without blocking it, and TSA will be back to work; our lines at the airports will be gone; and then we will have legislation on CISA.

Don't talk to us about the need for safety and then block legislation that allows CISA to go through. That is hypocrisy. Just let it go through. And I know that our Republican leadership knows that we have the high ground here, knows that the people are on our side.

And why do Republicans do this? Why won't they budge to give an inch on ICE, which is highly unpopular, and even the President has said hasn't done things right? That is the mystery, but it is probably because some in the rightwing insist. And we know that the hard right runs this party, and that is why they are doing so poorly with the American people right now. That is why we Democrats are on the ascent-- because we are with the American people and the American people say: Fund TSA now, and you can debate ICE.

There has been a debate on ICE. We believe we are right. We believe something as simple as warrants should be used by ICE when you bust into someone's house. We believe, simply, that ICE agents should not be masked when every police department and sheriff's department is identified, and the American people are with us.

But we don't even have to debate that today because what Republicans are doing is insisting that we don't change a thing about ICE before we move forward on TSA. That is wrong. That is using the American people as hostages. And we are not going to do it.

And I remind my Republican colleagues, we are going to be back here again and again, winning this debate and eventually winning the American people, which will say to you folks on the Republican side: You had better stop this blockade of TSA and CISA, of FEMA, and of the Coast Guard. You had better stop using them as hostages until you get your way on ICE and on CBP, where you are out of touch with the American people.

I yield the floor.

Oh, no, I don't yield the floor. I have a few other subjects I might like to touch on. There is so much to talk about. Donald Trump and the Republicans are screwing up America in so many ways. So let's talk about Iran for a minute.

Iran

Mr. President, as the war on Iran continues, Donald Trump does what he usually does: He lies. He is lying to the American people.

According to public reporting, preliminary intelligence reports suggest, tragically, that American operations may have been involved, unfortunately, in this horrible missile strike on the all-girls elementary school in Iran on the first day of the war. And when Donald Trump was asked about those reports, what did he say? He said: Well, I don't know about that.

That is ridiculous, and it is an obvious lie. Donald Trump is the Commander in Chief, and he expects us to believe that he has no clue about intelligence regarding a horrific attack on a school several days after it occurred.

The vast majority of Americans, obviously, won't believe Donald Trump. They know he is an inveterate liar. He lies daily. They will know when he says he didn't know about this report--of course he did. But there might be a handful of Americans who still might believe the guy, who still don't understand that he is an inveterate liar.

And so think about that. He is saying he has zero clue about a basic intelligence report regarding this strike. If he didn't know about it 2 or 3 days later, when all of America did, and he is not lying, which I believe he is, then what chaos--what is going on in this administration? The Commander in Chief, on something that affects policy while we are at war, says he doesn't know about it? That talks about the chaos and confusion that have taken over this administration--the idea that something is all jumbled up in the White House, that there is no information flow to the President on something so important.

So either Donald Trump is lying when he says he knows nothing about the school bombing intelligence findings--he gets these reports every day--or he is dangerously uninformed, which says his staff is really screwed up.

Equally unacceptable is Donald Trump's apparent miscalculation when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz. In the early days of this war, Donald Trump bragged that victory would come easily. ``We are going to win shortly. No time. No problem.'' But now, after the United States has damaged so much of Iran's infrastructure, the new radical Supreme Leader is focusing on the one point of leverage Iran has always had over the world's economy: the Strait of Hormuz.

A few moments ago, in his first public comments, the Supreme Leader Khamenei, who is even worse than his predecessor, his father, said Iran will continue to block the Strait of Hormuz. Freeing it could, potentially, America, require boots on the ground.

How did Donald Trump not see this coming? How did his planners not see

this coming? This is the one bit of leverage Iran has. Of course, we knew they were going to use it. They have used it in the past. A college student with a basic understanding of geopolitics could tell you that Iran's greatest leverage is this narrow passage through which a huge share of the world's oil must travel. And now 13 days as we are into the war--I believe it is 13 days--the administration is scrambling to contain the damage and deal with rising oil prices. And Donald Trump, just by saying, ``Oh, the war is going to end soon,'' you are not going to fix the shortage of oil or fertilizer or other products in America.

After I said for days that he should, Donald Trump finally announced that he is tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He should have done it sooner. But in any case, even this decision was marred by chaos and confusion. It caught our allies completely off guard because for days it seemed Trump would hold back.

There is such disorganization and chaos when we are in a war. We can't afford chaos in a war. I don't know of any other time America went to war and things were so chaotic.

There is not a single strategic decision that Trump has made in this war that was not born from chaos, confusion, misinformation, and lies. And there is nobody--nobody--up there in the White House around him willing to stand up and tell him when he was wrong. In his first term, Trump had Kelly, Trump had Mattis--people who had courage, who had backbones, who had military backgrounds--and they told him the truth. He eventually fired them for telling the truth, but they told him the truth.

Where is the truth teller now? No one is there, and America is paying the price, unfortunately, in lives, in the eight brave troops we lost, in fortune--they said the first 2 days or the first week of the war cost $11 billion; we could fix a lot of healthcare with that $11 billion--and in strength.

This has gone too far, with too much chaos, too little thought, and it is hurting America.

I yield the floor.