Floor Statements

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, on the Trump battleships, while American families can't even keep their heads above water, Donald Trump is spending his time building himself a ``golden fleet'' of battleships the Navy doesn't want.

Just get a load of this headline: ``Cost of Trump's Namesake Warships Likely to Rise by 50 Percent or More.''

Costs to rise by 50 percent or more.

As the article in the New York Times says, his goal is building a ``golden fleet'' of 15 battleships that cost $275 billion. Frankly, when Americans hear this, they have no idea whether they need the battleships. They know the only thing Trump cares about is having his name on things. So the fact that there is a fleet of Trump battleships--cost doesn't mean anything; necessity doesn't mean anything; that people are suffering and need help feeding their families, paying their electric bills, and paying the cost of gasoline means nothing to him. Having his name on a bunch of battleships-- expensive battleships--is all he cares about.

Trump couldn't handle renovating a reflecting pool or building a ballroom, and now he thinks he is ready to design and construct 15 ``Trump-class''--I mean, this guy, he knows no limits--``Trump-class'' battleships that will cost more than a quarter of a trillion taxpayer dollars--a quarter of a trillion dollars. He has had a lot of vanity projects. They have been very expensive. This is the most costly vanity project yet.

The Navy never wanted these ships. The American people never asked for these ships. The only person who wants these ``golden'' ships is Donald Trump so he can slap his name on them.

Trump's willingness to drop $275 billion on another vanity project but not a single penny to lower costs for working Americans just confounds the imagination. Trump could use the money for these battleships to offset the entire nearly $200 billion cut he made to

Mr. President, on mortgage rates, as Trump focuses on his exorbitant vanity projects, Americans can tell what he is ignoring--lowering their costs. As if Americans weren't struggling enough already, they just saw mortgage rates hit their highest level in a year because of Trump's disastrous war and

failed economic agenda. Trump has turned the American dream of owning a home into a pipedream.

Let's not forget, when Trump called our bipartisan bill to lower housing costs a joke and refused to sign it, he was belittling the need for housing. The President acts like he is allergic to helping Americans.

What does Trump have to say to the millions of families just trying to make it through the week as they drown in higher gas prices and grocery bills?

Trump said yesterday that Americans are living in the ``greatest economy we've ever had by far.'' Those were his words in Nevada yesterday. In practically the same breath, Trump said:

We may have to send [oil prices] up.

The President has lost any grip on reality. He is so in his own world of creating monuments to himself that he is forgetting the American people all the time. It is not just that he doesn't think of them enough; he hardly thinks of them at all.

The greatest economy we have ever had? Tell that to the family that is deciding between filling up their tank and filling up their fridge. Tell that to the veteran I met who said that he sometimes has to choose between feeding his child and feeding his service dog. Whatever fantasy world Trump is living in sounds a whole lot nicer than the economic hardship Americans are struggling with right now.

Trump's playbook has only one page: Deny reality until the bill comes due, and then send it to you, America.

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.

Mr. President, Todd Blanche's Department of Justice continues to let criminals off the hook so long as they are loyal to Donald Trump. Yesterday, Trump's DOJ forced a judge to throw out the charges against eight members of the radical extremist Oath Keepers, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting the January 6 insurrection--horrendous. Doesn't get any more un-American than this. Doesn't twist America's values into a tortured knot.

Trump already gave the insurrectionists clemency. Now he is wiping their records clean, but there is no erasing what the Oath Keepers and the rest of the mob did at Trump's command on January 6.

I saw them in this building. They were not on a tour. They were aimed at destruction to maim and even in a few cases murder. We can't afford to forget what happened that day.

Now, Trump has sent the country a clear message: There are no consequences for sedition, no punishment for attacking police, no repercussions for ransacking the Capitol to steal an election, so long as you do it in Trump's name.

No wonder his numbers are so terrible. No wonder the American people are turning against him. No one in our history has done things as bad as this.

Trump won't just give you clemency for committing a crime on his behalf; he will give you a reward. The whole purpose of Trump's $2 billion MAGA slush fund is to funnel taxpayer dollars to the Oath Keepers and other Trump cronies. Just the other day, Trump himself defended his slush fund describing it ``a reimbursement for the pain that [January 6th insurrectionists] suffered.''

Donald, what pain have these insurrectionists suffered? You let them off scot-free.

Republicans don't get to yap about being the party of law and order when they are handing out pardons and cash rewards like candy to convicted cop beaters--convicted cop beaters. Do Senate Republicans want to give a promotion to Blanche, the same guy who came up with the idea of these reparations for rioters?

There is still no legal guardrail stopping Trump and Blanche from giving payouts to January 6 insurrectionists at the taxpayers' expense. That is unacceptable. The only thing these criminals deserve is a cold cell, not American's hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

Mr. President, now Trump is going to Nevada today to tout his disastrous economic record. His going is an insult to every Nevadan reeling from higher costs.

If there is one place where Americans know how to spot a losing hand, it is Las Vegas, Donald Trump. They see your losing hand. Nevadans know better than anyone that Trump's economy has gone bust. Does Trump want to brag about how Nevadans are paying 4 bucks and 80 cents for a gallon of gasoline because of his war? Will Trump tout how more than 36,000 Nevadans have lost their health coverage because Trump cut a trillion dollars from our healthcare system to give billionaires another tax break? Nope.

While grocery prices continue rising, will Trump explain to the more than 78,000 hungry Nevadans who have lost food assistance that his policies are working exactly as intended? Or maybe Trump wants to thump his chest about the $3,100 extra Nevadans are spending because of Trump's failed policies that have wiped out any extra tax refund they saw this year.

Trump can't bluff his way out of the economic disaster he has unleashed on the American people. Nope. He can have all the bluff and bravado and lies he wants. It is not going to wash because people are experiencing the hurt that Trump has inflicted on them.

Mr. President, on Iran, Trump seems to think that opening his mouth and opening the Strait of Hormuz are the same thing. Once again, Trump is making big claims that a deal to reopen the strait is imminent. How many times have we heard that?

Whenever Trump says there is a deal, it means one of two things: Either the strait is still staying closed or it opens for a couple of days and then it closes again. None of his deals have come to fruition, and gas prices continue to rise.

At this time, there are rumors he is willing to give up even more control of the strait to Iran to open. If that is true, Donald Trump has put himself in such a difficult position in Iran, blundering his way into a war with no goal, with no preparation, with no future.

He is stuck. He is going to try to get out of it, but mark my words, he will surrender to Iran, in a sense. He will have to sue for peace, and the Iranians will emerge stronger and America weaker. It is his only way out. Once again, Trump is doing all of these things.

Which one will it be this time, Donald, when it comes to the strait? How many days after you say the strait will open up will it close again? When are you going to get out of the way and let real diplomats negotiate an end to the war that ensures the free flow of shipping through the strait?

Americans can't fuel their cars on wishful thinking and empty promises, and Senate Democrats have now forced 13 votes on the Iran War Powers Resolutions to end Trump's disastrous war. We will keep forcing votes as long as it takes until Senate Republicans help us bring our troops home, end this war, and bring costs down.

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

Mr. President, Senate Republicans seem to think Todd Blanche became a different person somewhere between the confirmation hearing and today's vote. It is obvious he didn't. Blanche remains Trump's personal lawyer--same client, same corrupt record, same playbook. He is the same guy. Nothing has changed. Thanks to Blanche, Trump and his family still have a permission slip from the IRS to take in tens of millions of dollars through tax fraud--tens of millions of dollars--and they exempt him from tax fraud even though he has had so many brushes with the law before.

How can we appoint this man to such an important position when he is the one who facilitated the President avoiding any tax liability, which an overwhelming number of Americans despise? It is crazy. It is amazing how our Republican friends just tie themselves in pretzel knots to allow Trump to do illicit things, to allow the country's morals to go down the drain when it comes to finance ethics.

Blanche still hasn't put up any meaningful guardrails to Trump's $2 billion MAGA slush fund. We all know what that was--one of the grossest things any President has ever done. He sues the government as a private citizen and then asks the government for $10 billion and then shakes hands with the government that he gets $2 billion to do whatever he wants. It makes you nauseous, what he is doing to the morals of this country.

Let's not forget that Blanche still hasn't released 3 million pages of the Epstein files.

Make no mistake, if you had to line up every American, lawyer or not, who should be Attorney General, he would be at the back of the line because he is so unethical. Ethics matter in this job more than just about any other.

So make no mistake, Blanche still has no business becoming Attorney General. Todd Blanche hasn't changed, and neither should the votes of anyone who plans to oppose his nomination.

Government Funding

Mr. President, on the CR, from the start, Senate Democrats said we wanted to keep the government open and keep politics out of the appropriations process. This CR gives us the time we need to continue hashing out a budget that helps make life more affordable for the American people while crushing the chaos and the corruption of the Trump administration.

Senate Democrats will always be willing to work across the aisle and negotiate in good faith to deliver results for working Americans.

Thanks to Senator Murray's efforts, we have staved off Trump's efforts to withhold Federal grants from vital projects. Trump wanted to pick grants in the States and politicians he liked and eliminate them from others. Nothing could be more against the Constitution, more against the government, more against fairness, more against bipartisanship than that. He wanted to do all that. People were amazed.

Oh, I like this project in a red State. Go for it.

I don't like the very same project paid by the same money in a blue State. Cut it out.

No rationale, no reason other than political malignance.

People were really revolted by what he was trying to do. Taxpayers fund these grants. Taxpayers deserve to see that the money is invested in their

communities, not withheld by Trump because of partisan retribution.

Senate Democrats have stood up for working Americans at every step, and we are going to continue to fight for the American people in the weeks and months ahead.

Head Start

Mr. President, now on Head Start, Donald Trump believes the Federal Government exists to serve him and no one else. Even though he acts like a toddler three-quarters of the time, he is not eligible for Head Start, so if the program doesn't benefit him, what does he care?

Trump will soon announce plans to gut Head Start without any thought of how it will hurt hundreds of thousands of children. After trying and failing to defund it altogether, Trump is putting the program to the torch by rolling back Federal standards that ensure Head Start will be high quality. That means no math or literacy requirements, no health or safety screenings, no guarantee that children can access medical and dental services. Trump's changes will hurt America's most vulnerable children and leave their families in the lurch.

Donald Trump, the parents of some of these kids are working two or three jobs, knocking themselves out almost 24/7 just to help their kids by making ends meet. Does Trump really think these families can afford to spend more on finding care for their kids?

The gutting of Head Start is the Trump administration's disastrous approach to governing laid bare. Better outcomes for Trump, worse outcomes for our kids--that is Trump's America. Donald Trump uses his office to help himself and his billionaire friends get ahead while holding back our children, while holding back our working families.

Every single Senator who cares about Head Start needs to stand up to this effort that undercuts our children, particularly the most vulnerable. Early education works. It gives kids a headstart. It makes America more prosperous as a whole. Trump doesn't give a damn.

Reflecting Pool

Mr. President, Trump's Reflecting Pool saga continues to show how his corruption comes back to bite him.

Last Friday, Jeanine Pirro, the FOX News host turned U.S. attorney-- he loves these television hosts to have places in his administration whether they are qualified or not. Look at the Defense Department. Well, this host is U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and she admitted in court that Trump's own grifting caused the Reflecting Pool renovation to fail.

How dare she. How dare she speak the truth against Donald Trump when one of the requirements of being chosen by Trump for any important office is that you just go along with him.

I will tell you this: If we had serious people leading the DOJ and serving as U.S. attorney, we never would have had these nonsense legal cases in the first place.

You know Trump is living in an alternate reality when not even Pirro, an ardent Trump loyalist, will defend his lies.

What did Trump expect? Shoddy work is inevitable when you award a multimillion-dollar, no-bid contract to your personal pool guy at the taxpayers' expense.

Trump's Reflecting Pool debacle is so unbelievably stupid, it would be funny--except we American taxpayers are paying for it. Some nearly faced jail time for it. Trump is so delusional, he would rather prosecute innocent Americans than own up to his own failure.

Is it any wonder that 80 percent of Americans think Trump doesn't have the right priorities? Trump keeps spending his time and American tax dollars on these vanity projects.

Donald, Americans want you to lower their costs, end your war, stop your corruption. The Reflecting Pool can wait.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, well, make no mistake, Todd Blanche has no intention of stopping Trump's corruption. He has spent his career enabling it.

Instead of seeing Todd Blanche's so-called deal for the sham that it is, Senate Republicans are, once again, taking Trump's personal attorney at his word. All Blanche's deal does is accept the reality that Trump's MAGA slush fund is never getting through the courts. Blanche's so-called deal does nothing--nothing--to stop the IRS sweetheart deal that lets Trump and his family cheat their way out of tens of millions of dollars in taxes.

Let me repeat that. Blanche is still perfectly fine with giving Trump a permission slip to commit tax fraud to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

Is the Senate GOP willing to go along with Trump's tax fraud? Blanche certainly is.

Senate Republicans keep pretending that Blanche made real concessions on the slush fund. The truth is he just gave up a fight he had already lost in court.

And there is no guardrail preventing Trump and Blanche from using taxpayer dollars to give cash payouts to violent January 6 insurrectionists, MAGA billionaires, and the Trump family.

Trump won't even hide his intention to resurrect his MAGA cash rewards program. Just last night, Trump said: ``A lot of people like'' the slush fund. Those were his words. He said it. He said it ``would be a reimbursement for the pain that'' January 6 insurrectionists ``suffered.''

Where is the reimbursement for the economic pain Trump has inflicted on the American people with his rampant corruption and his disastrous agenda?

No one wants this slush fund, other than Trump and his cronies. There has never been a more clear-cut case of self-dealing in American history. Trump sued himself, settled with himself, and then gave himself tax immunity for life and $2 billion to either pocket--in his own pocket--from the Federal Treasury or pass out to bad people, all at the taxpayers' expense.

Senate Republicans, if you truly care about ending this corruption, then work with us to ban it by law. Don't put the architect of Trump's grifts in charge of the Department of Justice.

(The remarks of Mr. SCHUMER pertaining to the introduction of S. 5212 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Mr. President, on the pardons bill, justice is supposed to be blind. Under Donald Trump, justice is for sale.

Today, I am introducing legislation with Senators Blumenthal, Hirono, Cortez Masto, and Schiff to stop Trump from abusing his pardon power for personal gain. Our No Payoffs for Pardons Act will expose, deter, and prosecute corrupt pardons.

Trump sees his pardon power as just another opportunity for grift, for graft, or personal profit. The only thing Trump cares about in granting clemency is how much money you have and where do your loyalties lie.

Trump has wiped the slate clean for thousands of January 6 insurrectionists, Medicare fraudsters, white-collar criminals, and other crooks convicted of swindling the American people. The American people always pay the price for Trump's corruption, and pardons are no exception. Trump's pardons have wiped out nearly $2 billion in repayments owed to the victims of these crimes.

It is the same old grift: Trump picks the pocket of law-abiding Americans to enrich criminals, his cronies, and himself. In Trump's America, if you have enough money or if you have the President's ear, then you are above the law.

Our bill reaffirms that Federal bribery laws apply to the President and that trying to buy your way out of a prison cell is a crime itself.

Our legislation would also require anyone who receives a pardon to disclose financial gifts they made in connection with their clemency.

We need to bring these corrupt pardons out of the shadows and into the light so that we can stop them for once and for all.

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

Mr. President, on the pardons bill, justice is supposed to be blind. Under Donald Trump, justice is for sale.

Today, I am introducing legislation with Senators Blumenthal, Hirono, Cortez Masto, and Schiff to stop Trump from abusing his pardon power for personal gain. Our No Payoffs for Pardons Act will expose, deter, and prosecute corrupt pardons.

Trump sees his pardon power as just another opportunity for grift, for graft, or personal profit. The only thing Trump cares about in granting clemency is how much money you have and where do your loyalties lie.

Trump has wiped the slate clean for thousands of January 6 insurrectionists, Medicare fraudsters, white-collar criminals, and other crooks convicted of swindling the American people. The American people always pay the price for Trump's corruption, and pardons are no exception. Trump's pardons have wiped out nearly $2 billion in repayments owed to the victims of these crimes.

It is the same old grift: Trump picks the pocket of law-abiding Americans to enrich criminals, his cronies, and himself. In Trump's America, if you have enough money or if you have the President's ear, then you are above the law.

Our bill reaffirms that Federal bribery laws apply to the President and that trying to buy your way out of a prison cell is a crime itself.

Our legislation would also require anyone who receives a pardon to disclose financial gifts they made in connection with their clemency.

We need to bring these corrupt pardons out of the shadows and into the light so that we can stop them for once and for all.

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 order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, today, the disastrous Trump economy delivered another one-two gut punch to the American people: Growth is down. Costs are up.

The American people don't need government reports and economists to tell

them how sluggish Trump's economy is or how high costs are. Americans see it at the gas pump. They see it at the grocery store. They see it whenever they pay the rent or for heating or for electricity.

Trump, on the other hand, has no clue just how deep in the dumps his economy is. He keeps calling higher costs a ``hoax'' and affordability a ``made-up word.''

In the meantime, Trump has done nothing but make matters worse with his reckless and irresponsible war, with his chaotic tariffs, and with his crusade against American energy and assault on healthcare.

And every day, while Trump's failed Presidency makes life harder for American families, where does he spend his time and energy? Enriching himself.

Democrats aren't going to let this one-two economic punch turn into a knockout blow. We are going to keep fighting to bring down Americans' costs and bring an end to Trump's failed agenda that is driving those costs up and up and up.

(The remarks of Mr. Schumer pertaining to the introduction of S. 5183 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Finally, on the Iran WPR, as Trump plays keyboard warrior on Truth Social in his war with Iran, our men and women in uniform are risking their lives on the frontlines.

This aimless war has been one of the greatest foreign policy catastrophes in American history, and Trump's mess only gets worse with every passing hour.

Trump said the war would last a week, but American servicemembers are still getting killed 5 months later, and the war seems to be expanding with Iran's latest attack in Egypt's territory.

Senate Republicans cannot sit on the sidelines as Trump's war escalates out of control. Later today, Democrats will advance another War Powers Resolution so we can get our troops out of danger and end this war once and for all.

Will Senate Republicans keep helping Trump dig himself into a deeper and deeper hole in Iran or will they finally show some backbone, grab a shovel, and help Trump get out of this hole?

Republicans, do your duty to our servicemembers, to the American people, and to your own conscience. Vote for our War Powers Resolution to end this disaster.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.