Floor Statements

Mr. President, but I have good news for the President. He and the Republicans do have one chance left to do something meaningful about lowering costs, something real--not a speech, something real--and that is to work with Democrats to extend the enhanced ACA premium tax credits before they expire at the end of the year.

Democrats have put forth a simple proposal for a clean, 3-year extension of the ACA credits. We will move forward on this bill on Thursday. Senate Republicans have 2 days--2 days--to choose to vote to lower the American people's healthcare costs or to vote to continue sending those costs through the roof. That is what is at stake on this vote.

If our bill becomes law, we will accomplish the single most important thing we can do right now to lower prices, prevent premiums for tens of millions of Americans from shooting through the roof. We have an obligation to act now.

Now, if Republicans are left to their own devices, there is not a snowball's chance in hell that they fix this healthcare crisis on their own. Republicans are nowhere, by their own admission.

Leader Thune has come down to the floor day after day excoriating the ACA, brings a lot of charts, has quotes at the ready, and on and on and on, but he doesn't have a plan. He has no proposal.

Charts are not a plan, Leader Thune.

It is not enough for Republicans to say that they don't like the ACA. That is not a secret. We know that. They have been trying to get rid of it since 2008. They nearly succeeded until the courage of John McCain stopped them in 2019.

The real question is, What will Republicans do to prevent premiums from skyrocketing in 3 weeks? So far, we have heard no real answer. The only ideas we have heard from Republicans are loaded with poison pills, unworkable restrictions, and don't do anything to bring premiums down, which is most important. None of their proposals address extending the ACA credits--the most important thing we can do now. So those kinds of proposals don't get the American people's support or Democrats' support.

The party is adrift at sea. The Republican Party is adrift at sea, trying to find a plan. So far, we have heard no serious plan at all. And that is not just me saying it. Here is what a Republican Senator said yesterday:

I mean, what signal will it send if Republicans say,

``we're going to say no to the Democrats' plan. But we're not

gonna offer anything?'' The message that would send is:

``Good luck to the American people, we don't really care.''

That is from a Republican Senator. I couldn't have said it better myself.

So Republicans should join us on Thursday, vote yes on our proposal, extend the ACA tax credits by 3 years, and greatly reduce the specter of premiums going up and up and up.

Mr. President, on chips, this one is an amazing one. Donald Trump is just selling out America for his own ego and his own gain. That is what he is doing on chips when, yesterday, Donald Trump announced he was giving the green light to NVIDIA to send even more powerful AI chips to China--the H200, which are used to train AI models.

Let's be clear. You can't claim to be ``tough on China'' if you willingly sell them some of the most advanced chips in the world so they can use them to strengthen their military.

People on both sides of the aisle are aghast that Trump would do this. Does he think it through? Does he care about what will happen tomorrow or just his little announcement today?

Donald Trump's announcement selling these chips to China is dangerous. They will use them to strengthen their military, their technological edge--all at the expense of American and world national security.

Even Donald Trump's own Department of Justice warned about the dangers of these chips making their way to China. Here is what they said--the Department of Justice, DOJ--when they acted against a chip- smuggling operation yesterday. This is Trump's Justice Department:

These chips are the building blocks of AI superiority and

are integral to modern military applications. The country

that controls these chips will control AI technology; the

country that controls AI technology will control the future.

Donald Trump, you are letting China control our future; you are selling us out--all so can you have a little, 1-day ego gain of making some kind of announcement, which no one is going to believe anyway.

Donald Trump should listen to his own DOJ about the danger of giving China these chips before cutting stupid deals that cost America dearly in the years to come, but, unfortunately, this is textbook Donald Trump. He is so desperate to get a deal with President Xi so he can get that photo op that he will sell out America's long-term security for a short-term political gain. This sellout is not only going to hurt us, it is going to hurt our children and our grandchildren as China begins to dominate the world in AI.

Then he comes up with this tawdry deal where he says: NVIDIA makes money, and the United States makes money.

The short-term gain of dollars from selling these chips is so much outweighed by the danger when China takes the lead on AI using the chips that were made in America and sold to them by Donald Trump.

So I ask one question: Where is the outrage from my Republican colleagues? Are they just going to sit by while Donald Trump sells America out to Xi Jinping?

That is what is going on here. The chips deal is terrible. It will cost our national security dearly, and the President must reverse course before it is too late.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 284, S. 3385, the 3-year extension of our ACA premiums.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, today, Donald Trump is announcing a $12 billion bailout for farmers who have been punished by his trade war and his tariffs.

Let's be very clear. The reason farmers need relief at all is largely because Donald Trump betrayed them and decimated their businesses with his disastrous tariffs.

Now, Donald Trump is patting himself on the back, acting like a hero to farmers, while using taxpayer dollars to clean up the mess he created. It is textbook Donald Trump incompetence.

I want to make three very important points about this announcement.

First, as is so often the case with Donald Trump, we have no idea whether the farmers who actually need help will ever see this $12 billion. He always makes promises that don't deliver. He regularly announces that relief is coming with all due haste, and, somehow, time and time again, the money never reaches the people who need it most.

So if I were a farmer, I wouldn't count on this money. It is probably more of Donald Trump's big talk without really delivering. That is what has happened over and over again.

Second, a one-time payment for farmers is cold comfort for all the headache and anxiety and losses they have endured because of Donald Trump's trade war.

Farmers do not want a handout. Ask them. They want markets. But Donald Trump's policies have killed the markets our farmers rely on to make a living.

This is especially true for soybean farmers. China went from buying more than $12 billion in American soybeans last year to virtually nothing by the middle of this year. That Chinese need for soybeans didn't disappear. Contracts went to other countries, like Argentina, which Trump then bailed out at U.S. farmers' expense. And producers in those countries--Argentina, Brazil--have now locked in new long-term deals that will shut American farmers out for years and which a one- time check can't alleviate. A one-time check isn't a solution; it is a bandaid over gunshot wounds.

Again, ask our farmers. They want long-term contracts. Unfortunately, they are not going to get them because, when we cut off China, China went to Brazil and Argentina, and those soybean growers said: Yes, we will give you soybeans, but not for a year--3 years, 4 years, 5 years.

Finally, the American people are being punished twice for Donald Trump's costly tariffs. Families have seen the cost of beef, produce, and other groceries skyrocket over this year because of the tariffs. And now they are told their taxpayer dollars must be used to clean up the mess that Donald Trump and his tariffs created.

So, on the first, he tells consumers: You have to pay more for the tariffs.

Then the taxpayers have to pay more because the farmers are in such trouble because of what Donald Trump did.

Donald Trump's announcement today is hardly a triumph. It is an admission of failure--failure to help farmers, failure to rein in China, and failure to lower costs.

(The remarks of Mr. Schumer pertaining to the introduction of S. Res. 533 are printed in today's Record under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')

The Economy

Mr. President, on Donald Trump and the costs that Americans pay for his policies, tomorrow, Donald Trump will travel to Pennsylvania to give a speech on what he calls his economic accomplishments.

We all know how this is going to turn out. Donald Trump will spend the first few minutes of his speech trying to stick to his talking points. Then he will spend the next 2 hours rambling about how affordability is a Democratic scam, a fake narrative. He will blame Joe Biden for his own failures while offering zero solutions to bring down costs.

Americans who are paying more for daily essentials want to see the President act, not ramble from a podium. Affordability isn't some kind of messaging issue, and it is certainly not a scam, as Donald Trump claims from inside his little bubble. He doesn't even realize what Americans are going through as they worry and struggle to pay the bills that come in each week and each month. It is a crisis Donald Trump himself exacerbated with his own policies.

There aren't enough speeches in the world to reverse the damage Donald Trump has done to rising costs. After all, those tariffs have raised prices across the board on groceries, on clothing, on energy.

Whose tariffs are they? Donald Trump's.

Who promised to bring costs down on day one and then turned around and cut healthcare, cut SNAP benefits, closed rural hospitals, and axed good-paying energy jobs in red and blue States alike? Donald Trump.

Who has been completely silent and invisible as Americans speed toward a healthcare cliff unlike any we have seen in a long time, and who has done nothing as families are on the brink of paying thousands of dollars more on healthcare premiums? Donald Trump.

So, look, the matter here is simple: Donald Trump can blame the previous administration all he wants for his own failures. He can keep calling affordability a con job or a fake narrative or a Democratic scam. He can keep pretending everything is going great.

But, Trump, it can't change the reality that you have created. People are hurting, and people need help paying for the things they need every day.

Donald Trump has failed to deliver on the No. 1 thing the American people care about: costs--how much it costs them to buy the things they need. And it is going to come back to haunt Republicans very, very soon.

Healthcare

Mr. President, on healthcare, well, we are at the start of an extremely important week for Donald Trump and for Republicans when it comes to our Nation's healthcare crisis. On Thursday, the Senate will vote on the Democrats' bill for a clean, 3-year extension of the ACA premium tax credits.

The question Republicans face this week is very simple: Will they support our bill and lower people's premiums or will they block our bill and send premiums through the roof? That is what is at stake on the vote this Thursday.

Leader Thune just gave a speech blasting the ACA.

But, Leader Thune, you blast the ACA; well, where is the Republican plan?

The Republicans have no plan. They are so divided between themselves that they can't even put a plan together.

We Democrats do have a plan, and it is this bill for a clean, 3-year extension. This is the only way to solve this problem now before premiums go way up and, in January, people are faced with such high bills. Our bill prevents costs from going up right now.

Here is the reality: Most Americans want to see these credits extended.

Leader Thune blasts the ACA, but he has no plan. Amazingly, he has no plan when 55 percent of Trump voters--of MAGA voters--want to see the credits extended.

So I urge my Republican colleagues not to follow Leader Thune.

You have one chance, Republican colleagues, to get this right.

Left to their own devices, Republicans don't have a snowball's chance in hell of fixing the healthcare crisis--not a snowball's chance in hell of fixing this crisis--because they are so divided. Even the plans they claim are reasonable can't move forward because one-half of the Republicans want one thing, a third of the Republicans want another thing, a sixth of the Republicans want a third thing, and they can't agree.

The contrast is stark: Republicans are divided, and Democrats are united. We want to extend these credits. It is the right thing to do for the American people as they stand on the edge of the cliff.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest failures in leadership on healthcare has been Donald Trump. As our country faces a crisis that will touch the lives of millions of people, he is sitting on the sidelines. For months, we have urged him to meet with us, to talk with us, and to come to an agreement on fixing ACA premiums. Instead, he has isolated himself in the White House and blasted the ACA on Truth Social while doing nothing--nothing--to prevent this from happening, while doing nothing to present a real plan.

Republicans are nowhere on healthcare, and the clock is ticking. Americans' livelihoods are at stake. Our healthcare system is at stake. The future of our hospitals, many of which will be overrun when people lose insurance, is also at stake.

Republicans who claim to worry about healthcare costs have one last chance to act, and that is to join Democrats in supporting our bill for a clean, 3-year extension.

Executive Nominations

Finally, Mr. President, on these noms packages that are coming forward, today, Senate Republicans are

moving forward on a new nominee package that is chock-full of horribly unqualified and shockingly radical nominees.

All year long, Republicans have bent the knee to Donald Trump--bent the knee to Trump--and turned the Senate's duty of advice and consent into obey and confirm, and this package of nominees is no different.

By moving these nominees in one package, Republicans in the Senate are trying to hide how bad these nominees are from the American people. They would be embarrassed to have a debate even of 2 hours. They would be embarrassed to have a vote because these nominees are so bad.

We all know that Donald Trump and the way he nominates people often are perverse. If someone has broken the law or if someone has done a bad thing, he almost wants to nominate them, and the folks around here are going along.

Let me give you a few quick examples. Thomas Bell to be inspector general of HHS. He is supposed to be looking at fraud, waste, and abuse. This guy is supposed to be inspector general of HHS. Well, Bell is a well-documented Trump loyalist and anti-abortion extremist who has a history of committing repeated fraud, manufacturing fake documents, and misusing unauthorized funds. This is who the Republicans want to confirm as an HHS watchdog? Give us a break. Give America a break.

By the way, these nominees are going to come back and embarrass Trump, just as we warned about Hegseth. If you pick a FOX News commentator to run the most complicated life-and-death Department in our country, he will embarrass you, we said, or worse, and that is just what is happening. It is worse.

What about James Percival to be general counsel at DHS? He is another Trump loyalist who has been a key figure in pushing the administration to defy court orders in regard to deportation actions.

Then there is Jeffrey Hall to be Assistant Administrator at the EPA. How much experience does Mr. Hall have for this position? Zero. And in his time acting in the role, the EPA dismissed a complaint, against a Trump donor group, that alleged that pesticides were sprayed by guards on detainees at an ICE facility.

I could go on and on and on as so many of these nominees are awful-- this is chock-full of unqualified, horrible nominees--but the bottom line is this: Democrats want individual votes on these nominees. We want time to debate them on the floor, and we want the American people to see for themselves who Donald Trump and the Republicans are trying to appoint to serious positions of power.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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, on anti-Semitism, today, in America, we are witnessing a disturbing and alarming trend. Anti-Semitism and White supremacy and, indeed, neo-Nazism--just saying the word sends shudders down one's spine--are increasingly running rampant in our society. These deeply pernicious forms of hate, spewed by rightwing radicals like Nick Fuentes and platformed by people like Tucker Carlson, who almost seem proud to platform them, have pushed America closer to a tipping point.

Jewish Americans and all those targeted by White nationalist hate are all too often looking over their shoulders, fearing for their safety. And too many--too many--in this country are silent against this threat.

On this issue, silence is dangerous. Because silence is dangerous, today, I am introducing a resolution cosponsored by every single Senate Democrat--all 47. This resolution rejects Nick Fuentes and his anti- Semitic and White supremacist views. This resolution condemns Tucker Carlson for giving Fuentes a platform, and it condemns anti-Semitism, White supremacy, and Nazism wherever and whenever they strike.

As I introduce this resolution today, I invite my Senate Republican colleagues to join us in taking a stand against hate by cosponsoring this resolution. The country wants to see both parties united against anti-Semitism, so it is not too late for my Republican colleagues to join my resolution.

This is not a theoretical exercise. Senators speaking out against White supremacist hatred is vital in today's day and age because there have been far too many instances lately of anti-Semitism, White supremacy, and other forms of hatred being welcomed, normalized, and even endorsed in our society. Who would have thought? When we

stay silent, when we fail to reject anti-Semitism and White supremacy, that is when they spread through society like wildfire.

So my resolution gives Senators from both parties a chance to stand up against anti-Semitism and White supremacy and to send a clear, unmistakable message that here in America, we reject all and any forms of hatred and bigotry.

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

Mr. President, today, I am announcing that Senate Democrats will introduce legislation for a clean, 3-year extension of the current ACA tax credits. This is the bill--a clean, 3-year extension of ACA tax credits--that Democrats will bring to the floor of the Senate for a vote next Thursday, and every single Democrat will support it.

Republicans have 1 week to decide where they stand: Vote for this bill and bring healthcare costs down, or block this bill and send premiums skyrocketing.

That is what is at stake when we vote next week. It is going to be one of the most important votes we take because it is showing who is on the side of the American people and lowering their healthcare costs and who is on the side of the big special interests and is going to allow them to raise healthcare costs for America. People back home will be watching what Republicans do, and the American people are running out of time before January 1.

Make no mistake, our bill is the last chance Republicans will get before January 1 to prevent premiums from skyrocketing. Republicans have no hope of solving this healthcare crisis on their own. They have no healthcare plan of their own whatsoever. They are far too divided. Americans can't help but notice that when Leader Thune came to the podium a few minutes ago, he didn't even talk about healthcare because he has nothing to say. They can't even come up with their own bill.

The only path next week is supporting our bill. While Democrats are united in fighting for the American people, Republicans are too busy fighting amongst themselves. They can't even come up with their own plan. Republicans have spent more time kicking low-income people off health insurance and raising costs for those who stay covered than on doing anything to lower premiums. They have riddled their plan with poison pills that would ban abortion nationwide.

For those Republicans talking about sending checks, how is a one-time check supposed to last the whole year? People are paying more every day for the things they need, and a single check in the mail is cold comfort if you are paying $1,000 or $5,000 more a month just for health insurance.

So the reality is this. The reality is simply this: The easiest, most direct way, the simplest way to solve this premium crisis is for Republicans to vote for our bill. Any Republican who claims to care about premium increases on January 1 has only one realistic path, and that is to support our bill for a simple, clean, 3-year extension.

If Republicans block our bill, there is no going back. We won't get another chance to halt these premium spikes before they kick in at the start of the new year. Those insurance premiums in January will land like a hammer blow on the American people. The pain will fall on all Americans but heaviest in the Republicans' own backyards. They don't even care about their own constituents.

As election results have shown in November, this past week, and in many other instances, the American people are beginning to learn Republicans don't care that costs are going through the roof for the average American family.

Americans with chronic illnesses will suffer if we don't extend the credits. Rural communities will be devastated. People who get insurance through their jobs will see their costs go up too. This isn't just affecting ACA people.

We can avoid all of this needless pain if just a handful of Republicans join us in passing our bill--join us in passing our bill. Or are they going to continue the Republican war on healthcare, on reducing healthcare costs, and block getting better healthcare for the American people.

For the last 30 years, Republicans have been fighting, but now this fight is coming to a head because the failure to extend these premiums will hit so hard--harder than anything that has hit the American people in the last while.

Democrats have made clear where we stand. Now that our proposal is out, Republicans have 1 week to pick a side: Join us and prevent premiums from skyrocketing, or block our bill and condemn people, the American people, to financial disaster. The choice is up to the Republicans here in the Senate.

Mr. President, on Signalgate, today, a Pentagon watchdog will release a new report on Signalgate finding that Secretary Hegseth put the lives of American troops at risk by sharing sensitive operational information on a group chat in flagrant disregard of security proposals. Secretary Hegseth has put the lives of American troops at risk. The conclusion that this report points to is damning. The Secretary of Defense's lack of judgment put the lives of our troops in danger.

Instead of accepting responsibility for his mistakes as any real leader would do, the Secretary has remained defiant, has mocked this incident, and has tried to label this as a witch hunt--as a witch hunt.

Pete Hegseth has a clear MO: He puts himself first at the expense of our men and women in uniform, and when he screws up, he tries to hide the truth. That is his MO--putting himself first and then hiding the truth.

This new report, just like the boat strikes in the Caribbean, points to a growing pattern: When Hegseth has the chance to make himself look good, look tough, he will talk a big game--try to seem tough. He will go on TV and make big speeches. But when he makes mistakes or faces any adversity, he throws others under the bus without a second thought.

This guy does not belong as Secretary of Defense. In the 10 months on the job, Pete Hegseth has demonstrated clear defects of character that we cannot afford in a Secretary of Defense.

I ask my Republican colleagues: How can we trust this man to keep our troops safe when it is clear that he isn't able to even keep sensitive information safe? How can we trust the

word of a man who will change his story or shift blame or hide the truth at the drop of a hat? The answer is, we cannot trust him.

Pete Hegseth is not qualified to serve as Secretary of Defense. Our brave troops need much better than Pete Hegseth.

Mr. President, today, on nominations, Republicans will move forward with a Trojan horse of a nominee package, confirming in one fell swoop a slew of horribly unqualified, shockingly radical nominees.

All year long, Senate Republicans have bent the knee to Donald Trump, giving him every nominee he has asked for, no matter how unqualified, no matter how unfit they are, no matter how bad this nominee package is. It is much different than any nominee package we have seen.

Democrats oppose these people, as you will see in a minute, because they are just totally unqualified to be in the important positions he is trying to place them in. No wonder the Republicans didn't want to have votes on these people, didn't want to have discussion, because when the American people learn who they are, they are aghast that these types of people would be appointed.

So, yes, Democrats want votes. We want least an hour or two of discussion to fill these important positions.

Leader Thune said, oh, we are just doing this for partisan political reasons. Here is what he said exactly. He said: Democrats must be doing one of two things. Thune said: Either the President has been nominating historically bad nominees, or Democrats are simply being partisan.

Well, Speaker Thune, Leader Thune, that is obvious, Leader Thune: It is that Donald Trump is nominating historically bad nominees. That is why we are doing this.

I mean, there are so many. I could spend hours on the floor talking about them. But let me mention a few, just a few, and when you hear what is going on, America, you will be aghast.

Look at the nomination of Sara Bailey to serve as Director of National Drug Control Policy. They are trying to sneak this one through. Of course they would be afraid of a discussion or a vote or who she is coming to light. Bailey has no background in medicine, no background in public health, no background in law enforcement. She is so radical--Bailey is--that even FOX News's news shows banned her.

But do you know what she has going for her? why she was nominated for an important position with no experience? She said the January 6 rioters were ``good Americans.'' That was her ticket to getting this job. All you have to do is tell Donald Trump he was right about January 6, even though he was so obviously wrong and dangerous in what he did then. But all you have to do is tell him ``Oh, they were good Americans,'' and that is good enough for Donald Trump. And now Senate Republicans have gone down to his level, and it is good enough for them.

Republicans are also trying to sneak through people like Anthony D'Esposito to be the inspector general--the watchdog--of the Department of Labor. This is a former Member of the House who put his mistress on his congressional payroll and has faced a slew of misconduct allegations as a police officer. That is not anyone's definition of a good watchdog--unless you are Senate Republicans. Someone who faced misconduct allegations and put his mistress on the payroll is now the watchdog at the Department of Labor? Give me a break.

Of course they want to hide these nominees. They are embarrassed about them. They know that Donald Trump has the lowest standard of any President we have ever seen for qualifications to important positions.

There is John Bartrum, who Republicans want to appoint as Under Secretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs. What is his claim to fame? He was instrumental in firing VA staff, tearing up VA contracts, and politicizing VA research.

That is just three. There are so many more that are just appalling. Yeah, we Democrats of course want to see votes on these nominees. We don't want to allow them to just be all voted yes in a big package so their lack of qualification, their lack of honor, their lack of honesty, their past records can be hidden.

But Republicans are ashamed--ashamed--of who they have to vote for.

They should vote against these nominees, but they are afraid of Donald Trump. It is very clear what Republicans are doing. They are trying to pull a fast one on the American people and sneak through an entire henhouse of bad nominees without giving them the scrutiny that the American people demand.

You know, when you choose bad nominees, you pay a price. Trump picked Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, whom I talked about a few minutes ago. He had no qualifications to be Secretary of Defense. The only way he got through was arm-twisting from some Republicans who knew he shouldn't be in that position, and now Trump and the administration and Senate Republicans who voted for him are paying a price because it is so obvious he is screwing up left and right.

When you put in these bad nominees, you sneak them through or bludgeon them through, the administration and, unfortunately, the American people pay a very significant price. This nominee package is a perfect symbol of what this majority has been about from day one: bowing to Donald Trump, rubberstamping his unqualified loyalists, and chipping away at the Senate's role as a check on a highly abusive Executive.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, last night, Americans once again went to the polls in an election where affordability--how much people have to pay for the things they really need--was the driving issue. A deep-red Tennessee district that Trump won by 22 points swung by double digits in Democrats' direction.

Last night was the latest flashing red light indicating Americans are fed up with Republican policies--particularly how much they have to pay for the things they really need.

Donald Trump doesn't get it. At yesterday's Cabinet meeting, Donald Trump once again doubled down on the bizarre claim that the affordability issue is somehow a hoax. Yeah, maybe it is a hoax for a billionaire like him and all of his cronies, who never have to worry about how much they have to pay for the things they need, but American people have to worry and worry about it every week when the bills come in, and they say: My income isn't equal to what I need to buy.

The costs are going up and up and up, in large part--in good part-- because of Donald Trump and his administration's policies.

So when Donald Trump says that affordability is somehow a hoax, he is on a different planet than the average American. At his Cabinet meeting, he called affordability ``a fake narrative'' and ``a con job.'' He said affordability ``doesn't mean anything to anybody.'' What a bubble he is in. He doesn't understand how the average person struggles each week, each month, to pay the bills.

Of all the ways Donald Trump could respond to people's worry about the high cost of living, he has chosen the worst strategy. He is telling Americans they are imagining things. Donald Trump--a man who has lived his entire life in the kind of luxury most people could never wrap their heads around--is pretending that high costs somehow don't exist. The man is a multibillionaire. The President of the United States, who is supposed to know what is on people's minds, is telling people that high costs that they pay each week don't exist. Well, their pocketbooks feel it. Their wallets feel it. Their bank accounts feel it.

Maybe things are going great if you are rich like Donald Trump, but for everyone else, things are getting worse, not better, when it comes to paying for stuff.

In a recent Axios-CBS poll, half of Americans said that food is harder to purchase this year than it was a year ago. That doesn't sound like a hoax--not to people who go to the supermarket every week and have trouble and look at those bills and say: How the hell did they get so high? It sounds, rather, not like a hoax, which Donald Trump seems to think it is, but a big problem every week for American families--the high cost of groceries and what they buy at the supermarket.

Seventy-four percent of Americans now say that the economy is either poor or just fair. Consumer confidence--one of the watch words of how good our economy is going to do in the future--is sinking.

This holiday season, the price of an 8-pound, bone-in spiral ham is up nearly 50 percent compared to last year--50 percent for a traditional Christmas dish. Beef prices are up 15 percent compared to last year. Canned vegetables are more expensive because tariffs made the packaging more costly even when those vegetables are grown here. Even something as simple as aluminum foil is up 40 percent compared to last year.

So, Donald Trump, hear the American people: Affordability--the high cost of paying for things--is not a hoax. People are struggling to pay for the things they need.

It is because of Donald Trump and his disastrous policies. His tariffs have effectively taxed each household around $2,000 a year. Tariffs sent retail coffee prices up 40 percent in September alone. And those tariffs were placed on places like Brazil. We don't grow coffee here in America, so what the hell is there a tariff doing there? Except it is a tax. That is the way Trump taxes people.

Tariffs have poisoned American manufacturing. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that manufacturing has contracted for 9 months in a row. Manufacturing, one of the lifebloods of America, has been declining every month for the last 9 months. And what is the reason? Ask manufacturers. Tariffs are the No. 1 cost. Producers say it is getting more expensive to source the material they need to make their products. It is very simple.

Mr. President, when it comes to paying for things that Americans need, healthcare is way at the top of the list.

Every American knows they want to have healthcare. God forbid they, their spouse, their loved one, their kids, their parents become ill or sick. They want to know there is some kind of safety net there for them. But Trump and the Republicans don't seem to realize that.

In just 28 days, the ACA tax credits are set to expire. Next year, tens of millions of Americans will see their healthcare premiums skyrocket--20 million by an average of 114 percent, those on ACA that need those credits. Millions more--even on private insurance--are going to pay a whole lot more too.

I just had a friend I know who works for a big company--the company told him ``You are going to have to pay $450 more a month for your health insurance'' because the insurers are charging the health company more--all because of the expiration of the ACA credit.

This is not theoretical. Higher premiums mean real pain, real suffering for real people--most of them, in fact, in red States.

Yesterday, the American Cancer Society found that virtually every single cancer patient who relies on ACA tax credits--96 percent--96 percent said they will struggle to get the care they need if the credits expire.

Republicans are literally telling cancer patients ``You are on your own.'' Telling someone with cancer ``You are on your own because I want to give tax breaks to billionaires''--how un-American is that? How against what Americans need, want, desire is that?

Republicans have clearly sent America barreling towards a healthcare cliff.

The Republicans are divided. Democrats--we are united on healthcare. One House Republican, though, said that the Republicans are ``nowhere on healthcare.'' That is right. On healthcare, Republicans are divided; Democrats are united. And the divisions on the Republican side are severe. One day, the White House says they will release some grand plan to address the problem. The next day, congressional Republicans say ``hell no'' and shoot the White House plans down, and Trump backs off. Republicans can't agree on whether to dismantle the ACA or privatize the whole system or just keep attacking women's health because it plays well with their hard-right, anti-choice base.

Forget not being on the same page on healthcare; Republicans aren't even reading from the same book. And while Republicans continue fighting with each other, the American people are left holding the bill.

So I have said many times before: When it comes to healthcare, Republicans are divided--divided among themselves and divided from what the American people overwhelmingly want. Fifty-five percent of Trump voters--Trump voters--want to restore the ACA credits.

Democrats are united on lowering premiums. We are united on lowering costs. We are united on helping Americans pay for the things they need. Republicans, meanwhile, are paralyzed--paralyzed by their divisions, paralyzed by their own extremism. And it will be Americans who will pay the price when premiums go up. And they know who is to blame. They know why.

Mr. President, I want to begin with a truly disgusting and alarming piece of news the American people got this morning. This morning, the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, was released from prison after Donald Trump gave him a pardon.

We all know Donald Trump does a lot of hypocritical things. Almost every day there is hypocrisy oozing from the White House. But pardoning one of the world's biggest drug traffickers is egregious, shameful, and dangerous, even for Donald Trump.

It would be bad enough on its own for Donald Trump to pardon this horrible drug trafficker, but for him to pardon this drug lord while putting a quarter of our military in the Caribbean, right nearby Honduras, to fight drug trafficking makes an utter mockery of

Donald Trump's supposed desire to root out all drug trafficking.

Let's be clear of the facts: The person Donald Trump just pardoned was convicted of helping move 400 tons of cocaine to the United States, all the while Trump blows up alleged drug boats to prevent drugs from getting to America and risks leapfrogging the United States into war with Venezuela.

You can't have it both ways, Mr. President. You talk a big game about hunting down drug traffickers and getting drugs off our streets and then turn around and free a dangerous, convicted drug lord. That sends a message to other criminals: Suck up to Trump, and you will get a pardon, no matter how many boatloads of drugs you pump into our streets.

Even one Trump adviser admitted that ``how we justify this is really hard.''

Trump's pardon reeks of hypocrisy; it reeks of corruption, which is the MO of the Trump administration.

The failure of the leadership at the Department of Defense is also a national embarrassment. The mess Secretary Hegseth creates regularly shows the consequences of picking an inexperienced FOX News host to lead a massively complex life-or-death Federal Agency. Donald Trump is learning it the hard way: If you pick a FOX News cable host to lead the largest, most complicated Federal Agency of all, you get burnt, and Hegseth is just way beyond what anyone would imagine in how bad he is at that Department.

In the past few days, more questions have arisen about Hegseth's order to attack alleged drug trafficking vessels off the coast of Venezuela. It is possible those strikes--which may have included verbal orders from the Secretary of Defense to ``kill everybody'' on those boats--violated the law.

But this is the problem: The American people still don't know exactly what happened because Pete Hegseth refuses to tell the truth.

Months ago, right after the strikes, Hegseth went on FOX News and bragged that he was present at every moment of the operation. He said on FOX News that he ``watched it live.'' He said the same to us in person.

But then, last night, he tweeted that his admiral was actually the one who made all the combat decisions.

This is so spineless.

Pete Hegseth won't hesitate for a moment to talk a big game and take credit if he thinks it makes him look good, but the minute trouble arises, suddenly Hegseth says someone else was making the decision.

Now, let's be very clear about something: There is a very easy way for the American people to get the truth. Pete Hegseth should release the full tapes of the September 2 attack--both the first and second strike; not a clip, not some edited or redacted snippet. The full, unedited tapes of each strike must be released so the American people can see what happened with their own eyes.

Now, Pete Hegseth says he did nothing wrong. So prove it. If it is true, he should have nothing to fear from the truth. But if he refuses to release the tapes, if he stonewalls, if he keeps hiding the facts, then the question becomes unavoidable: What is Pete Hegseth hiding? What does Pete Hegseth not want the American people to see?

Is it that his story doesn't add up? We don't know because Pete Hegseth is right now hiding the truth. And, sadly, that has become the theme with this administration. When facts are inconvenient, they cover up.

So, Secretary Hegseth, release the tapes.

I also want to commend my Senate colleagues, including the chairman and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, Senators Wicker and Reed, for working together in good faith in a bipartisan way to conduct oversight of these boat strikes. I support those efforts wholeheartedly.

One of the first things we need is a classified briefing from the DOD--Department of Defense--about exactly what happened during these operations. Let me be clear: Secretary Hegseth must be part of those briefings. We need documentation. We need the tapes.

But we should go one step further: Secretary Hegseth should testify publicly before the committee, under oath, so that the American people hear the facts.

The truth should not be kept behind closed doors. The fresh air of public scrutiny should be let in. The public has a right to know. That is why Pete Hegseth must testify publicly and, most importantly, why he must release the full tape of the attacks.