Floor Statements

Mr. President, on tariffs, last week, Walmart announced that soon it will raise prices on its products nationwide. Then, over the weekend, Donald Trump, who started this stupid trade war to begin with, tried to bully and harass Walmart for having the gall of being transparent about the decision--for having the gall to show that prices are going up because of Donald Trump's tariffs.

Then, today, the CEO of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon, warned that the impact of tariffs have not yet passed through the broader economy. Even Donald Trump's scaled-back tariffs are ``pretty extreme'' in Dimon's words.

So Donald Trump can try to blame businesses when they are forced to raise prices, but he can't escape the economic realities of his own trade war. He made this mess. He is sending prices up. He will bear the responsibility--Donald Trump will.

Finally, it is pretty rich for Donald Trump to tell retailers that they have to ``eat the tariffs,'' but, meanwhile, he is accepting luxury planes and crypto deals in the Middle East. Donald Trump does far more to help himself than to help America.

Mr. President, on the tax scam, on Friday, Moody's Ratings downgraded the U.S. Government's credit rating, citing rising fiscal deficits, soaring interest costs, and fears that Republicans are about to make things worse. You would think Moody's announcement would be a wake-up call to the so-called party of fiscal responsibility to stop their multitrillion-dollar giveaway to the ultrarich.

But nope, last night, Republicans cleared another hurdle to pass their billionaire boondoggle, one that adds trillions to the national debt. Republicans have forfeited any credibility when it comes to complaining about government waste. They are now the undisputed kings of reckless spending, and their ``big, beautiful bill'' is their crown jewel.

Permanently extending these billionaire tax giveaways could add as much as $50 trillion to the national debt in the next 30 years--$50 trillion. No matter what Republicans say, these tax breaks are not going to pay for themselves. The last Trump tax cut certainly didn't. Why will these be any different, particularly given the economic chaos Donald Trump has created with tariffs?

Americans have to be wondering: What are we getting in return for this fiscal timebomb?

The answer is this: more tax breaks for those at the top. That is it.

Those at the bottom, meanwhile, are getting ripped off. A study from Wharton released on Friday found that many Americans making less than $51,000 a year would lose after-tax income under the Republican proposal. You heard that right. Many making less than $51,000--that is a lot of Americans--would see their incomes go down. Future generations, meanwhile, would be condemned to a lifetime of higher borrowing costs, incurable inflation, and diminished economic potential.

This is the entire goal behind the Republican's so-called ``big, beautiful bill'': Help the ultrarich today; screw the middle class tomorrow.

That is not beautiful; that is ugly.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, now on the Qatar plane and the Middle East, last week, Donald Trump concluded a visit to the Middle East that was a smashing success for his own bottom line but a dubious outcome for America's economic and security interest.

First, on the Qatari plane, last week, Donald Trump confirmed that he would accept a $400 million luxury Boeing 747 plane offered by Qatar to use as Air Force One--the largest bribe to an American President in modern history.

So, today, I am introducing the Presidential Airlift Security Act, prohibiting the use of any foreign plane to be utilized as Air Force One. Senate Republicans who say they are troubled by this Qatari gift should join me in supporting this very commonsense legislation.

It should not take an act of Congress to stop the President of the United States from accepting the largest foreign bribe in modern history, but we are dealing with a President who has shown he is perfectly willing to sell out the American people and the Presidency to fill his own pockets.

Specifically, my legislation would prohibit even a single taxpayer dollar from being used by the Department of Defense to procure, modify, or retrofit any foreign aircraft to be used in transporting a U.S. President.

For one, overhauling a foreign luxury plane to serve as Air Force One would cost billions of taxpayer dollars. The refurbishing alone would cost more than the value of the plane itself, and it would take years. It is a senseless waste of taxpayer resources.

Using a foreign plane as Air Force One would also bring unimaginable national security risks. National security experts, from one end of the country to the other, agree: No matter how many modifications are made or how much is spent or how intensely it is retrofitted, there will never be 100 percent confidence that the plane is secure.

This is not a gamble anyone should be willing to take. It makes no practical sense for Donald Trump to accept this luxury gift when other alternatives in the works are less risky and less costly for taxpayers.

This gift reeks of corruption and naked self-enrichment. It reeks of corruption and naked self-enrichment, and Republicans should stand up and support our bill, defend national security, and protect Americans.

In the meantime, I will continue my hold on all political Department of Justice nominees until we get more answers about this clearly unethical deal.

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

Mr. President, now on the Qatar plane and the Middle East, last week, Donald Trump concluded a visit to the Middle East that was a smashing success for his own bottom line but a dubious outcome for America's economic and security interest.

First, on the Qatari plane, last week, Donald Trump confirmed that he would accept a $400 million luxury Boeing 747 plane offered by Qatar to use as Air Force One--the largest bribe to an American President in modern history.

So, today, I am introducing the Presidential Airlift Security Act, prohibiting the use of any foreign plane to be utilized as Air Force One. Senate Republicans who say they are troubled by this Qatari gift should join me in supporting this very commonsense legislation.

It should not take an act of Congress to stop the President of the United States from accepting the largest foreign bribe in modern history, but we are dealing with a President who has shown he is perfectly willing to sell out the American people and the Presidency to fill his own pockets.

Specifically, my legislation would prohibit even a single taxpayer dollar from being used by the Department of Defense to procure, modify, or retrofit any foreign aircraft to be used in transporting a U.S. President.

For one, overhauling a foreign luxury plane to serve as Air Force One would cost billions of taxpayer dollars. The refurbishing alone would cost more than the value of the plane itself, and it would take years. It is a senseless waste of taxpayer resources.

Using a foreign plane as Air Force One would also bring unimaginable national security risks. National security experts, from one end of the country to the other, agree: No matter how many modifications are made or how much is spent or how intensely it is retrofitted, there will never be 100 percent confidence that the plane is secure.

This is not a gamble anyone should be willing to take. It makes no practical sense for Donald Trump to accept this luxury gift when other alternatives in the works are less risky and less costly for taxpayers.

This gift reeks of corruption and naked self-enrichment. It reeks of corruption and naked self-enrichment, and Republicans should stand up and support our bill, defend national security, and protect Americans.

In the meantime, I will continue my hold on all political Department of Justice nominees until we get more answers about this clearly unethical deal.

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, this morning, Donald Trump's trade war strikes again. Walmart announced today it plans to raise prices in stores across America because of Donald Trump's tariffs.

Here is what Walmart will say on its earnings call:

[G]iven the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced

levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the

pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.

Walmart's raising prices is a canary in the coal mine for the devastation Trump's tariffs will have on Main Street. If a retailer as big as Walmart can't escape the pain of tariffs, what chance do small businesses have? Their customers are inevitably going to see prices rise.

Walmart's announcement is a glaring reminder that even after supposedly backtracking on some of his tariffs, significant damage will not go away. The chaos he has unleashed is eating away at retailers, restaurants, small businesses, and middle-class families' wallets. It is still estimated that these tariffs will cost thousands of dollars for each family this year.

Donald Trump's tariffs are nothing more than a tax hike on consumers. I am supporting legislation with Jamie Raskin to require large retailers to start displaying clearly to customers precisely how much tariffs are contributing to the total price of products.

Americans deserve transparency. If Trump's tariffs are causing prices to go up, through no fault of the retailer, the American consumer ought to know it. Walmart should start displaying in their stores and online how much tariffs actually contribute to the price of their goods. So should all other retailers.

America should know how much Trump's tariffs are hurting them. People understand it. People are beginning to understand it, but this display would hit it home every time they buy a good.

It shows you how destructive and chaotic Donald Trump's trade war has been. He should backtrack--totally backtrack--before we enter a recession. Specific tariffs that deal with how China treats us, the Chinese Government, the Chinese economy treats us, that is fine, not this ``crazy, go after everybody, poorly put together, and constantly changing tariff'' regime.

Mr. President, on cartels, well, Donald Trump and our Republican friends love to talk about border security--how they are tough on border security--more than just about anything else. So you can imagine our surprise to read that President Trump is making deals with drug cartels--El Chapo to be precise--to come into our country. Amazing.

This week--it is hard to believe. You can't make this stuff up-- reports came out that Donald Trump made a deal to allow 17 relatives of El Chapo--that is right, El Chapo, a dangerous, murderous, notorious, drug lord in U.S. custody--into the United States.

El Chapo was head of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, which was designated a ``terrorist organization'' back in February--and now letting their relatives in? Republicans want to talk about importing criminals? Where is the outrage on Donald Trump letting the family of the world's most dangerous cartel into the United States?

Let's hear it from our Republican friends. This is a total disgrace. Republicans should be up in arms if they want to have any credibility about being tough against drug traffickers, drug criminals, drug cartels. This isn't just being soft on crime; it is rolling out a welcome mat to El Chapo and his family and inviting it into our country.

But if you are related to El Chapo--if you are related to El Chapo-- Donald Trump says: Come right in. Welcome to America. He will roll out the red carpet.

It is lunacy. It is a disgrace.

Donald Trump has no problem deporting U.S. citizens, but he will grant parole for the family of drug traffickers. What message does this send to other drug lords? criminals? terrorists?

Where are our Republican colleagues on this? Where is the outrage from the other side of the aisle who say they want to prevent criminals from crossing our borders?

Mr. President, now on reconciliation and SNAP, so the Republicans so- called ``big, beautiful bill'' is one of the most heinous, callous, and cruel proposals we have ever seen.

Republicans don't just want to ax healthcare for 14 million Americans, which is going to mean higher costs for even many more millions of Americans, they also want massive cuts to SNAP, the largest, most effective anti-hunger program in America. Republicans want to cut SNAP benefits by as much as $310 billion, the largest cuts to anti-hunger funding in history.

This would mean the average person on SNAP would be left with just $5 a day for food. That is morally bankrupt--$5 a day for food when a dozen eggs alone cost more than that.

Republicans are literally stealing food away from hungry kids, from seniors, from veterans to finance tax breaks to the ultrarich. Give me a break. This is cruel. This is mean, heartless, and counterproductive. A hungry child can't learn, often grows up to have a life that is not as productive as others who are fed can have.

The Republican cuts to SNAP would cut 6 million Americans off from food. It would reduce food benefits for 5 million more Americans. Four million children--four million children--will go to bed hungry because of this cruelty to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Isn't it incredible? I would even like to ask these billionaires who are so hell-

bent on reducing their own taxes if they are happy taking money away from hungry children and not feeding them.

Eleven million people will go hungry under the Republicans' bill, the biggest cut to food assistance in American history. That is the Republican idea of ``beautiful''? taking food away from the mouths of hungry kids, all for tax breaks for billionaires? It is not beautiful; it is ugly. Very ugly.

Republicans will continue to defend their SNAP cuts as ``reducing fraud, waste, abuse.'' So I ask them this, ask our Republican friends this: Which category does a hungry 7-year-old fall under? Are they waste? Are they fraud? Are they abuse?

What Republicans are really doing is increasing hunger, increasing poverty, increasing costs for States and families, lowering the productive lives that our future adult citizens can have, all to increase the wealth of the ultrarich. It is shameful. It is sad.

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

Mr. President, now, there is really nothing--nothing--to celebrate about Republicans' ``big, beautiful bill,'' unless you are a billionaire or an oil company. But for everyone else, this so-called ``big, beautiful bill'' is, in fact, nothing more than a big fat grift: taking money away from people, raising costs on average Americans, all to help the billionaires. And, today, I want to talk about how Republicans' big grift is an assault on America's clean energy--the bill that was just released by the Energy and Commerce Committee, or at least that part of it.

Now, Donald Trump and Republicans claim to want American energy dominance, but from the moment he became President, they have been hell-bent on killing the clean energy investments America needs to meet the energy needs of tomorrow. They say they want more energy, and then they cut off the cheapest, quickest, most available form of energy for ideological and grift reasons.

In a moment, I will talk about the awful Republican bill that just came out of committee, but first I want to talk about a specific project. Donald Trump's clean energy vendetta is wreaking particular havoc on New York's offshore wind industry. And it is a warning--a warning--to the rest of America on how he will deal with clean energy projects. What has happened here is utterly despicable, amazing, and awful.

A few weeks ago, the Trump administration suddenly and without explanation issued a stop work order on New York's Empire Wind farm, a $7 billion project already underway by the company Equinor. This is not some project in the planning stages. No, no, no. This was approved years ago. Three to four billion dollars have been put into developing the offshore windmills that will provide energy for hundreds of thousands of homes--clean energy, cheap energy. And, all of a sudden, out of the clear blue, the Secretary of the Interior says: You must stop the project because the environmental impact statement was rushed.

The company asks why, and the Interior Secretary says: Well, there is a report that NOAA has issued--that is in the Commerce Department--that says this was rushed and inadequate in terms of the environmental impact.

So the company asked--I have asked, repeatedly--for the Commerce Department to show us what the reasoning is, which we think there is none--to show us the specifics of why they halted this project out of the clear blue, a project employing hundreds and hundreds--thousands-- of people, a project where there are boats--I think close to 50 of them--right offshore actually building these offshore wind turbines.

Now it is stopped, but there is no explanation. This is like a dictatorship--no due process, no explanation. Out of the blue, just as billions have already been spent and just as construction is underway off the coast, just as 30 percent of the project is built, Donald Trump and Howard Lutnick say: Halt.

It is outrageous.

Give us a reason, says the company. We have invested billions here in America.

They are a Norwegian company, one of the largest offshore wind companies in the world. They are well-qualified. They are well-known. They have a history.

Give us a reason. Show us what is wrong with the approval previously 2, 3 years ago of the environmental statements.

And there is silence. No answer. No reason. And the project is now on hold.

All the boats, they are out there. The workers are out there. No explanation has been given, nor has Equinor been given any opportunity to discuss and address potential problems.

This is not how businesses operate. Our friends on the other side like to talk about running government more like a business. Well, this is just outrageous. And every week that Empire Wind sits idle, it costs $50 million.

So now, the project may die altogether. Why? We know why. Donald Trump hates offshore wind. He hates offshore wind because, supposedly, years ago, they built a wind farm off the coast of his Scotland golf course. He fought to kill it. He lost. So now he is taking it out on all offshore wind to the detriment of the American energy needs in a way that is like--it is like a dictatorship.

Stop, they say. We are not giving you a reason.

It is outrageous. It is malicious and intentional sabotage. It is an outright attack on New York jobs, on New York workers, and it is happening for no other reason than partisan ideology and political sociopathy--partisan ideology because the rightwing oil and gas barons hate clean energy, even though it is the cheapest way to reduce our energy needs, and political sociopathy because Donald Trump hates offshore

wind because he didn't like windmills off his golf course in Scotland.

The Trump administration must at least give an explanation so the company can answer why they should continue with the project. I call on Secretary Lutnick to immediately release the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report that was used as justification to halt work on the Empire Wind project.

New Yorkers, Americans, the company which invests heavily in America deserves to know: Why halt this project? What is the deal? What is the justification? And what is the plan to get the jobs back on track? These are good jobs--good-paying jobs.

If everything is on the level, the administration should not fear being transparent with Equinor. What is the answer? How can they shut the project down and give no explanation?

We have called the Secretary of the Interior. He says it is up to Lutnick and NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They are the ones who say that this was approved too quickly, even though it has been working with no problems for years and work is ongoing and construction is ongoing.

By the way, to everyone investing in America, whether you are an American company or not, this should be a shot-across-the-bow warning of what this administration can do--out of the clear blue, just say stop, no explanation, no reason, no ands, ifs, or buts.

Our business community should be outraged about how this business is being treated, not just the energy business. They can do this anywhere. We need answers, and at the very minimum, the explanation as to why they ordered this project stopped, which I imagine is very flimsy and came from Donald Trump's sociopathy because he hates offshore wind because of what they did. He didn't like those windmills off the golf course in Scotland. It is well-known that is why he hates offshore wind.

So what happened with Equinor is just a disgusting travesty that must be reversed. It is so, so outrageously unfair, malicious, and counterproductive for America's energy needs.

Mr. President, now, let me talk to the broader issue, the Republican bill that just came out of committee on the House side.

What is happening with Equinor is, frankly, part of a larger pattern of clean energy destruction--clean energy destruction--from Donald Trump and Republicans.

Before our very eyes, Republicans want to kill American clean energy in its tracks. They want to use their so-called ``one big, beautiful bill'' to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act.

Most of all, they want to cut taxes for the ultrarich and big corporations and make Americans pay for it with higher energy costs by rendering unusable wind and solar tax breaks that were put into the legislation in the IRA.

What will the American people need to know? Republicans are raising taxes on Americans' electricity. One independent study--it is raising costs on Americans' electricity as well.

One independent study shows families and businesses will see their electricity bills go up by 10 percent as soon as next year. Hear that America? This ideological craziness that we shouldn't have wind and solar--some people don't think--there are some, I guess, who feel we shouldn't have coal, oil, and natural gas.

But actually, if we are going to meet America's energy needs, we need clean energy. It is the only way to go, even if you are for natural gas and oil to be used, even though those are far less efficient and productive than solar and wind energy.

But to do this, to meet the ideological thirst to shut this process down--to shut clean energy down--they are going to raise your electric bills, Mr. and Mrs. America--all Americans--as much as 10 percent by next year.

States like Kansas, Missouri, and South Carolina could see prices rise by 15 percent. Wyoming--I saw my friend from Wyoming in the back there--could see nearly a 30-percent increase in energy costs, hundreds of dollars a year extra for families and businesses, for a family or small business already dealing with inflation and a trade war. An extra 10 percent in costs could mean the difference between staying open and shutting down.

If Republicans repeal the IRA, a generation of American manufacturing jobs will also be at immediate risk, most of them in red States, although, they will be in red States and blue Sates alike.

The IRA has already spurred more than $270 billion in clean energy investment, and that is in addition to the $100 billion in domestic manufacturing to build these projects right here at home.

All of this will be shut down if the House Republican bill passes the House and passes the Senate and is signed into law.

Here is something for my Republican colleagues to think about: Nine of the ten top congressional districts receiving manufacturing investment from the IRA are Republican districts. Those investments are over $5 billion each.

For a party that claims to be pro-business, what they are doing with Ecuador is so anti-business and so disruptive of business decision- making, and what they are doing here is just the same--just the same.

The restrictions they have put in the bill are such that if a project, as I understand it--if a project is not completed by 2028, it loses all its credits, which means project after project after project--clean energy projects for wind and solar and others--will be shut down.

So I have a message for the House Republicans in the Ways and Means Committee who just passed the bill on a strict party-line vote: To approve these cuts is to approve a death sentence for energy and manufacturing jobs for your communities.

These investments include a $700 million battery manufacturing plant in Fort Worth, TX; the more than $5 million in battery manufacturing at new and existing facilities in Fayette County, OH; or multiple solar manufacturing facilities in the Phoenix metro area of Arizona.

Mark my words, if Republicans gut the IRA, it would be a gift to the Chinese Communist Party. Jobs that should belong in America will go to cities like Chengdu, China, because China is not cutting back on clean energy. No way. They are going to get way ahead of us on this industry like they did on electric cars, and Americans will pay the price in higher energy costs, in fewer jobs, and in losing the leadership on another industry to China.

But this one didn't have to happen. The IRA did a great job getting America moving and ahead of China, and now they are taking it away.

So putting it all together, the Republican bill, what does it mean for the middle class: higher electricity bills, hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs erased around the country, rising insurance premiums, particularly in States by the water--Florida, Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina. Their insurance premiums are going up now because we don't have enough clean energy, and there is too much climate change with tornados and hurricanes and floods and, Lord, what else.

So insurers, they don't want to insure anymore. They want to insure at such high prices that people can't sell their homes in those States and across the country. And people--young people--want to buy a home but can't because the insurance is too high, and it is too high because we don't have enough clean energy. And they are cutting it off.

So these are all terrible prices to pay just to lower taxes for the ultrarich, just to satisfy the ideological thirst of oil and gas and coal barons who hate clean energy because they know it is the future, and they know they are not the future.

The broken Republican agenda is a political loser. Americans are learning that, whether it is on Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid or veterans' benefits or housing, and certainly it is here on clean energy, which has the broad support of the American people, Democrat and Republican alike.

So the warning signs, my Republican friends, are flashing. Last night, in Omaha, NE, the 3-term Republican mayor was voted out of office. The Washington Post described how ``disquiet over Trump's agenda produced a surge of Democratic energy.''

So the three-term Republican mayor lost to a Democratic candidate. People

don't like what Republicans are doing. It is energizing people, not just Democrats but people across the board, to participate in more and more elections of all kinds.

And here in Congress, Republicans are pushing forward on an agenda that will make their political fortunes all the more obvious.

Mr. President, on Donald Trump's Middle East trip--there is so much going on today. Donald Trump's trip to the Middle East seems less like a Presidential visit and more like a personal business venture--less like a Presidential visit and more like a personal business venture.

Since Donald Trump became President, nobody seems to have benefited more from Middle East deals than Donald Trump himself; golf courses by the beach, hotel openings in Dubai, billions in investments toward Trump stablecoins. All of that enriches Donald Trump. That is what American foreign policy is all about, to make the rich President richer?

And then, of course, there is the matter of half--of a half-billion- dollar private jet that Qatar wants to gift Donald Trump to use as Air Force One. On this Middle East trip, who exactly is Donald Trump working for--for the American people or for his own bottom line or the bottom line of the companies he brought on tour?

Until Attorney General Bondi, a former high-powered lobbyist for Qatar, explains why this robber baron deal was allowed to go through on the Qatar plane, I will not be complicit in the further polarization of DOJ and will hold all political DOJ nominees.

Let me say that again. Until Attorney General Bondi, a former high- powered lobbyist for Qatar, explains why, resolves the issues of this robber-baron deal for Qatar to gift to President Trump a $400 million airplane with huge security issues--until they resolve those issues in a way that is satisfying to the American people in terms of security and in terms of fairness, I will not be complicit in the further polarization of the DOJ and so am holding all political DOJ nominees.

Now, some of our Republican colleagues, to their credit, have said they have concerns about the Qatar deal. Well, how about showing it? How about showing some outrage? Republicans should join us in getting answers or else they can expect this hold on nominees to persist.

If this were done by a Democrat, you would all be out here screaming. You know how bad it is. You know how bad it is. So speak up.

Maybe that will stop the President, because there is a real national security risk. We cannot let a foreign country--Air Force One is the most complicated, sophisticated plane in the world by a lot because it must protect a President when he or she is communicating and in case there is nefarious action against that plane, God forbid. To let Qatar in on those secrets?

You would have to dismantle the plane they gave us down to every screw and every ratchet to see if they put little devices in there. It is estimated it will end up costing more to make this ``gift'' secure than it would to buy the new planes from Boeing that in 2 years will be available for delivery.

There are laws on the books precisely designed to prevent the naked corruption of a foreign country paying for a luxury Air Force One. We should apply those laws, and that is why I am deploying these holds.

Americans deserve to know the answer to a basic question: Again, who is Donald Trump working for--the American people or himself?

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) is necessarily absent.

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

Madam President, news of the Qatari Government gifting Donald Trump a $4 million private jet to use as Air Force One is so corrupt that even Putin would give a double take.

This is not just naked corruption. It is also a grave national security threat.

So in light of the deeply troubling news of a possible Qatari-funded Air Force One and the reports that the Attorney General personally signed off on this clearly unethical deal, I am announcing a hold on all DOJ political nominees until we get more answers.

Here are some questions that must be answered. First, I call on the DOJ's Foreign Agent Registration Act Unit, or the FARA Unit, to do its job and disclose all activities by Qatari foreign agents inside the United States that could benefit President Trump or the Trump Organization.

Since Attorney General Bondi took charge, the Department of Justice has not been doing its job when it comes to FARA. The FARA unit needs to enforce the law and inform the public of all activities, not just on this luxury plane deal but all deals involving foreign countries in the Middle East and President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization.

Second, with regard to this half-a-billion-dollar private jet deal, the American people deserve to know the facts. President Trump has told the American people this is a ``free jet.'' Does that mean the Qataris are delivering a ready-on-day-one plane with all the security measures already built in?

If so, who installed those security measures, and how do we know they were properly installed? Why would we take the risk of trusting any foreign country to do this sensitive work?

If not, what security modifications would be needed to ensure a foreign-sourced Air Force One is safe to use?

If this is, as President Trump promised, a ``free jet,'' will the Qataris pay for those highly sensitive installations, or will the American taxpayers cover the cost?

How much will those modifications cost American taxpayers? Hundreds of millions of dollars? Billions of dollars? How much will they cost?

If the American taxpayers are forced to pay for this temporary plane, does it mean the U.S. Government will cancel the contract for the future Boeing plane?

If so, how much will that cancellation cost? And if not, why are American taxpayers being asked to spend hundreds of millions of dollars or more on a plane that will only be used for a year or two?

Additionally, who in the Trump administration was responsible for this crooked deal? What are the parameters

of this deal? And which country brought it up first--us or them? What is Qatar being offered in return?

Considering past security disasters, such as the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, what are the security risks of this arrangement?

And, finally, how is this gift not naked corruption?

The Attorney General must testify before both the House and Senate to explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the emoluments clause, which requires congressional approval, or any other ethics law.

So until the Attorney General explains her blatantly inept decision and we get complete and comprehensive answers to these and other questions, I will place a hold on all political nominees to the Department of Justice.

As disturbing as this latest news about the Qatari Air Force One is, it is frankly just the tip of the iceberg.

For months, Qatari and other Gulf State nationals have spent billions on deals with the Trump organizations, seemingly to buy access to the President, including $2 billion from the UAE venture capital firm for Donald Trump's new stablecoin, including the launch of a new Trump hotel in Dubai worth over a billion dollars and the construction of a beachside golf course in Qatar, potentially worth $5 billion.

Donald Trump's business deals in the Middle East reek of crooked self-enrichment. He isn't just blurring the line between public service and personal profit, he is erasing it. This isn't speculation; it is fact backed by overwhelming evidence. He is jeopardizing America's national security to line his own pockets.

What is most chilling about this brazen bribe and the national security betrayal is how openly Donald Trump is doing it, how he is lying about the need for this aircraft and the risks involved and how he is daring Republicans to call him out.

And how are Republicans responding? With silence. With their heads in the sand. Total obeisance. Afraid to tell the ``emperor'' he has no clothes.

Well, Republicans may be too scared to stand up to Donald Trump, but I will keep pushing and Senate Democrats will keep pushing to get more answers to this nakedly crooked arrangement with Qatar. Until the American people learn the truth about this deal, I will do my part to block the galling and truly breathtaking politicization at the Department of Justice.