Floor Statements

Mr. President, everywhere you look, Republicans are one big, hot mess. The reason is simple: Donald Trump is pursuing policies that are terrible for America and despised by the American people.

The Republicans know just how unpopular Trump's agenda is, but they fall into line out of fear or blind loyalty or some of each. Republicans better smarten up and press Trump to back off his radical proposals during their lunch tomorrow or they will pay a price for ignoring the American people.

Mr. President, on Iran, with his failed and reckless war in Iran, Trump has turned ``the art of the deal'' into ``the art of the blunder.'' Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and JD Vance are too afraid to come in front of the American people and the whole Senate to defend their war and so-called understanding, so now Trump will talk only to Senate Republicans behind closed doors. Senate Republicans need to grill Donald Trump for answers--for answers on where negotiations stand--when he meets with them at the Capitol tomorrow.

Trump and Vance hadn't even finished their phony victory lap yesterday when Iran announced that it did not make any commitments to allow nuclear inspections--no commitments to allow nuclear inspections--even though that was supposed to be one of the mainstays of what Trump was pursuing. Trump also claimed that the Strait of Hormuz was fully open even though shipping through the waterway remains a small fraction of what it was before the war. In more than a week after announcing side deals and so-called understandings with Iran, the administration still hasn't briefed Congress or the American people on what has actually been agreed to.

Wishful thinking won't end this war, and certainly Senate Republicans' calls to pump hundreds of billions of dollars more into Trump's fiasco will make matters even worse.

Republicans can complain about Trump's war, his secrecy, and his disastrous deal with Iran all they want behind closed doors, but the only way to ensure this war ends once and for all is for Republicans to act.

Later today, Democrats will once again put Republicans on the record as to whether they want Trump's disastrous war to continue by forcing a vote on a House-passed Iran War Powers Resolution for the first time. We have held nine other votes on our War Powers Resolutions to end the war, and Senate Republicans have left the American people disappointed each time. We have forced this fight on the floor again and again for more than 100 days: Only Congress has the power to take our Nation to war, not Donald Trump alone.

Republicans need to support our War Powers Resolution to end the war, and they need to hold Trump's feet to the fire in their meeting tomorrow.

Mr. President, on the SAVE database, yesterday's court decision bodes very poorly for the SAVE Act's survival.

Free and fair elections in America got a big boost in court yesterday when a judge, a Federal judge, blocked Donald Trump's effort to set up a massive voter purge database. The absolute last person Americans want combing through their personal data is Donald Trump. Letting Trump scrape through Americans' private data to purge them from the voter rolls isn't just unpopular, it is illegal.

Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Russel Vought wanted to plug Americans' sensitive, personal information, including Social Security information, into their shoddy database and have DOGE's algorithm decide who gets to vote. It is sci-fi voter suppression--authoritarianism by algorithm.

Trump cares so little about Americans' freedom that he is trampling on their right to privacy just so he can take away their right to vote.

For months, I have been saying this database was one of Trump's most sinister strategies for subverting our elections in November. That is why Senate Democrats have blocked the SAVE Act--Trump's extreme anti- election legislation--over and over and over again. Democrats will keep fighting Trump's plan to rig the rules in November because in our country, Americans decide elections, not algorithms installed by Musk, DOGE, and Trump.

Mr. President, on Tulsi Gabbard and the Pulte purge, there are reports that Tulsi Gabbard was receiving instructions from a so-called guru and repeating them word for word. That ought to concern all of us if it is true. No one knows who this guru really is, what his connections are, and where the instructions came from. Maybe it was completely innocent or maybe not, but we need answers.

In appointing Bill Pulte to act as Acting DNI after Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump is replacing a guru with a grifter. Bill Pulte doesn't have an ounce of national security experience or an ounce of integrity, and he has already started to purge the intelligence experts who have that integrity. God only knows what Pulte plans to do next. Will Pulte interfere in our elections? expose intelligence sources? abuse Americans' private data? go after Trump's political enemies like he has done so many times before?

With his insistence on installing Pulte, Trump has embarrassed his own party, weakened our national security, and endangered the American people--all to serve his personal political interests.

When it comes to protecting Americans' national security, we need an adult in the room, and Pulte is removing them left and right.

Finally, Mr. President, on our spotlight forum on the Dobbs decision, later today, we will join Senator Murray and other Senate Democrats for a spotlight forum on Republicans' extreme war on women's reproductive freedom ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs decision.

Donald Trump may want to brush his extreme effort to curtail women's reproductive rights under the rug, but we won't let him.

On the campaign trail in 2024, Donald Trump said that women ``won't be thinking about abortion'' if he got elected, but the truth is that they have to think about it more than ever before because of this awful decision.

Ever since the Dobbs decision 4 years ago, Republicans have been working around the clock to restrict access to abortion care. So today, we are going to hear from people who have been forced to live with the consequences of Republicans' radical assault on women's reproductive freedom, and we will discuss how we are fighting back. We are going to remind Donald Trump that women haven't stopped thinking about his efforts to take away their rights; they are mad as hell.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, for years, Trump promised to put maximum pressure on Iran, but he ended up delivering maximum confusion, maximum chaos, and maximum cost to the American people with his disastrous war.

Every second this war continues, the costs to the American people go up.

And this is the 10th time Democrats have forced Republicans to vote on a War Powers Resolution to end the war. Time after time, the vast majority of Senate Republicans sided with Trump and his war, instead of the American people.

The American people have paid the price for Trump's historic blunder in Iran. It will go down in the history books as one of the worst foreign policy forays America has ever made or any country has ever made. It is so, so ridiculous, costly; achieving no goals that Trump set forward--virtually none.

The American people have seen skyrocketing gas prices, soaring costs, and, tragically, the loss of 13 servicemembers and the wounding of hundreds more.

And, meanwhile, Iran took Trump to the cleaners. Trump gave Iran everything--their terrorist proxies, their control over the strait, their own revenue, their hundreds of billions of dollars in reconstruction aid. And it is still unclear what we have gotten in return.

Trump, Vance, and Rubio refused to come before the American public and answer questions. No one knows what side deals there are. No one knows what actually was said. No one knows the details of this so- called understanding, and the reason is they are probably afraid to show it because they know how badly they have done.

Trump won't brief Congress. Trump won't defend his deal. Trump won't end his war. But Democrats will keep forcing this vote--and we are going to keep doing it--because only Congress has the power to take this Nation to war, and this one must end. In fact, Trump never, ever should have started it.

I yield back all time, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, on Iran, Donald Trump's foreign policy by clown car continues to careen toward disaster. After this failed war with Iran, Trump needs to rename ``The Art of the Deal'' as ``The Art of the Face Plant''--``The Art of the Face Plant.'' Just days after Trump boasted he had reopened the Strait of Hormuz, Iran announced it was closing the strait again. Trump hasn't been able to guarantee safe passage through the strait yet, but he already has waived the sanctions to allow Iran to bring billions of dollars in oil revenue. Iran gets what it wants; Trump dithers.

Now Trump and Vance are patting themselves on the back about getting Iran to agree to nuclear inspections that only stopped after Trump's 2025 strikes. And what exactly will this access look like? Trump and Vance refuse to provide details, just like the rest of this so-called understanding.

Trump's memo of understanding reads like an Iranian wish list. After Trump's war, Iran gets to keep backing its terrorist proxies, to keep building ballistic missiles, to maintain a stranglehold on the global economy, and to rake in hundreds of billions of dollars in reconstruction aid and maritime tolls. Trump got taken to the cleaners by Iran.

The administration keeps telling us not to read too much into the understanding, but there is one thing that is very easy to read: The American people hate this war. They want it to end. Roughly 80 percent of Americans say they want this war to end immediately. Two-thirds-- two-thirds--disapprove of how Trump has handled Iran. And can anyone blame them? All the American people have gotten from Trump's war are skyrocketing gas prices at the pump, backbreaking inflation, and the tragic loss of 13 servicemembers and the wounding of hundreds of others.

The story of Trump's ruinous war has been the same since day one: The Iranian regime gets emboldened, the

American people get screwed, and Donald Trump gets himself into a deeper and deeper hole.

The cost of this war will only get worse every second it continues.

We need a full accounting of everything Trump has given away as part of his 14-point understanding. I continue to call on Trump, Secretary Rubio, and the rest of the leadership team to brief the full Senate without delay. It is outrageous that none of us have gotten a briefing yet. Why don't they want to give us a briefing? Are they embarrassed? Is it so vague that they told Iran one thing and will have to tell the world another? Is it because Trump got taken to the cleaners? Is it because Trump is embarrassed to have this understanding fully discussed by the people who put it together? It has been 8 days since this so- called understanding was announced. Why is the administration so scared to come to Congress and the American people and defend their war and their deal?

Trump ought to listen to what Senate Democrats and the American people have been saying for months and end this war for good.

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

Mr. President, well, everyone who bought Trump's book ``The Art of the Deal'' ought to ask him for a refund because what Trump has done in Iran is the ``art of the disaster.''

The United States is worse off because of Trump's incompetence, his ego, his inability to listen to facts. Iran took Trump to the cleaners with this so-called understanding.

Iran doesn't have to cut off support for its terrorist proxies. Iran doesn't have to give up ballistic missile production. Iran doesn't have to make any hard commitments on its nuclear program now, and there is no guarantee they make any in 60 days. But Iran does get to rake in billions of dollars in oil sales, hundreds of billions in reconstruction aid, and God knows how much more in potential fees Trump may let it impose on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Not to mention the benefits Iran will get from the sanction relief that Trump has promised with no idea of what he will get in return.

Again, Iran took Trump to the cleaners. In Iran, ``the art of the deal'' has turned into the ``art of disaster.''

If Trump wants to send hundreds of billions of dollars to Iran, then he will need to do it with Republican votes because I will tell you, Democrats certainly won't be helping Trump send $300 billion to Iran.

Are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle prepared to send Iran $300 billion when economic needs are so severe here at home? But that is what Trump wants them to do.

Now, back in 2015, Trump said that America's ``deal with Iran will go down as one of the most incompetent ever made. The U.S. lost on virtually every point. We just don't win anymore!''

Trump is eating these words on a silver platter served up by Iran. Again, in 2015 he said the ``deal with Iran will go down as one of the most incompetent ever. The U.S. lost on virtually every point. We just don't win anymore!''

He is eating those words now because those apply so aptly to the deal that he just announced, so-called understanding, with Iran. He is eating those words on a silver platter served up by Iran.

Even members of the Trump administration seem to be trying to put some distance between themselves and this so-called understanding, telling the public not to read too far into the text and that there are secret deals in the works. Well, I will tell you right now, Trump needs to reveal any secret deals to Congress and the public immediately. He has got to do it right away.

If the secret deals are anywhere near as bad as the understanding we have seen, we need to know about them.

This war needs to end permanently. Americans need to know how Trump plans to do it. Crucially, Americans are wondering what they got out of this war because Trump's blunder has left our country worse off by every measure. Thirteen Americans have been killed and hundreds more wounded. The Iranian regime is richer and more radical than before Trump's war. Iran has greater control over the Strait of Hormuz than before the war began.

Gas prices are still much higher than before the war, with families having paid hundreds of dollars extra to fill up their tanks these past few months.

The cost of everything from groceries to basic household necessities are higher than before the war as well. Trump's so-called understanding is the culmination and representation of his ruinous strategy in Iran since day one and his inability to govern in general.

In Iran and in so much else he does, Trump leads by whim, by ego, by greed. His strategy doesn't work in the time of peace, and it certainly doesn't work in the time of war.

He is about the most incompetent President we have ever seen. In Iran, as in everything, the American people pay the price for Trump's incompetence.

So as I have been saying for months, it is long past time that Trump end this war, which never should have started in the first place.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Mr. President, on FISA, Trump has made it clear beyond a shadow of a

doubt that he doesn't care about our national security and cares even less about reauthorizing FISA. Trump has embarrassed Republicans, pulled the rug out from under them, and blown up the FISA negotiations at every step.

Trump has lobbed a grenade into Jay Clayton's nomination. Insisted on making his personal fixer, his own attack dog, Bill Pulte, the Acting DNI. And he is demanding to tie FISA to the extreme SAVE Act to attack Americans' voting rights.

Trump is so hell-bent on taking away Americans' voting rights that he is willing to put them in danger to do it. Trump would rather have our intelligence community go after his political opponents than protect the American people.

Can Trump get any more reckless?

Make no mistake, Donald Trump is holding America's national security hostage for his own political gain. Republicans can point fingers at Democrats all they want, but Trump has himself owned up to blocking

I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Alsobrooks), the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester), the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth), the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Alsobrooks), the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester), the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth), the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly), and the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Kim), are necessarily absent.

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

Mr. President, Trump's actions last night make it crystal clear that he is the one standing in the way of FISA.

It was already clear that Trump was the one blocking FISA, but the fact that he withdrew Jay Clayton should erase anyone's doubts. Trump wants FISA to stay expired. Trump is twisting himself up in knots and jumping through hoops to make it impossible to reauthorize FISA right now, and he is embarrassing his Republican colleagues in the process.

Trump can blame Democrats all he wants, but no one is going to believe him. Trump just got caught redhanded undermining America's national security.

Withdrawing Clayton even shocked Trump's closest Republican allies. Trump also reasserted his demand to tie FISA to his radical SAVE Act, which would strip millions of Americans of their voting rights and resurrect the ghost of the Jim Crow south.

Trump is just so, so off base and should get it out of his mind that he can save SAVE by attaching it to FISA. It ain't happening; it ain't passing.

The SAVE Act is perhaps the most vicious piece of anti-voting rights legislation Trump has ever come up with and has absolutely nothing-- nothing--to do with FISA whatsoever.

So every time Republicans find a path to negotiate on FISA, Trump slams the door shut on them. Every time the Republicans find a path to negotiate FISA, Trump slams the door shut on them, and you can hear the howls.

Trump is taking America's national security hostage to serve his own personal interests. This is Trump's hostage note. Here is what he said:

I will not approve FISA . . .

He said:

We are cancelling the Senate hearing . . .

He said:

[B]ill Pulte will remain as the acting Director of National

Intelligence.

Trump should know national security is not a pawn. It is not a pawn, and yet it is clear that he is holding our national security hostage, and it is absolutely disgraceful.

Trump is gleeful about undermining national security and leaving America vulnerable, saying it is simply to add a ``slight bit of intrigue'' when Americans' safety is at stake in a dangerous world with dangerous countries? And he says he is adding a ``slight bit of intrigue?'' Are you kidding me? Intrigue when it comes to America's national security, intrigue when it comes to the safety of our people?

Trump ought to add a slight bit of common sense as he does this. But, again, just to repeat what he said, he said:

I will not approve FISA . . .

We are cancelling the Senate hearing . . .

[B]ill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National

Intelligence.

All three sentences show that Trump is making national security a pawn to his own political and off-base interests.

There can be no other explanation for the choices Trump is making and his insistence on having a political hack like Bill Pulte serve atop our Intelligence Committee, other than he plans to order Pulte to abuse his powers as Director of National Intelligence.

The question for oversight now is: What exactly will Trump ask Pulte to do? Expose intelligence sources? Alter analysis? Target political opponents? Mess with elections?

Pulte has shown that he knows no limits and will do whatever Trump asks, legal or not, ethical or not, in American people's interests or not. Make no mistake, all of the consequences that come from undercutting our national security will fall on Trump and any Republicans who go along with his dangerous, partisan games.

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

Mr. President, this is one--one--happy moment. It is an honor to offer this resolution with Senator Gillibrand to pay tribute to the great New York Knicks. With their historic victory in the NBA finals, the Knicks reminded the country and the world that it is never a good idea to bet against New York.

We just witnessed perhaps the greatest playoff run in history and finals series in history as well. Coming off the second longest playoff win streak in the NBA history, the Knicks achieved the first, fourth, and sixth biggest comeback wins in the history of the NBA finals, and they did it all in a single series--absolutely extraordinary coming off that second longest playoff win streak in NBA history.

We are so, so proud--so, so proud--of our New York Knicks. This team has joined the ranks of DeBusschere and Bradley, of Willis Reed, of Earl ``the Pearl'' and Clyde, and the rest of the 1973 legendary Knicks who last brought the title home. I admired that team as a young man, and we have been waiting and waiting and waiting, and here we are again.

For their efforts, this championship team will be honored tomorrow with what many are excepting to be the largest ticker-tape parade in New York history. In fact, the Knicks' victory goes beyond the team itself; it brings such honor, such pride, such joy to New York and has united our diverse city in a way that maybe nothing else could.

It is truly an honor to introduce and pass this resolution to congratulate the Knicks for winning the championship and to thank them for the dedication they showed to our city both on and off the court throughout the season.

I speak for the Senate--perhaps with the exception of one or two Spurs fans--when I say: Let's go, Knicks!

Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 771, congratulating the Knicks, which was submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

``Go Knicks!''

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, for months--for months--Senate Democrats and I have said that Trump's blunder of a war with Iran can't end soon enough.

We have been told dozens of times that the war is over, and dozens of times we have been disappointed.

Trump has yet to give Americans a reason to believe that this latest peace deal won't leave them disappointed again. It has been 2 days since Trump claimed he had reached an ``understanding'' with Iran, and he still hasn't released any details, an MOU--memo of understanding-- about what it actually is.

We keep hearing inconsistent statements from different members of the administration. So I am asking three things: First, I am calling on Donald Trump to hold a classified Gang of 8 meeting to disclose this so-called MOU, this memo of understanding. Second, I am calling on Trump to brief the whole Congress on this MOU, this memo of understanding. And third, and most importantly, I am calling on Trump to inform the American people on whatever his understanding with Iran involves, and he should do it immediately so we all know what the heck is going on.

We are in the middle of a war. No one quite understands what Trump is up to, and now he is keeping everybody in the dark. Americans need to know whether their loved ones in uniform will remain in harm's way.

Americans need to know what Trump has promised to Iran and what the United States will get out of it. Americans need to know how and when this war will truly end. They need to know what is the deal on the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused gas prices to go through the roof, and we need to know what the projected end time is and what Iran will be doing with its nuclear capabilities.

After more than 100 days of bloodshed, 13 Americans killed, hundreds more wounded, and tens of billions of dollars spent, the American people are, rightfully, wondering, What exactly did we get out of Trump's failed war?

Trump's Iranian misadventure has left America worse off than when he started it, worse off by every measure. The Iranian regime is more extreme than before Trump launched this disastrous war.

Iran has more control over the Strait of Hormuz than before Trump's disastrous war. Gas prices are dramatically higher than before Trump took us to war, and it is going to take months and months to go back to normal, given the destruction of the supply chains for oil and gas.

Trump asked the Americans to pay the immense cost to shoulder the burden of a war they did not ask for and gives them nothing in return. Democrats will soon force a vote on a War Powers Resolution to end Trump's war because every minute this blunder goes on is a minute too long.

Trump needs to reveal the deal and end this war once and for all.