Floor Statements

Mr. President, just a moment on Senator Booker. Yesterday, my good friend Senator Cory Booker delivered the longest address in the history of the Senate to lay the case of Republican cruelty for all the American people to see.

And as important as the length of Senator Booker's speech was--and it was phenomenal, the stamina, the preparation, the focus he showed by speaking for 25 hours was amazing enough--but just as amazing was what he said. He shined a light on the terrible dangers the Trump administration poses to the country we love.

I thank him for his brilliance, for his moral clarity, for his indistinguishable passion. It was a speech for the ages. It will be long-remembered, not only here in the Senate but throughout America. It was a tour de force like we rarely see here.

Senator Booker, I thank you. Our Senate thanks you. But most of all, the American people thank you.

Mr. President, on the move by Republicans to go nuclear, America is in crisis, we know that. We can feel it. This week, the crisis seeps even more deeply into the halls of the U.S. Senate by what the Republicans are trying to do.

Senate Republicans are so hell-bent on cutting taxes for billionaires, they are now willing to detonate the rules of the Senate, violate norms and traditions, and break their word--break their word-- to get it done.

Republicans are doing something they said they would never do. They are about to go nuclear. Republicans know their so-called ``current policy baseline'' gimmick won't likely fly. It is hocus-pocus. Even rightwing Republican Chip Roy called it ``fairy dust.'' So now they are getting ready to decide for themselves which rules of the Senate to follow and which rules to ignore.

They know that this is so fallacious, so ridiculous, and was ruled against them by the Parliamentarian when Trump was President the first time, that they decided they are going to break the rules, the norms, their word because they are so frenetic--frothing at the mouth, almost--to give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies.

It is a low day for the Senate. By ignoring the Parliamentarian, Republicans are going nuclear. They are trampling all over rules that have governed the Senate for decades in order to give massive tax cuts for their billionaire friends.

Whatever happened to those promises we heard from Republicans, including the Republican leader, that they wouldn't touch the Senate rules? Not 3 months ago, Leader Thune stood right here on the floor in his first address as Republican leader and said ``one of my priorities as leader will be to ensure the Senate stays the Senate.''

Well, that sure isn't happening right now. He has indicated in the past--he has indicated repeatedly, Senator Thune has--that he would not topple the 60-vote threshold they are now seeking to undo. I guess when it comes to cutting taxes for billionaires, suddenly Republicans don't care much about the Senate rules at all and don't care about breaking their word, what they promised they would do when they came in.

But, frankly, this isn't just a fight about Senate procedure. This is much bigger. This is about Republicans being afraid to tell Americans the truth behind their agenda. Republicans know that if they make Donald Trump's tax cuts permanent through this current policy baseline, they will add $37 trillion to the debt in the next 30 years--$37 trillion--about as much as the total debt we have accumulated over the last 240-some-odd years in this Republic. Amazing. Horrible, with horrible consequences.

Our children will be saddled with soaring interest rates and a crippled economy. The ultrarich will become wealthier, and Americans who live paycheck-to-paycheck will suffer more. Republicans know their agenda is deeply unpopular with the American people.

Donald Trump knows it too. That is why he sends out all these smokescreens every day to try to divert our attention--Greenland, Panama, Gulf of America. He knows it. They all know it. They are just too afraid to have the debate.

They won't come here on the floor and say the vast majority of their tax cuts are for the wealthiest of America. They won't dare say it. But it is true. That is who the Republican paymasters--these rich billionaires who want their taxes cut--that is what they want, and that is what they are doing.

They are afraid to admit they are taking away Medicaid from millions of Americans. I think 70 million Americans benefit from Medicaid. So instead, they go nuclear in a self-serving effort to hide the truth and use phony accounting, fake math, which will hurt us.

They are increasing the deficit by a lot no matter what paper they try to slide before us. They try to hide the cost of their billionaire tax cuts. It is not going to work. As in Wisconsin, across America, the American people will see right through it.

Mr. President, another thing that is just infuriating is what they are doing to the 9/11 families.

Donald Trump's assault on the American people takes another sinister turn

this week. It is revolting that Secretary Kennedy, Secretary of Health and Human Services, has now fired staffers at the World Trade Center Health Program, including its Administrator, Dr. John Howard, a Trump appointee who dedicated his life serving 9/11 families and who is respected by all sides of the aisle.

As of right now, Secretary Kennedy has effectively shut the World Trade Center Health Program down. This is a betrayal--a betrayal--of the 9/11 families. I am sending Secretary Kennedy a letter to immediately undo this terrible, terrible decision. This is not a ``mistake.'' Some of the Republicans who care about the 9/11 program are saying it is a mistake. It is on purpose.

When I met Secretary Kennedy--then he was the nominee--he made a commitment to me, an unequivocal commitment that he would protect the World Trade Center Health Program. These firings break that promise, and I am calling on Secretary Kennedy to answer for this betrayal of 9/ 11 families. I am sending him a letter about it, as I mentioned.

None of these cuts have anything to do with efficiency. This is rightwing extremism, pure and simple. And this hurts our brave first responders and others who risked life and limb on 9/11, who rushed to the tower. They are suffering. They are getting cancers from the gunk they breathed in when they ran to the towers to help protect us and help us.

You want to cut that off to these heroes? How un-American can that be? How vicious, how nasty, how callous. We are abandoning the people who ran to the towers.

It is not efficiency. It is cruelty; it is meanness; and, fundamentally, it is anti-American. We always defend those who have risked their lives to defend and help us. All of a sudden, that seems to be out the window when it comes to the 9/11 responders.

These are our heroes. Secretary Kennedy and Donald Trump should not betray them. Donald Trump and RFK should not pull the rug out from these families who so desperately need this healthcare.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and

the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I thank my friend from Connecticut for his excellent words. Much of what he said could be applied to New York.

I want to thank Senator Kaine for his seeing around the curve, seeing how important this was months ago and persisting and persisting and persisting in getting us to this place.

Now, Mr. President, President Trump just announced his new tariff package a few hours ago, and it is even worse than we thought. In addition to the tariffs that he has already imposed, he now has a 10- percent across-the-board tariff on all products.

What is this going to do to American families? It is going to clobber them. It is estimated that the Trump tariff will add about $5,000 to the average family's costs. And why is he doing it? To reduce taxes on the billionaires. They have said that. Navarro and he have said it over and over again, that they want to reduce those taxes. It is outrageous. It is outrageous.

The average family, sitting at the kitchen table on Friday night, is saying to themselves: Whoa, boy. We had better cut back on our purchases. Maybe we ought to not go out to the restaurant. Maybe we ought not take that vacation we have been saving up for for a year. Maybe we ought not to buy that new car.

Consumer confidence is lower than it has been in many, many years. The average business, because of the chaotic nature--Trump says one thing one day and another thing the next day--are holding back. Businesses, small and large, need certainty, but there is no certainty here with the chaos Donald Trump has created.

Listen to this. When told that it would raise the costs on the American family, Trump himself said he ``couldn't care less'' if prices go up. What kind of bubble is he living in?

These billionaires who are running the country--Trump, Musk, Lutnick--they are in such a bubble, they don't know how the average family is hurting. Yeah, they are billionaires. God bless them. They made a lot of money. But don't think that average people are in the same boat.

The cost of groceries, the cost of prescription drugs, the cost of gasoline, the cost of buying a car, the cost of buying a house, the cost of furniture, the cost of clothing--everything people buy--is going to go up.

Donald Trump said he would reduce prices on day one when he got elected. He is doing just the opposite with these tariffs. He is raising prices through the roof and strangling American families.

My colleague in Connecticut alluded to Smoot-Hawley. The new Smoot- Hawley is Trump-Musk.

These taxes could create a global trade war. Our allies--previous allies--are aligned together at how they are going to get back at Trump and what he has done to the country.

This is not ``Liberation Day,'' as Trump called it. This has made a few-weeks-earlier, in effect, tax day--huge taxes through tariffs on American families. It is a gut punch. It is a gut punch to the average American.

So right now, I know Donald Trump is pressuring Senate Republicans to vote this resolution down. He is treating this like a loyalty test. But my plea to my Senate Republican colleagues: Stand with the American people. You know how bad this is. A few of you have already said you can't vote for this. Please don't be intimidated by Donald Trump, who said he couldn't care less if prices go up on your constituents, my Republican colleagues. Don't listen to him.

This is a disaster--a disaster for working families, a disaster for the Nation's economy, a disaster for our alliances and relationships around the world--all doing so much to hurt America for one darn reason: cutting taxes for the billionaires.

This is a government by the billionaires. Everything they do--whether it is this budget they came out with today or this tariff bill--is in obeisance to the very few wealthy people who seem to control the Republican Party and want another tax cut.

I urge everybody to vote against these horrible, horrible tariffs. Tariffs on Canada have very little to do with fentanyl; we know that. Tariffs on Canada and all the other countries he has now added to the list have everything to do with more tax breaks for billionaires.

I strongly, strongly urge a ``yes'' vote. This is worse than what we had thought. He made it worse when he announced what he was doing a few hours ago.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, this week, Donald Trump is preparing to take a sledgehammer to the American economy by preparing a tsunami of tariffs on all sorts of goods Americans purchase every day--a tsunami of tariffs.

Let's be clear. Donald Trump's tariffs are a tax hike on American families. The average costs families will have to pay for groceries, gas, everyday goods, et cetera, will go up by thousands--thousands of dollars a year out of hard-working people's pockets to pay for these tariffs. And Donald Trump has the gall to call his trade war ``Liberation Day.'' That makes as much sense as calling a layoff notice a promotion letter.

The Trump administration clearly has no strategy or goal behind their tariffs. One minute, they say the tariffs will lead to more people buying American-made goods, but Peter Navarro said yesterday that tariffs will also raise trillions in revenue. This is a total contradiction. You can't use tariffs to both raise revenue and bring jobs back. The only way you raise that much in revenue is if Americans pay that much for goods made abroad, and that means consumers will hurt most.

Donald Trump knows his plan will send costs surging. He said he ``hopes'' automakers raise their prices--spoken like a true billionaire. Donald Trump saying, I hope automakers will raise their prices? OK, Mr. and Mrs. Consumer, Mr. and Mrs. Average American Family, Donald Trump wants you to pay more while he is giving tax cuts to billionaires.

Senate Republicans--where are they? Always, they just go along with whatever Trump wants no matter how idiotic. Senate Republicans should be shouting from the rooftops to get the President to reverse course on tariffs. People in red States will be especially impacted, from farmers to small businesses. Republicans should be swarming the Senate floor with statements calling on the President to change his mind. But their response has been so feeble, so weak--almost nonexistent--that Americans are right to question which side they are really on.

The worst part is that nobody knows what the tariffs will look like-- perhaps not even Donald Trump. On a slow day, he changes his mind about them only once a day. He seems to change his mind about them almost every hour.

This is not what the American people want. Americans and American businesses detest the chaos and unpredictability that Trump brings. No surprise--more and more Americans now disprove of his handling of the economy. Meanwhile, the S&P is on track for its worst quarter compared to the rest of the world since the 1980s. Consumer confidence is at its worst since Donald Trump's first term. Outlook for the economy is at a 12-year low. Household debt is on the rise.

Donald Trump's trade war is playing Russian roulette with the American economy, and it will be households, retirees, consumers, and average families that pay the price.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Would my colleague yield for a question?

Thank you.

I first want to thank my colleague for taking the floor and showing the American people how horrible this administration is treating average families--working families--in so many ways, and I know he intends to hold the floor for a long time to make sure that that is the case in letting America know how bad this is.

Now, our healthcare is the main focus right now, and it is amazing, I would say to my colleague: Isn't it incredible that all of these cuts they are proposing in healthcare are done with a purpose in mind, and that is to reduce the taxes on billionaires? Doesn't it bother my colleague that these people whom he has been documenting who so desperately need healthcare are going to lose that if our Republican colleagues have their way simply to cut taxes for the very wealthy?

That is my question.

Would my colleague continue to yield for another question?

From what I understand--and tell me if this is correct-- if they did this tricky thing that even our Republican colleagues are calling fakery and hocus-pocus, our conservative Republican colleagues, it might increase the deficit by $30 trillion; is that accurate?

Would the Senator yield for another question?

Despite this fiscal hocus-pocus, this fakery, this trickery which my colleague has alluded to, when they cut Medicaid, when they cut Social Security, when they cut Medicare, those cuts remain just as devastating--is that accurate?--no matter what kind of bunk they put on their balance sheets to say it doesn't matter.

Will my colleague yield again?

So, just today, I visited a nursing home on Staten Island and a nursing home on Long Island--both in Republican congressional districts--and I spoke to people there.

At the nursing home I visited, if Medicaid were cut significantly, the nursing home would close, according to the head of this nursing home. He was there. Three hundred people would lose their jobs, and these people--hundreds of people in this nursing home--would have nowhere to go. Isn't it accurate that they say, ``Oh, they can move in with their kids''?

First, isn't it accurate that many of them are in a condition where the kids can't take care of them?

Second, given the housing shortages we face--and the tariffs will make that worse with the wood--isn't it true that many families just don't have room to take an elderly person, particularly one who needs care, into their homes and that this would cause chaos to all sorts of people who are not on Medicaid themselves but who have loved ones who need it in assisted living, in nursing homes, in care facilities?

One final question.

Share something personal with us. You are taking the floor tonight to bring up all these inequities that will hurt people-- that will so hurt the middle class, that will so hurt poor people--that will hurt America, that will hurt our fiscal condition as you have documented. Just give us a little inkling. Give us a little feeling for the strength and conviction that drives you to do this unusual taking of the floor for a long time to let the people know how bad these things are going to be.

``Chuck'' is OK.

So I thank my colleague for his strength, his courage, and his effectiveness in letting the American people know how badly this upcoming bill will affect them if our Republican colleagues insist on passing it.

Finally, I yield the floor back to him, and I thank him for his courage and strength and effectiveness.

Would the gentleman yield for a question?

First, your impassioned remarks are so meaningful. I hope all of America is watching. If some people are not up at this hour, watch it tomorrow. It is inspiring.

And I would just ask my colleague a question. I was there. I spent 4 hours with John McCain before he voted. We talked and talked and talked and went over the courage of his father and his grandfather in the Navy and the courage that he hoped to show, as they did.

I ask my colleague this question: Isn't it eerily reminiscent that after John McCain did his courageous act, that here we are years later--almost a decade later, a few years less--and they are doing the same thing again, cutting people's healthcare to give tax breaks to the wealthiest people? Isn't it true that John McCain saw the suffering of people who wouldn't get healthcare and urged people to come together on a bipartisan solution? Wouldn't it be much better if our colleagues from across the aisle--they may not agree with us on everything--but instead of trying to jam another bill down our throats like they did back in 2017, came and worked with us for the betterment of the country, for the betterment of the 80 percent of the people who need healthcare, who will struggle without that healthcare?

Some will be ill, some will die--will die--so does it strike the gentleman

that how could the people on the other side of the aisle try to do this again after John McCain made such a courageous stance. It is not echoing. It doesn't seem to be echoing in their ears, is it?

I ask my colleague just to answer that general line of questions.

I remember.

Will the Senator yield? I am well aware.

Would the Senator yield for a question?

Isn't it true, when McCain talked about waste in the military, he studied it; he documented it; he said this is a good thing; this is a bad thing? He helped guide me on many of these things. I voted for some weapons systems, getting some people upset because he showed me they worked, and I voted against a lot of them because he showed me they didn't.

But isn't it so that our colleagues on the other side, when they talk about waste in the healthcare system, they don't document a thing? They use just a meat-ax or a chain saw, as Elon Musk perversely but proudly said he is going to carry one. They don't document the waste that they say exists. They just slash things that people need that is not waste at all but that is life support for people. Isn't that a huge difference between the way McCain looked at waste, whether it was in the military or anything else, and what we are hearing here today?

I thank the Senator. There is a hope--it may be forlorn--that maybe one of John McCain's words will influence a few folks over there before we proceed disastrously.

I wish the Senator strength, and I yield the floor to him.

Would the Senator yield for a question?

I have two questions, frankly, one on Medicaid cuts, which we talked about last night, and one on tariffs.

First, let me say before I get to this question that your strength, your fortitude, your clarity has just been nothing short of amazing. And all of America is paying attention to what you are saying. All of America needs to know there are so many problems because of the disastrous actions of this administration in terms of how they are helping only the billionaires and hurting average families.

You have brought that forth with such clarity. People from one end of America to the other admire you. Our whole caucus is behind you. And we admire your stamina, your strength, your passion, your intelligence. The list of adjectives could go on.

My first question relates to the Medicaid cuts. As we talked about last night, I visited three Republican districts--one in Staten Island, one right on the border of two Republican districts in Long Island-- yesterday to talk about Medicaid cuts. I went to nursing homes. It was clear that the Medicaid cuts that are proposed in this proposal--$880 billion in the House--would be devastating.

On Staten Island, the nursing home we visited--they love it, Silver Lake nursing home--would close. Three hundred people would lose their jobs; hundreds would be thrown out. And most of them said their children can't take care of them. It is too--their needs are more advanced. Even some who said their children might be able to take care of them didn't have room in the house, et cetera. So it is affecting Staten Island, middle class, voted for Trump.

But we made a plea to their congresswoman to not vote for any bill that had these Medicaid cuts in the tax breaks for billionaires. A lot of the people there were--it was bipartisan, both parties there. We estimated that about 18,000 people total would lose their jobs with these Medicaid cuts, creating a recession on Staten Island. We estimated the harm that it would cause. So this was devastating.

Same thing on Long Island. Again, Republican areas with Republican Congress people who hold the balance. If those three Congress people alone would say: I am not voting for a bill that cuts Medicaid to give tax breaks for the billionaires, the bill would fail.

I know that you in New Jersey and my colleagues in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and elsewhere are doing the same thing, Congressmen and Senators. I talked to Leader Jeffries. He is doing the same with his folks.

So my question to you is very simple. If these people in New Jersey, in New York, across America are kicked out of

nursing homes and assisted living facilities and healthcare facilities, what would they do? How could they--and how does the Senator, with his passion and everything else, feel when the only reason they are doing this is to give tax breaks to the wealthiest of Americans?

Would you please answer my question, sir?

I would remind my colleague that we are both New York Giants fans.

My colleague, I do have another question on an unrelated subject.

First, let me say before I ask my question, Go Bills. Second, given the 15 hours which you have shown such amazing strength of an all-American athlete who could probably, given what you have shown tonight, be a star on our Giants--so I will not even try to rebut where the Giants are.

I will ask this question. Going back--before I get to tariffs--one of the leading hospitals in New York told me if there were only a 20-percent cut of Medicaid, less steep than they show, that they would close. They are the only cancer care place in the Bronx, 1.3 million people, and they give great care. They are the only ones. They would close.

So the devastation of these cuts, the American people should realize, is just enormous from one end of the country to the other--middle-class communities and upper middle-class communities like Long Island, middle-class like Staten Island, and poor communities like the Bronx.

On tariffs, let me ask a question. So here we are, right on the edge of April 2. Today is April Fool's Day, but the tariffs the President is proposing, unfortunately, are not part of an April Fool's trick. They are real, and they are devastating. My question to my colleague is: With these tariffs, which is estimated would cost the American families $6,000 more on average, would raise costs on everything across the board, and would throw devastation into our economy--look at the stock market. It goes down when Trump is serious about tariffs, then goes up when he says maybe he is not so serious. And with the chaos that it has caused so businesses which love certainty--small businesses, medium- sized businesses, large businesses need certainty.

So my questions are these. Does the great Senator and great Giants' fan from Newark agree that prices could go way up, all the way up to as much as $6,000? And does he agree that the chaos from Trump's tariffs is discombobulating the economy in very serious ways? And, again, does he agree that the reason they seem to be doing this, they count the revenues. This guy Navarro seems to have no sense of reality, yet he seems to be in charge. And they count the revenues to help them get more tax cuts for the wealthy.

Almost everything they do, including tariffs, it seems to me, is aimed at getting those tax cuts for the wealthy. God bless the wealthy, as I heard you say last night when we spoke. We are not against people who make a lot of money. God bless them, but they don't need a tax break.

They should realize the beauty of America helped them become or stay billionaires. The money we invested in education and roads and schools and helping kids get food makes a better workforce.

So my question to my colleague on these tariffs, A, does he agree that it could raise the price on an average family thousands of dollars--it is estimated $6,000. Does he agree that the chaos caused by Trump's on-again, off-again, this-country, that-country, this-much, that-much, this-product, that-product is hurting the economy and hurting business people doing their jobs? And does he agree that it seems the motivation is tax breaks for the wealthiest people?

Will you please answer my question?

I yield back to the Senator from New Jersey.

You are entitled.

You are entitled.

Sorry. Does my colleague remember the names of Smoot and Hawley?

I thank the Senator for his fortitude, his strength, and the crystalline brilliance by which he has shown the American people the huge dangers that face them with this Trump-DOGE-Musk administration.

I yield the floor back to my colleague from New Jersey.

Will the Senator yield for a question?

Before I ask my question, what a tour de force--you are amazing. It is not only the amount of time that you have spent here on the floor--what strength--but the brilliance of our indictment of this awful administration that is so destroying our democracy; that is taking so much away from working people and the middle class, and at the same time all for tax cuts for the billionaires.

You are amazing. We salute you. America salutes you. All eyes are on you. You are incredible.

Here is my question that is related to what our Republican friends are trying to do to all the things that you have so opposed. So are you aware that while we were here on the floor today, Senate Republicans are declaring that using the current policy baseline is up to Lindsey Graham, not the Parliamentarian? I believe that this is going nuclear, and it shows how hell-bent they are on giving tax breaks to the rich, even if it goes nuclear, even if it violates all the norms that they have had, even if it breaks all the promises they have made.

Do you agree with me that this is just a move that is so, so against what the traditions of the Senate have been about--but not just the traditions of the Senate--fairness, decency, ability to debate issues fairly? They are afraid to debate them. They are afraid to defend tax cuts for billionaires. They are afraid to admit they are taking away Medicaid from so many Americans. And so they come up with this nuclear option, showing that they don't care anymore about norms, about rules, and even about going nuclear, which the leader--the Republican leader-- and all of them said: Oh, no, they are not going to do that. Now they say they are going to do it.

What does the Senator think? Does he agree with me that it is going nuclear? Does he agree with me that is a nasty, vicious, and self- seeking for the billionaires--which is what they are doing--way of proceeding?

So I am asking the Senator, the great Senator Booker, a question.

Does he agree that this isn't just a blow to the people of America, and it shows that the folks--the people--on the other side are only interested not in playing decent, not in playing fair, not in being honest with the American people, but in taking money from the pockets of working people and the middle class and putting it in the hands of billionaires? Is that something that this country should just countenance in because it does so much harm to the country? And does it not show what our colleagues are really like and what they are after?

Will the Senator yield for another question?

Does the Senator remember that, when this was done in the past, McConnell said they would regret it, and they will regret it sooner than they think? Does the Senator agree that that applies to the Republicans in that they will regret it, and they will regret it sooner than they think?

I hate to bring the Senator bad news, but I am asking him a question, and I needed his answer given how eloquent he has been about what America should be and what America should not be.

So I yield the floor to the Senator.

Would the Senator yield for a question?

I just want to tell you, question, do you know you have just broken the record? Do you know how proud this caucus is of you? Do you know how proud America is of you?

(Applause, Senators rising.)

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

Mr. President, so first on tariffs, yesterday, President Trump announced a new round of tariffs of 25 percent on all auto imports into the United States, but we have no details, no timeline, no plan, only more chaos. Donald Trump's trade war has accomplished only one thing to date: chaos.

In the 66 days since Donald Trump has become President, he has had 66 different positions on this issue.

One day he says yes to tariffs; the next day he says no; then the day after he says yes again. Can't make up his mind which country should have them, which country shouldn't, how much, what products.

Donald Trump's tariffs--make no mistake about it, I say to the American people. Make no mistake about it. Donald Trump's tariffs are a national sales tax on American families. Tariffs without a plan will only raise prices without anything to show for it. It is like he is playing Russian roulette with the economy. Whatever seems to pop in his mind one day, he talks about; and the next day it is something else.

Chaos. His trade war is sending stock markets crashing, hurting people's retirement, increasing the risk of a recession. A lot of the banks have increased their risk assessments of a recession because of Trump's actions. Consumer confidence is cratering. Yesterday, we learned people's outlook for the economy has hit a 12-year low, even lower than it was during the height of inflation--a 12-year low.

And how can anyone feel confident about the economy when Elon Musk is taking a chain saw to Social Security? How can anyone feel confident about the economy when Donald Trump is imposing tariffs on people?

The average credit card debt, meanwhile, surpasses $10,000 for the first time since 2009. With such chaos in the economy, with such chaos in what is going on with tariffs, it is no wonder that the American consumer doesn't have confidence in Donald Trump and the way he is handling the economy. And as a result, the American consumer is being more cautious about spending, keeping a little more money in their pocket just in case something happens. And now it looks like a lot of bad things will.

So the economic alarm bells are ringing. Donald Trump is pouring fuel into the fire by launching America into a trade war with no plan whatsoever. And making things even worse, he is cutting both Social Security and the Agency that helps give Medicaid and Medicare to people.

This morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump and Secretary Kennedy are planning to cut 10,000 jobs--10,000 jobs--at HHS. Let's be very clear what these layoffs represent: an assault on Medicare, an assault on Medicaid, an assault on families and consumers from one corner of the country to the next. When you fire people who provide Medicare and Medicaid, that is the same as a benefit cut. When you fire people who prevent the spread of diseases like measles, America will get sicker, schools will get sicker, people, families, will suffer.

Mass layoffs to Medicare workers will not make things more efficient. Mass layoffs to Medicaid workers will not make things more efficient. It is more sabotage, just like the attacks on Social Security. Donald Trump and

Secretary Kennedy should reverse this attack on Medicare and Medicaid immediately.

And where are Republican colleagues? They say they want to protect Medicare. Some of them are worried about cutting Medicaid. We heard them say it. Well, when you cut 10,000 employees from HHS, you are cutting Medicare and Medicaid in terms of the benefits people will receive--similar to what they are doing on Social Security. They don't say outright they are going to eliminate it, but they try to strangle it. They try to strangle it, and the American people suffer.

So that happened on Social Security yesterday. Yesterday, after a huge wave of public outrage, the Social Security Administration temporarily delayed its plan to cut phone services for seniors and people with disabilities. But this is only a 2-week delay. This is not stopping it; it is just delaying it because of the outrage, hoping it will subside. But it won't. Americans from one end of the country to the other want to keep their Social Security. The outrage will not stop because they know that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE want to cut or even eliminate, as Musk said, Social Security. What Donald Trump and DOGE are doing to Social Security is strangulation. They are taking a telephone wire and wrapping it around the neck of Social Security.

But, sadly, it is only the tip of the iceberg of the attack on Social Security. Up to 60 percent of all regional offices are shutting down. Dozens of field offices will be closed. Wait times will explode. Disability claims will face months of delay, and people will be in danger of losing the benefits they so desperately need.

But the administration doesn't care. Listen to this. This is just incredible. It is hard to fathom who is running the show in the Trump administration. Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, thinks that if seniors lose their benefits for a month, they won't mind. He said his mother-in-law wouldn't.

Spoken like a true billionaire. Once again, I remind Mr. Lutnick not everyone has a billionaire son-in-law, and so many people depend on that monthly check for vital things like food and medicine and rent.

And what have Senate Republicans done while Donald Trump and DOGE take a chain saw to Social Security? Absolutely nothing. They are quiet as a church mouse. Instead, Senate Republicans are moving forward with the President's nominee to lead Social Security, who is a self- proclaimed DOGE person.

Let me tell my Republican colleagues once again: A vote to confirm Frank Bisignano is a vote to cut Social Security. Senate Republicans should think very carefully about their vote, because once the damage is done to Social Security, there is no going back.

Now, on the budget, I want to reiterate something I have said about Republican plans to cut taxes for billionaires while slashing Medicaid for millions of people. It sounds as if Senate Republicans will soon go to the parliamentarian to push their so-called current policy baseline gimmick to hide the true cost of their billionaire tax giveaways. This is budgetary hocus-pocus. Even Chip Roy called it fairy dust.

Republicans can try to use whatever baseline, whatever fake math they want, but the American people and the markets can see right through it. Don't be fooled by this hocus-pocus, this current baseline hocus-pocus. It will increase the deficit by $37 trillion over 30 years, and the American people will pay the price in higher interest rates, and American standing in the world will go down.

The Atlantic Report

Mr. President, finally, on Mr. Hegseth and what happened this week. Yesterday, I said Pete Hegseth should be fired from his position as Secretary of Defense. In the short time that Secretary Hegseth has been on the job, he has already shown--no surprise to us; we said this at the hearing--that he lacks the judgment and character to lead America's national defense. What we learned yesterday regarding the information he shared on Signal is shocking. He sent very specific details about military plans over unsecured text messages.

Yesterday's revelations were alarming, but they were not enough. We need answers--more answers--because more damage may have been done than the public and all of us know. That is why my colleagues and I are calling on the Trump administration to release the full, unredacted text conversation from this Signal chat, including everything communicated after the journalist prudently removed himself.

We need to know if anyone, if any senior national security official, was using his or her personal devices. Ms. Gabbard's silence on this issue when asked repeatedly in committee was very, very troubling.

And we need to know if there have been other sensitive conversations like this on unsecured channels. Senate Democrats across committees of jurisdiction are taking action. It is encouraging that both Ranking Member Reed and Chairman Wicker are calling for a DOD IG investigation.

Now for the past day, the Trump administration has tied itself into knots about semantics. They are spending all their energy on what counts as classified or not, what counts as a war plan, an attack plan, and on and on and on. But that is utter nonsense. The plain fact is that if the Russians or Iranians or the Houthis had somehow known about these texts, if someone more nefarious than Mr. Goldberg had been added to the text chain, our troops would have been in danger. The mission would have been compromised.

And once he got caught, did Secretary Hegseth take responsibility for his shocking lack of judgment--which is what he should have done? Any upstanding Secretary of Defense would have done that. Did he exhibit the kind of leadership Americans expect from the man who may deploy our troops into battle, from the man who may send our family members, our friends, our neighbors into harm's way? Did he accept that responsibility? Nope, he didn't. Instead of accepting responsibility, Secretary Hegseth attacked the journalist--amazing, amazing; it is like an Alice in Wonderland world--and called him deceitful. He pointed fingers. He blamed the liberal media, moaned about hoaxes.

Mr. Hegseth, this is not a hoax. It is very real and very serious. You should not be in your job.

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, the more we learn about the unsecured text exchange of sensitive military operations, the more questions we have about how such an egregious breach of military intelligence occurred in the first place.

What the Atlantic released today is confounding and extremely disturbing to any American who worries about our national security and our safety. It is appalling. Worst of all, it confirms our darkest assumptions about mishandling of sensitive military operations.

The release of this letter was extremely important, but many outstanding questions are not answered by this letter's release, so we need the full text exchange released by the administration. This morning's report reinforces the need for immediate answers, transparency, and accountability from President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, and all the others who were involved.

So today I wrote a letter with top Senate Democrats to President Trump and Secretary Hegseth demanding they release the full, unredacted transcript of all texts in their Signal chats.

Many outstanding questions are simply not answered by the Atlantic's release of the text messages this morning. That is why we need all the texts in the Signal chat. This includes all text exchanges that occurred after Mr. Goldberg removed himself from the group chat. Goldberg released his information, so now the administration must release theirs.

Again, what is so damaging is not just the presence of a reporter--as bad as that was. It is that these sensitive conversations happened on an unsecured channel at all. And that is why we need all the texts.

Director of National Intelligence Gabbard testified that no classified information was shared in the text chain. So what is the administration hiding by not releasing the full and complete transcript of this text chain? If no classified information was shared, the administration should have no issue with the full transcript being shared with Senators. Again, this is something that cannot be answered by this morning's report from the Atlantic, as important as Mr. Goldberg's release was.

We have other questions in our letter too. Americans need to know if any officials in the chat used personal devices that lacked government overwatch and cyber security protections. How many of these officials were overseas during these conversations, susceptible to foreign surveillance?

It is alarming--alarming--that Director Gabbard refused to answer repeated questions on whether or not she was using her personal phone. That should be a very easy, ``Of course not.'' But it didn't come from her.

Were there any other individuals without any security clearance erroneously included in the text chain? Has the intelligence community fully assessed the damage caused by the potential leak of classified information? Are there any other Cabinet-level officials using unsecured channels like Signal to discuss classified or sensitive information?

And another important question: Are there any other conversations that have taken place like this? These are all questions we have asked in our letter. They are all very important. They all follow on what Mr. Goldberg released.

But as I said, there are so many outstanding questions, even after the release of Mr. Goldberg's text, that we need answers to. The American people need answers to these questions. What we learned this morning from the Atlantic is appalling, confounding, disturbing; and it reinforces the need to get answers to the questions in our letter. Our letter seeks to get to the bottom of these things to ensure this never, never happens again.