Floor Statements

Mr. President, on the economy, yesterday we got another piece of evidence that Donald Trump is failing at the one thing the American people want him to do: keep the economy strong. The Conference Board, one of the most trusted business research organizations, showed consumer confidence has dropped for the fourth straight month. And it didn't just drop; it is now at the lowest levels since January of 2021, the last time Donald Trump was President.

Donald Trump's disastrous policies are starting to catch up with him. The economic chickens are coming home to roost, and I fear this is just the beginning.

How can any American have confidence in the economy when Donald Trump and Elon Musk are trying to take away their Social Security and healthcare to cut taxes? How can Americans feel confident when Donald Trump starts, stops, starts, changes his position on tariffs? How can Americans have confidence when the prospect of

trade wars sends the stock market plunging and lets billionaires like Elon Musk take a chain saw to people's benefits?

Americans look at this chaos, they are worried, they are troubled. So what do they do? They say: I better keep some money in my pocket because who knows what is going to happen next and what will hurt me next. This fall is the lowest level of confidence in 12 years. This fall is the lowest level since January of 2021 and the lowest level that we have seen in so long, all because Donald Trump is creating chaos in the economy. And Americans are worried and afraid. When they are, they spend less money, they hire less, and the economy shrinks.

More and more people are learning that Donald Trump and his leadership in the economy--or lack of leadership--is far too erratic, far too chaotic, far too unpredictable. And many of us fear--many Americans fear--it is only the beginning.

Mr. President, on voting rights, yesterday Donald Trump escalated his attacks on the bedrock of American democracy. Without a shred of authority, Donald Trump issued an Executive order that will, effectively, coerce States to institute policies that will prevent millions of American citizens from voting.

Let us be very clear: This is an assault on democracy. Donald Trump's order has nothing--nothing--to do with election security. It is an illegal power grab.

We all support safe and transparent and secure elections, but what Donald Trump is doing is making it harder for citizens to vote. He is fanning the flames of election denialism--nothing new to him--claiming without any evidence--without any evidence--that elections are rigged and the system is broken. Every single election authority says this is false.

We all know that if Donald Trump is anything, he is an election denier. He hates the idea of free and fair elections. This is another dark and twisted example of Donald Trump's lawless campaign to recreate America into his personal kingdom.

I am confident the courts will look at this power grab and quickly deem it unconstitutional.

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

Mr. President, yesterday, it was reported that classified war plans were leaked by the Secretary of Defense over unsecured text messages. These text exchanges, confirmed by the administration as authentic, included the Defense Secretary, the National Security Advisor, the CIA Director, the Vice President of the United States, and, unintentionally, a journalist with no security clearance.

For the Defense Secretary to coordinate war plans in such a haphazard and dangerous way puts our national security, our troops, and every single American at risk. They intentionally put highly classified information on an unclassified device.

Every single Senator, Democrat and Republican and Independent, must demand accountability. I am calling for a bipartisan investigation in the Senate of this mishandling. I am also calling for the Defense IG to fully investigate. This is too serious not to know exactly what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it from ever happening again.

The Senate and the executive branch have an obligation to fully investigate how this mishandling of sensitive national defense information was allowed to happen. Republicans must not just shrug their shoulders and call this incident ``one of those learning moments''--no, no, no. This is a serious matter--a potential breach of classified intelligence, of imminent war plans against America's adversaries.

The Senate as well as all relevant authorities within the executive branch must investigate this incident fully. We need to know how this conversation was allowed to happen in the first place on an unsecured channel. We need to know the potential damage it could have caused our national security. We need to know how to prevent this from ever, ever happening again.

Any Senate Republican who was up in arms years ago about emails and unsecured servers should be outraged by the Secretary of Defense's carelessness. What if Russian intelligence gained access to this text thread and shared it with their Iranian allies? What if the Iranians had shared it with their allies the Houthis--a terrifying thought, putting American lives, the lives of our Armed Forces, in jeopardy.

At best--at best--Secretary Hegseth showed a colossal lack of judgment. At worst, he put America's national security and perhaps American troops in danger. Once he got caught, did Secretary Hegseth take responsibility for this fiasco? Did he exhibit any 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 show how he would do things differently next time? No, he did not. Instead of accepting responsibility, outrageously, Secretary Hegseth attacked the journalist and called him deceitful. He took the ``deny till you die'' approach even though these messages were already authenticated by the National Security Council spokesperson.

Secretary Hegseth's refusal to accept responsibility yesterday was eerily similar to the way he conducted himself during the confirmation process. I fear how he will react to future moments of crisis. Again, when Pete Hegseth came before the Senate as a nominee, Democrats warned something like this could happen.

These people--Secretary Hegseth and so many others--are clearly not up for the job. We warned that confirming

them was dangerous, that they would behave recklessly, and unfortunately--unfortunately--we were right.

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

Mr. President, earlier today, The Atlantic magazine released a stunning and alarming report about the accidental leaking of the Trump administration's coordination on classified military operations targeting the Houthis in Yemen. According to the report, a member of the press was somehow added to an unsecured text chain with the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the CIA Director, and other national security officials. The text chain was not a secure conversation. The app used is not approved for discussing classified military operations. Nevertheless, on this text chain, conversations went at length about imminent military operations, including specific targets, weapons, and attack plans. These text messages very likely included classified U.S. intelligence. The entire time, nobody seemed to realize that a private citizen without security clearance had access to this conversation.

This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence that I have read about in a very, very long time. What we have here are senior U.S. leaders, including the Vice President and Secretary of Defense, having classified discussions of military action over an unsecure app.

It is bad enough that a private citizen was added to this chain, but it is far worse that sensitive military information was exchanged on an unauthorized application, especially when that sensitive military information was so, so important.

If these detailed exchanges about coordinating military operations fell into the hands of America's enemies, it could get people killed; it could severely harm our military; it would put America's national security in danger.

This debacle requires a full investigation into how this happened, the damage it created, and how we can avoid it in the future. If our Nation's military secrets are being peddled around over unsecured text chains, we need to know that at once, and we need to put a stop to it immediately. Every single Senator, Republican and Democrat and Independent, must demand accountability.

If a government employee shared sensitive military plans like this, they would be investigated and face very harsh consequences. Again, this kind of carelessness is how people get killed; it is how our enemies can take advantage of us; it is how our national security falls into danger.

If you were up in arms over unsecured emails years ago, you should certainly be outraged by this amateurish behavior.

I ask that Leader Thune and my Republican colleagues work with Democrats right away to hold a full investigation into why these military operations were coordinated over an unauthorized messaging service instead of the secure communications channels funded by taxpayers.

I want to finish with this: When Pete Hegseth came before the Senate as a nominee, Democrats warned that something like this might happen. These people are clearly not up for the job. We warned that confirming them was dangerous, that they would behave recklessly. Unfortunately, we were right. Now we must have accountability, and both parties in the Senate should investigate how this blunder was even possible.

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

Mr. President, well, as everyone knows, government funding expires at midnight tonight. As I announced yesterday, I will vote to keep the government open.

I believe it is the best way to minimize the harm that the Trump administration will do to the American people. Clearly, this is a Hobson's choice. The CR is a bad bill. But as bad as the CR is, I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option. A shutdown would allow DOGE to shift into overdrive.

Let me repeat: A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive. It would give Donald Trump and DOGE the keys to the city, State, and country. Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster rate than they can right now and over a much broader field of destruction that they would render.

In a shutdown, Donald Trump and DOGE will have the power to determine what is considered essential and what is not, and their views on what is not essential would be mean and vicious and would decimate vital services and cause unimaginable harm to the American people.

Making matters even worse, in a shutdown, there is no check on their determinations, Trump and DOGE's determinations on what is essential and what is not. In fact, on February 26, OMB, led by Russell Vought, told Agencies to work with DOGE to create a list of nonessential workers so that they could reduce staffing even faster in a shutdown.

They are already preparing for a shutdown. Musk has told everybody he wants a shutdown because he knows it will help him achieve his horrible goal of just decimating the Federal Government from one end to the other. In other words, if government were to shut down, DOGE has a plan in place to exploit the crisis for maximum destruction.

In a shutdown, American families would be hurt in ways they almost have never been. It could disrupt regional Veterans Affairs offices, curtail mental health services, and accelerate plans to slash staff at Social Security offices. The list goes on and on and on of the damage-- the severe damage--they could do, virtually unchecked.

They can stay in a shutdown as long as they want. There is no off- ramp unless they decide to take that off-ramp, and they won't because this is their best tool for achieving their goal: slash government, slash spending, and use that money for tax breaks for billionaires.

So a shutdown would be the best distraction Donald Trump could ask for--distraction from his awful agenda. Donald Trump owns the chaos in government. He owns the chaos in the stock market. He owns the damage happening to the economy. But he knows that if government shuts down and all the fighting is over which Agencies should be kept and which shouldn't and Republican Senators and Congressmen in just obeisance to Trump keep putting bills on the floor to decide that, it will totally distract from the most important fight of all: fighting Republicans for eviscerating Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid while giving trillions in tax cuts to the ultrarich. That is the fight American people must know about. A shutdown will be a costly distraction from this all-important fight.

Finally, I want to close by reminding everyone it was Republicans who pushed this false shutdown choice. Their inability to govern has led us to this precipice. Our caucus Members have been torn between two awful alternatives, and my colleagues and I have wrestled with which alternative would be worse for the American people. Different Senators come down on different sides of this question, but that does not mean that any Senate Democrat supports a shutdown.

Whatever the outcome, our caucus will be united in our determination to continue the long-term fight to stop Donald Trump's dangerous war on our democracy and on America's working families.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, before we finish today, I would like to say that soon, the Senate will vote on a bipartisan piece of legislation that will make an important DC funding fix.

This legislation will make sure that we take care of the residents of the District; that we will support law enforcement and firefighters and teachers and city services. The legislation is very good news for the residents of the District of Columbia. I am happy we are passing the bill today.

I thank my colleagues for working quickly to bring this bill to the floor. Once the Senate acts, we urge the House to act quickly.

Government funding expires at midnight tonight, and the vote before us is a Hobson's choice. The CR bill is a bad bill, but as bad as the CR is, I believe that allowing Donald Trump to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.

A shutdown would allow DOGE to shift into overdrive. It would give Donald Trump and DOGE the keys to the city, the State, and country, and that is a far worse alternative.

I want to remind everyone that it was Republicans who pushed this false shutdown choice. Their inability to govern has led us to this precipice. Our caucus Members have two bad choices. Different Senators will come down on different sides of the question, but that does not mean that any Senate Democrat supports a shutdown.

Whatever the outcome, our caucus will be united in our determination to continue the long-term fight to stop Donald Trump's dangerous war on our democracy and on America's working families.

Now, I want to be clear about what this bill does and does not do. The full-year CR is a law that sets funding levels for the full year. The President and executive branch have a legal and constitutional duty to faithfully execute the CR. The CR does not change the underlying law making the Trump administration's impoundments and mass firings illegal. This is true as a matter of law.

Nothing in the CR changes the Impoundment Control Act, the foundation of Congress's appropriations authority, and the authorization laws that require USAID and other Agencies to exist and to operate the programs as Congress has assigned to them. Nothing changes title 5, governing the civil service, the Administrative Procedure Act, and so on.

One of the reasons I am voting for cloture is for the very reason that these actions are illegal and no new law is needed to declare that.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Hickenlooper), and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, yesterday, it was reported that Elon Musk and DOGE have been pressuring the Social Security Administration to cut phone services--phone services--that millions of Americans rely on to help get their benefits from Social Security.

DOGE knows that all their claims of massive fraud within Social Security are nonsense. So what do they do? They are trying to cut telephone services that help the elderly and disabled people get their benefits. How cruel. How mean. Why? So some billionaires can get another tax break. That is appalling.

What DOGE is doing to Social Security is not government efficiency; it is cruelty--cruelty. It is a direct attack on some of our most vulnerable people--seniors and the disabled.

Social Security support lines are vital for seniors who struggle to get out of the house. Many seniors don't have the ability to drive themselves to an in-person local office, many of which are closing. If they can visit an office in person, guess what. DOGE is working on closing the local offices too. It is almost as if cruelty is the point for DOGE.

Elon Musk and DOGE are trying to drive Social Security into the ground, to make it so dysfunctional, so they can scream about fraud and justify cutting benefits. And for what? Giving billionaires another tax break.

Remember what Elon Musk said a few days ago:

Most of the federal [government's] spending is

entitlements. So that's the big one to eliminate.

Imagine the cruelty of the richest man in the world--he is trying to sell his Teslas on the White House lawn--telling tens of millions of seniors that he wants to eliminate their benefits, that their checks are part of one big scam.

Elon Musk is utterly clueless--clueless--about what it means to rely on that $1,100 check that seniors need for their food or their medicines. He has no empathy, and that lack of empathy will create immense suffering for people who aren't as fortunate as he has been.

That is why DOGE has already pushed to close Social Security offices. They are getting ready to fire 7,000 Social Security employees, and this is just the beginning. If DOGE keeps going, people could see their benefits disappear.

Are my Republican colleagues fine with these attacks against Social Security? Do they support closing Social Security offices? Do they agree with Elon Musk that Social Security is a scam? Why are they silent as Elon Musk and DOGE try to take Social Security apart?

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, over the last 2 months, the United States has confronted a bitter--a very bitter truth: The Federal Government has been taken over by a nihilist. Donald Trump, in 2 months, has taken a blowtorch to our country and wielded chaos like a weapon.

Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have caved to his every whim. The Grand Old Party has devolved into a crowd of Trump sycophants and MAGA radicals who want to burn everything to the ground. Look no further than what DOGE is doing. Now Republicans' nihilism has brought us to the brink of disaster.

Unless Congress acts, the Federal Government will shut down tomorrow at midnight. I have said many times that there are no winners in a government shutdown, but there are certainly victims--the most vulnerable Americans who rely on Federal programs to feed their families, to access medical care, and to stay financially afloat.

Communities that depend on government services to function will suffer and suffer greatly.

This week, Democrats offered a sensible way out: Fund the government for another month to give appropriators more time to do their jobs. Republicans rejected this proposal outright. Why did they reject it? Because Donald Trump doesn't want the appropriators to do their job; he wants full control over government spending. He isn't the first President to want this, but he is the first President to cower his party into submission.

So that Republican rejection leads us to a decision. That Republican rejection leads us to a decision. And it is not really a decision; it is a Hobson's choice: Either proceed with the bill before us or risk Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown. This, in my view, is no choice at all.

While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse. For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option. It is not a clean CR. It is deeply partisan. It doesn't address far too many of this country's needs. But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.

Before I explain why, let me be clear about one thing. No one on my side of the aisle wants a government shutdown. Members who support this CR do not want a government shutdown. Members who oppose this CR do not want a government shutdown.

Members who oppose this CR want the Republicans to take their responsibilities more seriously and to negotiate spending bills that will address the many needs of the American people. I respect them for that. Unfortunately, though, this Republican Party is the party of Trump.

As bad as passing the CR is, as I said, allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.

First, a shutdown would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now. Under a shutdown, the Trump administration would have full authority to deem whole Agencies, programs, and personnel nonessential, furloughing staff with no promise they would ever be rehired. The decision on what is essential would be solely left to the executive branch, with nobody left at the Agencies to check them.

In short, a shutdown would give Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE, and Vought the keys to the city, State, and country.

A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the State, and the country.

And don't take my word for it. Musk has said aloud he wants a shutdown, and public reporting has shown he is already making plans to use the shutdown to expedite his destruction of key government programs and services. Musk told reporters:

If the job is not essential or they are not doing it well,

they obviously shouldn't be on the public payroll.

Many Federal employees and government experts are rightly worried that a temporary shutdown could lead to permanent cuts.

Second, if we enter a shutdown, congressional Republicans would weaponize their majorities to cherry-pick which parts of the government to reopen. In a protracted shutdown, House and Senate Republicans would pursue a strategy of bringing bills to the floor to reopen only their favorite departments and Agencies, while leaving other vital services that they don't like to languish.

Third, a shutdown is not a political game. Shutdown means real pain for American families.

For example, veterans services: I believe a shutdown could cause regional VA offices to reduce staff, delay benefit processing, and curtail mental health services, abandoning veterans who earned and depended on those resources.

Social Security and seniors: I believe a shutdown could green-light Trump to slash administrative staff at Social Security offices, delaying new applications and benefit adjustments and forcing seniors to wait even longer for the benefits they earned.

Justice and courts: Extremely troubling, I believe. A shutdown could stall Federal court cases, one of the best redoubts against Trump's lawlessness and could require furloughing critical staff at the courts, denying victims and defendants alike their day in court, dragging out appeals, and clogging the justice system for months or even years.

This administration has shown an unfathomable willingness to sacrifice American families and their well-being to advance their own political agenda. A shutdown positions them to do this on overdrive.

Finally, there is one more reason I oppose a shutdown. President Trump and Republican leaders would like nothing more than to pull us into the mud of a protracted government shutdown. For Donald Trump, a shutdown would be a gift. It would be the best distraction he could ask for from his awful agenda.

Right now, Donald Trump owns the chaos in the government; he owns the chaos in the stock market; he owns the damage happening to our economy from one end of the country to the other. The stock market is crashing; consumer confidence is plummeting. Donald Trump is hoping for a shutdown because it will distract from his true agenda of delivering massive cuts to the rich paid for on the backs of American families.

He wants to gut Social Security, hollow out Medicaid, slap taxes on consumer goods through his reckless trade wars. In a shutdown, we would be busy fighting with Republicans over which Agencies to reopen, which to keep closed--instead of debating the damage Donald Trump's agenda is causing the American people.

Mr. President, I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the country, to minimize the harms to the American people. Therefore, I will vote to keep the government open and not shut it down. There is nobody in the world--nobody--who wants to shut the government down more than Donald Trump and more than Elon Musk. We should not give it to them.

And make no mistake: Democrats will continue to fight what Donald Trump is doing. Everything that Trump, Musk, and Republicans have done so far has a clear goal: again, cutting taxes for billionaires, eviscerate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

This is the fight that matters most and the fight we must focus on-- all the chaos we have seen, all the lawlessness, all the grift and corrupt behavior. It is all about rigging the system in favor of the ultrawealthy at the expense of working Americans. This is the fight the American people need to see. This is the fight that Democrats will win. A shutdown will be a costly distraction from this all-important fight.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, Donald Trump and Republicans have wanted to take away Americans' hard-earned entitlement benefits for a very long time.

This week, Elon Musk said the quiet part out loud, and every single American should be alarmed. He said:

Most of the Federal spending is entitlements. So that is

the big one to eliminate.

Of course, he is referring to Social Security.

Elon Musk is saying it plainly: Republicans' big goal is to eliminate--his words--Social Security and Medicare benefits.

The American people deserve to know where Senators stand on protecting Social Security. The American people deserve to know that. Are Senate Republicans fine with the terrible things Elon Musk and DOGE are doing to Social Security? Do they agree with Mr. Musk that it is one giant scam? We have seen the Social Security offices slashed so that people get less services. Is that the first step to eliminate Social Security? It seems to be.

Donald Trump ridiculed Social Security by just lying about people who have been on the books 200 years and making people think they got benefits, which, of course, they didn't. It seems he is in on the plan. It is not just Musk; it is Trump, too.

Well, all of these are simple questions, and Americans deserve to know the truth. If Republicans truly support Social Security, they need to break their silence and condemn Musk's attacks. DOGE has already-- already--taken over the Social Security Administration and accessed the private data and benefits of tens of millions of Americans. Why are they after that? Why are they after that data? My guess is so they can hurt the program, close the program, eliminate the program.

Republicans and Trump and DOGE are gutting the Agency. They are firing thousands of staff, leading to office closures, longer wait times, and deteriorating service. In my State, they have already announced a few offices being closed. I am sure that is true in every other State.

If Mr. Musk and DOGE are allowed to keep going, at the moment, seniors will have to wait longer for their benefits, but in the future, they may not get them. People with disabilities will wait longer times for their claims to be processed, but they may not get them. Americans will spend more time waiting to talk to someone on the phone to get help with their benefits. But it seems, where they are headed, there will be no one on the phone to talk to and no benefits to be received.

Social Security is one of the most popular programs. Why the heck would any President--any erstwhile Vice President--Musk--maybe he is President--why would any party want to eliminate Social Security? Why would they want to cut Social Security, one of the most popular Federal programs we have? I will tell you why. They are frenetic on tax breaks for the billionaires, and they are taking away things from Americans. This is not what the American people want. This is not efficiency.

For Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, to not understand how a senior citizen depends on the $1,100 a month to buy food, to purchase vitally needed medicines--what arrogance. What arrogance to not even deign to understand it.

We will cut the government.

Social Security is not the government; it is people. It is the money they put in. It is the money they now get back. It helps them live a decent life.

If Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Republicans continue to go after benefits like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid--I have no reason to think they won't--Democrats will fight it, but most importantly, the American people will not stand for it.