Floor Statements

Mr. President, now on Social Security, something terrible is happening that Democrats have long warned about. American Social Security benefits, one of the most sacred things people have, one of the most popular Federal programs that has ever been created, Social Security benefits are coming under attack.

Last Friday, Elon Musk claimed that Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time, and now the Trump administration has announced massive cuts, more than 7,000 workers, to the Social Security Administration. These cuts could affect workers who process checks, answer customer service calls, work in field offices across the country. The cuts could very well delay Social Security benefits.

It means longer times on the phone to resolve issues. Everyone knows how frustrating it is, especially seniors who need their checks. When they haven't gotten it, they want to get on the phone and find out what happens and now have to wait for hours. It could mean local offices, like in my home State, close down.

It could mean more Americans get sicker, go hungry, get their checks far too late. You don't need to scratch your head and wonder what Donald Trump and DOGE are doing when they fire Social Security staffers and call Social Security a scam, they are getting ready to go after people's benefits, plain and simple.

Let's be clear. If Americans can't get their checks in time because staffers have been fired, that is a cut in benefits. If Americans can't get an issue resolved over the phone because there is nobody to take calls, that is a cut in benefits. If field offices are closed, if troubleshooting is halted, if checks come late in the mail, that, too, is a cut in benefits.

The only scam going on here is the one where the President of the United States would try to fleece Social Security from the American people to help pay for tax cuts for their billionaires club. Democrats will not let it happen.

Mr. President, before my colleagues vote on the next vote, Linda McMahon's nomination for Secretary of Education, they should remember that a vote for Mrs. McMahon is a vote for draconian cuts to education and rising property taxes for middle-class and suburban American families. That is why I am so proud that every Democrat will vote no to stand up for our schools, for our kids, for our teachers, for public education, and to prevent property taxes from going up further.

Donald Trump is clear. He wants to eliminate the Department and push never-before-seen cuts to public schools. Mrs. McMahon will make that happen. Her whole background is anti-public schools.

When you slash Federal funding for education, it leads to higher taxes back home. So many of our school districts--they could be urban, suburban, or rural--depend on Federal funding, and when you cut that, it leads to higher property taxes to make up for the loss of money. Communities will also be forced to slash other programs, including helping disabled kids, for funding for the schools. This is not what the American people want. This is not what they bargained for.

The Senate should reject Mrs. McMahon because funding cuts for schools, students, parents, and teachers all for the sake of billionaire tax breaks--whose kids probably don't go to public schools--is an awful idea. I am proud every Democrat will vote no.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, when Donald Trump and DOGE began their work, they kept saying the same thing. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE said: This is about cutting waste; it is about efficiency; it is about meritocracy. Unfortunately, the truth has not been as advertised. It has been utter chaos.

Yesterday, the Department of Veterans Affairs said they were reversing course on canceling billions of dollars in contract work because, as it turns out, slashing billions in funding that helps veterans is extremely harmful for veterans. These VA cuts were lauded by DOGE as an example of eliminating waste. The VA Secretary claimed these contracts were for consultants ``to make PowerPoint slides and write meeting minutes.'' That is not even close to the truth.

Let me read some examples of what DOGE was actually prepared to cut: Funding for chemotherapy and imaging services, those were going to be cut--hardly make-work, hardly writing meeting minutes. Funding for veterans with disabilities--cut--even funding to help veterans suffering from toxic exposure in burn pits. One contract would help over 20,000 veterans track down their military service records from DOD in order to prove their toxic exposure, as is required. Without these records, getting affordable treatment would not likely be possible, and DOGE said: Let's cut that, too.

Even if the VA reverses course, canceling these contracts and firing VA staff is still immediately damaging--very damaging. There is the risk that you can't rehire workers back in time because they have moved on to other jobs or contracts aren't available because they took their business elsewhere, and, by then, the damage is

done. Vital services and operations that serve veterans can't continue as before. It could take months--maybe even years--to build this back, which had been built up carefully to help veterans over the years, and many of us in Congress worked for those things; so to cut these services and then say ``never mind'' still ends up being very destructive. Sadly, this is only one example.

Yesterday, Elon Musk led his first Cabinet meeting of this administration. He admitted that DOGE's approach has led to many erroneous cuts to staff and programs that are not wasteful but, on the contrary, vital.

For example, he said:

With USAID, one of the things we accidentally cancelled

very briefly was Ebola prevention.

Those are his words.

Are you kidding me? Cutting funds to stop one of the deadliest diseases in the world is reckless, especially when there is an Ebola outbreak in Uganda as we speak, and flights leave Kampala every day and go all over the world. When epidemics hit America, they oftentimes begin abroad, and U.S. funding is essential to prevent those diseases from reaching us here at all.

I should also note that the claims that Ebola funding is back online are false. Reports are out from last night that 95 percent of all USAID funding is now being cut. So we are not sure where it all is.

What DOGE is doing is not what efficiency looks like. If DOGE actually cares about efficiency and meritocracy, then it is failing, in many ways, its own test. It would be better to look at these programs, see which might be wasteful, see which are needed, and then make the cuts to the wasteful programs, not take a meat-ax or a blowtorch--call it what you will--cut everything, and then say we will restore some of the things that we shouldn't have cut, because once you make those cuts, it is very hard to put the pieces back together.

Taxes

Mr. President, on Republican taxes, last month, consumer confidence took its biggest nosedive in 4 years--the biggest nosedive in 4 years. This is how confident consumers, average Americans, feel about the economy. Inflation is trending back up. The price of eggs is sky high. The threat of a trade war looms over our country, and Americans are fearful that things are not going to get any better anytime soon. And what are Republicans doing about all of this? They are trying to cut taxes for billionaires--trying to cut taxes for billionaires--and make the American people pay for it.

The Republican agenda is quickly taking shape. Under Donald Trump's Republican Party, billionaires win; American families lose.

It doesn't matter if Republicans go with 1 bill or 2 bills or 50 bills. That is what they are debating right now. Their endgame--House and Senate Republicans--has always been cutting taxes for billionaires and forcing American families to pick up the tab.

Of course, Senate Republicans know that cutting Medicaid by over $800 billion to lower taxes for billionaires is wildly unpopular. They know that increasing the deficit by up to $5 trillion to help the ultrarich contradicts everything the so-called party of fiscal responsibility stands for. They say they have to cut all this stuff to reduce the deficit, and then, with their tax breaks for billionaires, they increase the deficit, no matter what sleight-of-hand accounting method they use.

What are Republicans doing about fiscal responsibility? Are they admitting that their plans would be a disaster for the deficit? No. Instead, Senate Republicans are engaged in budgetary hocus-pocus to hide the true cost of their tax cuts for the ultrarich, and there may be signs that House Republicans are going along.

Instead of admitting the truth about the consequences of their plans, they are pursuing a gimmick called ``current policy baseline''--a gimmick, if there ever was one--which is essentially an attempt to magically turn $5 trillion of deficit spending into zero dollars of deficit spending. Well, that can't happen and doesn't happen, and the economy will realize it doesn't happen. Any junior high school math student could tell you this is a bunch of bunk. You can't pass $5 trillion to cut taxes for the rich and pretend like it doesn't affect the deficit.

The issue isn't complicated. Republicans are trying to hide the true cost of their billionaire tax cuts from the American people. Meanwhile, they are getting ready to eviscerate funding for healthcare that serves over 80 million Americans--kids, seniors, rural communities. These cuts to Medicaid will dramatically hurt rural America, people with disabilities, and more.

The only people who seem to be opposing this is the hard-right Freedom Caucus, because they seem to really care about the deficit. Let's hope they stay strong for the sake of the economy and this country.

Of course, the American people are not going to take these Medicaid cuts lying down.

Last night, I got on a Zoom. Over 3,000 New Yorkers, worried about the attacks from Republicans on healthcare, got on the Zoom, many more than we expected. These were rank-and-file folks, healthcare advocates, union members, and concerned citizens from all walks of life. They were all upset about the cuts to Medicaid and putting those cuts in place in order to give tax breaks for billionaires.

It was a great call. It was an energizing call. I urge my colleagues to do the same, as many of them are. It is a stark reminder of what is at stake but also a reminder that the American people don't like these cuts.

We heard from New Yorkers who are in danger of having their Medicaid coverage taken away if Republicans proceed with their actions, on this Zoom of over 3,000 people. But we also talked about taking action.

I urged participants to call their Members of Congress. I urged them to mobilize online and to organize in their communities. We urged everyone to make their voices heard, like we are seeing in the townhall meetings.

I reminded folks that organizing is not easy, but it works. It changes things, and it is going to make a difference in making sure Medicaid is protected.

Nomination of Linda McMahon

Mr. President, on our Education Secretary nominee, today, the Senate will vote on whether to advance the nomination of Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education.

Mrs. McMahon's nomination comes as President Trump has been clear about cutting funding for education and abolishing the Department of Education entirely.

Is Mrs. McMahon going to go along? I hope not.

Cutting education is not what the American people want. The American people don't want a radical, out-of-touch billionaire slashing funding for public schools. When you slash Federal funding for education, guess what happens. Since so many of our school districts--urban, suburban, rural--depend on this Federal money, it leads to higher property taxes for people back home.

If you eliminate the Department of Education as a whole, that means local communities are forced to pick up the tab to fund the schools. It means that families in these communities will pay in the form of higher property taxes to make up the loss of Federal funding. But communities will also be forced to slash other programs to make room for funding for schools.

Again, this is not what the American people want. This is not what they voted for.

Mrs. McMahon, in my judgment, is not qualified to lead America's public education. She seems not to care very much about it. But that is precisely why President Trump nominated her. She is the perfect choice to bring our public education system burning to the ground.

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, I ask unanimous consent to speak for a little more than a minute.

Mr. President, every American should be paying close attention to what is about to happen on the floor. In just a few moments, the Senate will vote on a Republican resolution that is straight from the wish list of Big Oil and Big Gas.

Instead of spending floor time pushing legislation that will lower costs for American families, Republicans are bowing to Big Oil and Gas billionaires by trying to reverse the methane waste emissions charge which Democrats passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. Donald Trump and DOGE claim to care about efficiency, but Republicans are undoing a measure to reduce oil and gas waste and are making prices for the consumer go up--prices going up--when they are saying they want prices to go down. The rule we passed has been one of our most important tools to lower energy prices, to hold Big Oil and Big Gas accountable, to keep excessive and harmful levels of methane

out of our atmosphere, which my friend Mr. Whitehouse, who has done such a good job on this issue, tells me is 80 times as poisonous as CO2. Without this safeguard, Big Oil and Gas can waste as much natural gas as they like and then pass the cost on to consumers.

Why are Republicans doing this? Well, it is simple. They are putting the needs of Big Oil and Gas companies over the needs of the American people, over the health of the American people and the health of our environment, our climate, our globe. And the consequences for the American people, for their health and their energy bills, are going to be very harmful.

I urge my colleagues to think carefully, one last time, before voting to overturn it.

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

Mr. President, last night, almost every single House Republican signed their names to what would be the largest Medicaid cuts in American history. The havoc, the damage that that would do to tens of millions of American families would be almost unprecedented when it comes to Medicaid.

Why did Republicans do it? So they could cut taxes for the billionaires club. The Republican agenda is quickly taking shape. Under Donald Trump's Republican Party, billionaires win; American families lose.

Last night proved that Senate Democrats are right. It doesn't matter if Republicans go with 1 bill or 2 bills or 50 bills. The endgame for Republicans has always been the same: cutting taxes for billionaires and forcing American families to pick up the tab.

Now the attention returns to the Republican Senate. Republican Senators know these billionaire tax breaks are unpopular, particularly because it will push deep, nasty cuts to Medicaid.

When I hear the Republican leadership talk about the bills they propose, they never mention the tax cuts to billionaires, which is the crown jewel, in their minds, of what they are doing. But they are afraid to mention it because they know how unpopular it is with the American people.

They know it is going to increase the deficit by up to $5 trillion. These deficit hawks over on the other side of the aisle and the House are willing to increase the deficit by that much.

So what are they doing about it, knowing how high it would increase the deficit, rising interest rates, rising costs, risk of economic downturn? What do they do? Instead of facing the problem head-on, they are resorting to budget gimmicks to hide the true cost of their billionaire tax cuts.

They want to use something--some of them--called a current policy baseline. In essence, current policy baseline is an attempt to magically turn $5 trillion of deficit spending into zero dollars on their balance sheets. The deficit would still be there. It would still go up by $5 trillion in actual terms, but this sleight of hand, this hocus-pocus, says it is not going to appear on a balance sheet because we are calling it current policy baseline.

Congress--Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative--has never used a ``current policy'' baseline for reconciliation and for good reason. Any junior high school math student could tell you their current policy baseline gimmickry is utter nonsense. It is an attempt for Senate Republicans to hide the true cost of their billionaire tax cuts from the American people.

At least House Republicans are being honest about the outrageous cost of their tax cuts in terms of the deficit. In fact, the House Freedom Caucus is being far more honest about the deficit than our Senate Republican colleagues. Maybe the Freedom Caucus should send the debt clocks that Representative Thomas Massie wears on his lapel to the Senate Republicans.

What happened in the House last night and what happened last week in the Senate is only the beginning. Democrats are going to fight these billionaire tax cuts tooth and nail. Democrats are glad to have this debate because the American people will be aghast when they learn what is really in the Republican tax bill, and that is tax breaks--huge tax breaks--for their billionaire buddies who are all doing well, God bless them. The last thing America needs is another tax break for them--who are so rich already.

Americans are worried that with these tax breaks, inflation is going to get worse. Americans are worried that Donald Trump will start a trade war with our allies and make trips to the grocery store an utter nightmare.

We learned yesterday, for instance, that consumer confidence saw its biggest drop last month in 4 years--in 4 years. So this idea that the Republicans can hide what they are doing to the American people is not working, and we Democrats are going to make sure that Americans know exactly what they are doing in terms of their tax breaks for billionaires hurting the average American.

The issues that Americans are actually worried about are costs, are inflation, are getting decent healthcare. But what are the Republicans spending their time on here in Congress? Cutting taxes for billionaires and then hiding the true cost on the deficit with a sleight of hand.

They are also slashing away at Medicaid and SNAP and so many other services that bring down the cost of living. This is absolutely not what the American people signed up for, and Republicans know it because they don't talk about it.

Talk about how close to $2 trillion in your plan goes to the very wealthiest in America. You can't talk about it. Do you know why you can't talk about it? Because you know how unpopular it is.

Yes, it is true that the small number of very wealthy, greedy people who want their taxes even lower has a disproportionate hold on the Republican Party in the House and Senate. So they are doing it, but they are afraid to talk about it.

And for sure, when it comes to these tax cuts, when it comes to the cuts in Medicaid, and so many other bad things their budget does, Democrats will fight tooth and nail to prevent them.

Mr. President, DOGE--day by day, Americans are getting more alarmed by the slash-and-burn approach DOGE is taking to basic government programs. Americans certainly want a more efficient government, but what DOGE and Donald Trump are doing is not efficiency. Instead, it is chaos. Americans did not sign up for chaos, that is for sure.

Americans did not sign up for DOGE to take its chain saw, for instance, to aviation safety. There was another near miss, this time in Chicago, in the air. Thank God no one was hurt, but this shows you the immense importance of having a fully staffed FAA.

How on Earth is it efficiency to fire aviation safety assistance or maintenance mechanics or people who help with safety inspections and repairs? But that is just what DOGE did. I can't imagine any American thinks that is efficiency.

The only thing that is going to accomplish, of course, is making flying less safe. It is going to lead to delays and mixups at airports.

And not even the 9/11 families who lost loved ones or were hurt as they rushed to the towers right after 9/11, not even these folks were safe from the DOGE buzz saw.

DOGE tried to ax the workforce for the World Trade Center Health Program. I am glad we pushed Donald Trump and DOGE to reverse.

Later today, I will join Senator Gillibrand, Representatives Goldman and Garbarino to reintroduce the bipartisan 9/11 World Trade Center Health Program reintroduction, 2 months after Elon Musk killed this program when he tanked the bipartisan funding bill in December.

Mr. President, 9/11 families deserve to be treated with dignity, with respect, not with the contempt we see from DOGE. And no good business operator would take this slash-and-burn approach DOGE is taking.

People's Social Security benefits are also at risk. Their ability to see a doctor is at stake. Their ability to put kids in daycare is at stake. The longer DOGE is allowed to rain chaos on the American people, the stronger the backlash will become.

And let's not forget, even by their most optimistic projections--and they have had to reduce them--the amount of money that DOGE will cut is far less than the amount of the deficit created by the huge Republican tax cut. So all this talk that they need to do this for deficit reduction is belied by their clinging to a whopping deficit creation by the tax cut.

Mr. President, on the methane CRA, today, Senate Republicans will advance a measure undoing one of the most important tools we have to lower energy prices and hold Big Oil and Gas accountable.

The Republicans, once again, in obeisance to the oil and gas industry, are pushing a resolution to reverse the methane emissions charge, which Democrats passed in the Inflation Reduction Act.

It makes big oil companies pay when they leak excessive and harmful levels of methane. Typically, the more methane a company leaks during drilling, the more these companies will have to charge for the methane they do deliver and the more gas prices will go up for families and businesses.

The oil companies, they don't believe in what our economists call externalities. They think they can just throw methane into the air and let everyone else pay the price in terms of climate change, in terms of bad health for people, et cetera.

What they want to do, our Republicans colleagues, will make gas prices go up for families and businesses.

Our law was a reasonable, commonsense, and a carefully tailored safeguard to prevent consumers from footing the bill of Big Oil's methane waste, paired with Federal funding to help big oil companies reduce their waste.

Reducing methane waste in the atmosphere saves consumers money. It protects local communities from pollution; and methane, as you know, is a superpotent greenhouse gas.

Scientists agree that reducing methane is one of the best things we can do

to combat climate change. Its deleterious effects on the atmosphere are many, many times greater even than CO2 is.

So why do Republicans want to overturn it so badly? Because, as typical, Republicans are putting the needs of big oil and gas companies over the needs of the American people, over the health of the American people, and over the health of our globe.

Americans don't want Big Oil and Big Gas running the show. Americans don't want more pollution in their communities. Americans don't want higher gas prices. But that is what the Republicans are doing with today's CRA vote. Today's vote will show the American people, once again, who is on your side and who is on the side of Big Oil and Gas. I hope everyone watches closely.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I want to thank Senators Kaine and Heinrich for introducing this resolution and for taking the floor to highlight Donald Trump's energy emergency gimmick.

We Democrats are using every tool available to expose Republican hypocrisy, revealing the so-called energy emergency for what it is. It is a shameless power grab by Republicans to pay obeisance to Big Oil, plain and simple--nothing more, but nothing less.

Republicans are raising prices by excluding clean energy from their emergency, meaning families could see electricity bills go up by $500 a year. Republicans are killing jobs by gutting domestic energy investments that we made, that have created so many new good-paying jobs. Republicans are rewarding China by weakening our economic competitiveness and ceding American energy leadership to our adversaries.

The hypocrisy is simple. On the one hand, they say we need more energy for AI and for everything else, but then, on the other hand, they greatly curtail the cheapest form of electricity we could make, which is solar and then wind, because, really, what they are doing is just hugging Big Oil because Big Oil hates clean energy because they know clean energy eventually means the great reduction of polluting oil and gas and what they put into our atmosphere.

Senators Kaine, Heinrich, and all Democrats will continue to shine a spotlight on Republican attacks on domestic energy in the weeks and months ahead.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, over the last month, it has become clear how Donald Trump and Republicans govern. Donald Trump and Republicans have focused on things most Americans don't care about or don't like while refusing to focus on things Americans actually do care about.

Donald Trump and Republicans have focused on things most Americans don't care about or don't even like while refusing to focus on things Americans actually do care about.

Exhibit A of these things that Americans don't like is what is happening today in the House of Representatives. As soon as today, House Republicans will advance a budget resolution clearing the way for perhaps the most draconian cuts to Medicaid in American history, all so Republicans can cut taxes for their billionaires club and have the American people pick up the tab and pay the price. This is in the

category of things Americans really don't like.

There is only one proper way to describe the Republican plan that is moving through the House this week: radical. Radical. The Republican plan radically hurts American families while radically helping the billionaires club. Republicans are so eager to cut taxes for billionaires that they would increase the deficit by a trillion dollars or more to make room for their sweetheart-deal tax cuts for billionaires like Elon Musk.

Republicans are also pushing for trillions in cuts for working- and middle-class Americans, endangering everything from Medicaid to nutrition programs, to housing assistance, and so much more. The Republican bill could cut as much as $880 billion from Medicaid alone. That means 80 million Americans--kids, veterans, people with disabilities, rural Americans, the elderly--are all at risk.

And why? Why are Republicans putting these people at such risk and hurting things that benefit them--not waste; things that actually go to people and help them? They are doing it to make life easier for the billionaires club. They are doing it to cut taxes for the ultrawealthy.

Last week, here in the Senate, during vote-arama, I pushed an amendment that said we should have no tax breaks for billionaires. I pushed an amendment calling for no billionaire tax breaks if even one dollar of Medicaid spending was cut. What is more important: helping people get healthcare, helping the elderly stay in nursing homes, helping our veterans--especially those who may be out of work--get the healthcare they need? What is more important--that or a tax break for someone who is very wealthy already?

Well, on both amendments--the one that said no tax breaks for billionaires and the one that said no tax breaks for billionaires if even one dollar of Medicaid spending was cut--both times, Republicans overwhelmingly said no.

Let us hope--let us hope--it may be a distant hope, but let us hope that House Republicans show more courage, more compassion, and more common sense to reject these horrible, harmful, radical cuts.

This is not what the American people signed up for in this election. Billionaire tax cuts is a clear example of things Americans don't like. Just look at all the backlash Republicans are seeing in their townhalls. And Republicans know this. Republicans know that cutting taxes for wealthy billionaires is something most Americans don't like at all. They didn't campaign on it. Oh, no. I didn't hear any of our Republican colleagues who were running go home and say ``I want to cut taxes for the billionaires,'' although that is the first thing they are doing when they get here. Yet Republicans seem to be full steam ahead all the same.

This, of course, is part of the pattern I am talking about. Over the last month, Donald Trump and Republicans have spent their energy focused on things Americans don't like while refusing to focus on things Americans actually do care about--like inflation, rising prices.

We already see that Americans are upset with the Trump administration because prices continue to rise, as they have over the last many years. Donald Trump promised to bring down costs on day one. He said that the first day he is elected, he is going to start bringing costs down, but instead, inflation has gone up, grocery prices are up. Chicken, pork, steak--all more expensive. Eggs are up 15 percent from last month. All the while, Republicans are focused on things that Americans either don't like or don't care about.

Americans don't like, for instance, pardoning violent insurrectionists. It was one of the least popular things we have seen; a recent poll in the Washington Post is clear. But that was the first major decision Donald Trump made as President, the first major decision.

Most Americans don't care whether you call it the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America or something else. Most Americans don't care about building hotels in Gaza or annexing Canada. Yet these are the things that Donald Trump is focused on to distract people from the fact that he doesn't actually have real solutions to the things Americans really worry about.

Of course, there are things that Republicans are focused on that make things actively worse. Most Americans don't think it is a great idea to get into a trade war with our closest allies. That is going to make trips to the grocery store even more expensive than they are now.

Of course, most Americans do care about making government more efficient. While everyone certainly supports cutting waste, Americans don't like the harmful chaos that Elon Musk and DOGE have unleashed. They don't want to see a rich billionaire treat Federal workers with immense disrespect. And make no mistake, Americans did not sign up for DOGE to endanger their Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid benefits. That is not government efficiency; that hurts the American people.

What DOGE is doing is chaos, and Americans know that the chaos being unleashed by DOGE is causing a lot of harm to the country. Americans don't want to see their air traffic safety personnel fired in droves, no questions asked. That is not government efficiency; that is chaos and danger at the airports and in airplanes, at security checkpoints.

Our veterans don't want to see the VA starved of resources. Someone came over to me the other day and said: My brother is in a VA hospital. He has a rare disease. Seven of the people were let go. Who is going to take care of him?

They don't want to hear about cuts to the Veterans Crisis Line, where veterans who may have come back from Iraq or Afghanistan with PTSD or other problems have a place to go and a place to call. That is not government efficiency, cutting the Veterans Crisis Line; that is just more chaos, more harm, more hurt. Can you imagine the callousness of firing personnel who operate the veterans suicide crisis line, as was reported by the staff at the VA? It is a cruel and vindictive way to treat America's heroes.

Of course, our 9/11 families did not sign up for DOGE trying to cut the 9/11 survivor health program--the people who rushed to the Towers, the brave heroes, police, fire, first responders, and others who rushed to the Towers in the days after that horrible day of 9/11 and got illnesses in their lungs and gastrointestinal tracts and now are getting some help. The 9/11 families didn't sign up to cut that, but that is precisely what DOGE tried to do. We pushed back, and I am glad that President Trump and DOGE reversed themselves on that issue. They should be reversing themselves on many other issues also that hurt people so badly.

But the takeaway is they are very clear: What DOGE is doing is not making government more efficient; it is creating more chaos. And if there is one thing Americans don't want in these turbulent times, it is more chaos.

Rather than actually cut waste in government in a smart way, a careful way, an efficient way; rather than putting the needs of working people first, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Republican Party have plunged basic government services into chaos and taken a meat ax at programs that help workers, middle-class families, and low-income Americans, all for the sake of cutting taxes for billionaires and mega corporations.

Republicans are focused on the wrong things. They are helping the wrong people, and they are ignoring the vast majority of Americans they promised to serve.

Under Donald Trump's Republican Party, billionaires win, American families lose.

So let me say it once again. Over the last month, it has become clear how Donald Trump and Republicans govern. Donald Trump and Republicans have focused on things Americans don't care about or don't like while refusing to focus on things Americans actually do care about.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, 3 years ago, Vladimir Putin brought war and destruction to the free people of Ukraine. Three years ago, a powerful, hungry autocrat broke the peace in Europe, violated the sovereignty of an independent democracy, and rolled tanks and weapons and troops across the Ukrainian borders without provocation or justification.

Vladimir Putin has sealed his place in history as an enemy to democracy, to freedom, and to peace. He has killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians. His rockets have destroyed homes and churches and schools and hospitals--deliberately, in many cases.

A year ago, I was there. I saw the destruction. I saw parking lots being turned into mass graves. I spoke with soldiers near the border trying to defend their homes. And I felt the deep resolve of the Ukrainian people. I felt the value of America's leadership and the international struggle to push back against Putin's evil aggression.

Today, we remember Bucha, we remember the atrocities in Mariupol, and we remember everywhere where Putin's horrors have touched. We honor the lives lost at the hands of Russia's war of aggression, and we will not let Vladimir Putin and his thugs off the hook.

For 3 years, the United States has been clear on where we stand. We have stood on the side of democracy, the inviability of borders, and the freedom of nations--and against Vladimir Putin.

We passed in this Chamber robust, bipartisan security assistance. The United States united the leaders of the West, and for years we succeeded in turning Putin into a pariah.

But today, on this third anniversary of Putin's war, Donald Trump is turning his back on the values that America stands for of democracy, of security, and of liberty. Instead of standing up to Putin, Donald Trump is siding with him and against our own allies. Instead of condemning Putin's lies, Donald Trump is parroting Russian misinformation and propaganda, in defiance of all evidence, without regard to any facts, and with utter contempt for the truth.

Today, President Trump met with President Macron. President Macron is advising Donald Trump not to show weakness--not to show weakness--to Putin at this pivotal moment. Donald Trump should heed President Macron's warning, or else Putin is going to eat his lunch, and America is going to suffer in the long term.

American support of a pro-Western democracy under attack is not charity. It is about our own long-term security. For Donald Trump to show weakness to Putin is to endanger America's security tomorrow.

If history tells us one thing about autocrats, it is that their hunger is never satiated. It is never enough. They will keep going one way or another until they are halted.

What are Poland and Latvia and Lithuania and Estonia supposed to think about Putin's belligerence next door to them? What is NATO supposed to make of Donald Trump's eagerness to deal with autocrats instead of our own allies?

If Donald Trump sells out democracy in Europe today, what will Donald Trump sell out tomorrow? Democracy in America? Our national security, which he is already starting to do?

The way Donald Trump is engaging with Vladimir Putin right now is not going to make America any safer in the long run. This all goes back to a pattern we have seen from Donald Trump from the very beginning. He has always admired autocrats, strongmen, and bullies; always shown contempt for the rule of law, for truth, for accountability, for facts--because his ultimate goal is to skew things in favor of the wealthy and corrupt few at the expense of everybody else.

Just like his push for taxes, just like his empowering DOGE, Donald Trump's modus operandi is to trample on safeguards and basic accountability--values central to any free democracy--in order to allow corrupt billionaires, the wealthy few, and cronies to fill in the void.

This is exactly the world Vladimir Putin wants, and little by little, Donald Trump is helping him make it happen.

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

Well, Mr. President, the Senate is in for a very long day and a very long night. Over the next day or so, Senate Republicans will try to advance a budget resolution that clears the way to cut taxes for Donald Trump's billionaire friends. Democrats are going to hold the floor all day long and all night long to expose how Republicans want to cut taxes for billionaires while gutting things Americans care about most: healthcare, jobs, public safety, national security, housing, education. This is going to be a long, drawn-out fight.

This reconciliation budget bill is only the first step, albeit an important one. Days like today, where we vote on amendments late into the night, go a long way in revealing where each party stands and whom each party is fighting for. Democrats are glad to have this debate. We are happy to have it a few more times if the Republican leader so wants. Democrats will show, in each of these debates, where Republicans truly stand deep down--not with working people but on the side of billionaires like Elon Musk.

If you become wealthy fairly and squarely, we don't begrudge you, but you are doing fine, and you certainly don't need a massive tax break. And yet that is precisely what Republicans are getting ready to do-- give billionaires another tax break and make the American people pay the cost.

If Senate Republicans really think the best solution for inflation is to put more money into the pockets of the billionaire class, Democrats will make sure the American people know it. We will expose the Republicans' plan to cut healthcare so that billionaires can have another tax break. We will expose Republican plans to gut housing, to defund the NIH--stop cancer research? Stop research into diseases that are hurting, harming, and even killing our loved ones? Uh-uh. To cut nutrition? To make housing costs go up? To hurt food inspection? To stop the fight against bird flu here or Ebola overseas so that they don't harm us? Doing all those things that make no sense so they can cut taxes for billionaires? No way, we say. That is wrong for the American people, and the more they learn about it, the less they are going to like the Trump agenda that Republicans in the Senate are following.

Republicans can spin their agenda however they want. They can try to pass 1 bill, 2 bills, 50 bills. It doesn't matter. They can slice and dice their policies in whatever order they wish. It doesn't matter in the end. The end game is the same of Donald Trump and the Republican majority: tax cuts for billionaires paid on the backs of working and middle-class Americans.

That is not--absolutely not--what the American people signed up for. The American people want to see inflation go down. It has gone up in the last month, even though Donald Trump said it would go down starting on day one. They want to see their paychecks go up. They want to see more jobs. They want to see better jobs. They want to see more ladders to the middle class, and they want to find ways to stay in the middle class once they get there.

Republicans, meanwhile, have abandoned the working and middle class. In just 1 month, Donald Trump and Republicans have eviscerated so many of our institutions in order to cater to the whims of billionaires. Donald Trump has defied the rule of law. He has ignored court orders. He has even fancied himself a King, while all his billionaire friends spread through the government like locusts and put public services that serve tens of millions of people at risk.

When Elon Musk holds court in the Oval Office and meets heads of state, Head Start programs and community health centers have seen their funding shut off. Donald Trump preaches about corruption and fraud, all the while ridding the government of its independent watchdogs and letting DOGE go through people's Social Security numbers and even their private tax and health data with virtually no guardrails, no check.

All this chaos is by design. All this lawlessness has a goal. Everything we have seen over the last month from Donald Trump and Republicans has one endgame in mind: Undermine the rule of law in order to put more money in the pockets of billionaires like Elon Musk. Nothing criticizes the broken core of the Republicans' agenda better than their tax cuts for the ultrawealthy.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, now, in a few moments, Senators will begin voting on amendments to the Republican plan that cuts taxes for the ultrarich. Everything--everything that Donald Trump and the Republicans have done over the last month--all the chaos, all the lawlessness that we have seen--serves one crooked goal. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Republicans are trying to give their billionaire buddies a tax break and have you--the American people--pay the cost.

It can be summed up very simply in this wonderful chart that my friend from Oregon has put together. What the chart says, under the Republican plan: ``Families lose, billionaires win.''

What could be further from what Americans want? What could be further? Tonight, Democrats are going to force Republicans to defend their tax cuts for billionaires like Elon Musk.

We are going to be here all night. We are going to put forward amendments forcing Republicans to defend their unpopular agenda, exposing the Republican plan for what it is: a massive, massive billionaire giveaway, paid for on the backs of working-class and middle-class Americans.

The Republicans know they want to hide this. They know it is not popular. They know 80 percent of the American people dislike this plan. So Donald Trump and others obfuscate. They want us to pay attention to Gulf of America, building hotels in Gaza, annexing Canada. Why?

Why are they doing these bits of foolishness? They don't want the American people to see that the Republican plan has families lose and billionaires win.

Our amendments will come in three categories: One focused on tax cuts for the billionaires, trying to undo those; one focused on the damage Republicans will inflict on American families in order to pay for their tax cuts; and one bucket--the final bucket--focused on lawlessness and corruption done in service to create chaos so they can cut taxes for billionaires.

Those are the categories: one focused on tax cuts for billionaires, one focused on damage Republicans inflict on American families to pay for those tax cuts, and one on Trump's lawlessness and corruption done in service to create chaos, so they can cut taxes for billionaires.

Let me repeat: Tonight, Democrats will force Republicans to defend their cuts for billionaires, and tonight will just be the first time. We will be doing this over and over again.

Because we know that they don't want the American people to know that that is their North Star. Almost everything they do is aimed at getting those tax breaks for the billionaires. We are also going to force Republicans to defend their cuts on American families, cutting healthcare and Medicaid and education and housing and more. All to pay for the tax cuts of their billionaire buddies.

Finally, Democrats will force the Republicans to defend Donald Trump's scorched earth assault on the rule of law, an assault he is waging in order to put more money in the pockets of billionaires.

That is what tonight is all about, how Republicans want to help billionaires win, American families lose, and the rule of law burned to the ground.

I thank my colleagues for bringing the amendments to the floor. We are going to be here all night. We have lots of amendments that are in these three categories. It will be a long night, but it is a debate the American people need to see, deserve to see. And that is why we are here.

We Democrats are glad to have this debate. Let's have it two, three more times, when they come up with this new reconciliation and that, when the House and Senate Republicans finally get their act together. Bring it on.

I am proud to offer tonight's very first amendment, one that makes a simple proposal: Nobody, nobody, nobody making more than a billion dollars should get yet another tax break. That is it. That is the amendment. If you make a billion dollars, God bless you, you are doing fine, but you don't deserve a tax break.

I would love to hear the Republicans argue why of all people who need a tax break right now, it is the billionaire class.

In this era of high inflation and growing inequality, billionaires aren't the ones who should be getting the massive tax giveaway. They are doing just fine. Instead, we should be helping working- and middle- class Americans get better jobs, earn higher paychecks, and pay lower costs.

So, tonight, the very first question Republicans must answer is this: Do you agree--Mr./Mrs. Republican Senator, Ms. Republican Senator, all the Republican Senators--do all the Republican Senators agree that billionaires should not be getting another tax break? Yes or no? And if you don't think they should get a tax break--that billionaires should get a tax break--just vote with us in supporting this amendment.

We are going to get our answer very, very soon, and that answer, the American people are going to see over and

over and over again, over the next hours, the next days, the next weeks, the next months.

The second amendment will be offered by Senator Klobuchar to prevent Republicans from lowering taxes for billionaires if the price of food keeps going up.

Donald Trump said, when he was campaigning, he was going to bring inflation down on day one, but inflation is going up.

Donald Trump--Mr. President Trump--it is going up. What about your promise--it is going to go down on day one?

Grocery prices are up: chicken, pork, steak--more expensive--eggs, up 15 percent from last month.

While Americans continue to struggle paying for groceries, feeding their kids, the last thing we should be doing is cutting taxes for the richest of the rich in this country.

And I will offer the third amendment of the evening, one that stops Republicans from kicking people off Medicaid to pay for their billionaire tax breaks.

Eighty million Americans, a little less than a quarter of all Americans--80 million--get health insurance through Medicaid, from newborn kids to working moms, to seniors in nursing homes and assisted living homes. Republicans have made it crystal clear that gutting Medicaid is one of their main strategies for paying for their massive tax cuts. Look no further than the House Republican proposal: a huge amount of the cuts to Medicaid.

What do you tell people who need healthcare who are working people who use Medicaid? What do you tell people who use community health centers, which give efficient healthcare, Mr. Musk--efficient healthcare? What do you tell a family who has a mom in a nursing home and that nursing home will get cut so mom has to come home and live with that family? Build a new room in the house? But wood prices are going up if Trump puts in his tariffs. What do you tell them?

And remember, I would remind my Republican colleagues, when you tried this in 2017--tax cuts for the rich, cutting healthcare, in that case the ACA--America didn't like it. They are not going to like it again.

My amendment will ask Republicans: Do they really want to cut taxes for billionaires so badly that they are willing to take healthcare away from kids, that they are willing to kick grandparents out of nursing homes and abandon Americans with disability and take away healthcare from rural America? We will see what they do.

Now, Republicans can spin their agenda however they want. They certainly will try to change the subject. They won't admit that their tax breaks are aimed at the wealthiest.

They can try to pass one bill. They can try to pass two bills. They can try to pass 50 bills. It doesn't matter. They can slice and dice their policies in whatever order they wish. It doesn't matter in the end. Republican's North Star is singular, unchanging. They are trying to give their billionaire buddies a tax break and have you--the American people, American families--pay the cost.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 454 and ask that it be reported my number.

Mr. President, I am proud to offer tonight's very first amendment. It makes a simple proposal: No billionaire should get another tax break. I ask my Republican colleagues, yes or no, do you believe billionaires should get another tax break or not? Vote yes on this amendment if you think billionaires should not get another tax break.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act, I move to waive and ask for the yeas and nays.

Vote on Motion

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 776 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. President, this amendment is very simple. It allows no billionaires to have any tax cuts if a single dollar of Medicaid funding is cut. The American people need to know where Senate Republicans stand on Medicaid.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump claimed he is opposed to Medicaid cuts. Then, Wednesday, he supported it. And, today, he doubles down and even opened the door to Medicare. He is flip-flopping left and right. So the American people deserve to know: What about Senate Republicans? Where do they stand?

Cutting Medicaid to pay for billionaire tax cuts would be a gut punch to working people. Medicaid serves nearly 80 million people across the country in States red and blue, from our sickest kids to our infirm in nursing homes and vulnerable seniors.

These are the people we should focus on--kids, seniors, and rural Americans--not billionaires. They are doing well enough already.

My amendment will ask Republicans: Do they really want to cut taxes for billionaires so badly they are willing to take healthcare away from kids and kick grandparents out of nursing homes? How are you going to vote, colleagues?

Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act, I move to waive and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, tonight, one amendment at a time, Democrats exposed Republicans' true colors here on the Senate floor. For the first time this year, Senate Republicans were forced to go on record and defend their plans to cut taxes for Donald Trump's billionaire friends.

What happened tonight was only the beginning. This debate is going to go on for weeks and maybe months. Democrats will be ready to come back and do this over and over again because Americans deserve to know the truth. And what is the truth? Under Donald Trump's Republican Party, billionaires win and American families lose. Billionaires win and American families lose. That is it. That is the Republican agenda.

Tonight, we gave Republicans one chance after another to do the right thing and put the needs of American families first. We voted on amendments to prevent any tax cuts for billionaires paid for with cuts to Medicaid. Republicans said no. We voted on an amendment to protect maternal and children's healthcare from draconian cuts. Republicans said no. We voted on an amendment to make it easier for Americans to rent or own a home. Republicans said no. Again and again and again, Republicans sent a clear and consistent message from the Senate floor: Under their agenda, billionaires win and American families lose.

If Republicans continue with this reckless plan to help their billionaire buddies at the expense of American families, Democrats will make sure the American people know the truth at every opportunity.

I yield the floor.