Floor Statements

Mr. President, before our very eyes, an unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the Federal Government.

Friday night, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk, gained access to the Treasury Department's entire system of payments, including Social Security and Medicare benefits and Americans' tax refunds. I will say more on this in a moment.

But that was not all. This weekend, DOGE staffers also executed what can only be described as an illegal seizure of the U.S. Agency for International Development or USAID. We don't know who these DOGE staffers are. We don't know if they have security clearances. We don't know what legal authority they have to access USAID facilities, if any.

But we do know a few things. First, we know USAID has been completely ripped apart. Its offices are closed, its contracts have been broken, funding for its programs which protect American interests around the world have been halted, and Secretary Rubio said in an interview that he has been named the acting administrator and that they are ``reviewing and potentially reorganizing USAID.''

But who is he kidding? There is virtually nothing left of USAID to review. Even the lifesaving assistance he claims are exempt are not moving.

Second, we know shutting down USAID puts American security in danger. USAID programs preserve America's influence in Africa, Asia, and regions across the world. Our humanitarian efforts are critical for fighting Ebola, which is spreading in Uganda right now. It is essential for countering terrorist activity. At the time of soaring egg prices, shutting off USAID programs that fight the global spread of bird flu is utterly asinine.

If America retreats from the rest of the world, China will fill the void; Russia's influence will grow; hatred against the U.S. will keep rising; our diplomatic influence will disintegrate.

Third, we know that unilaterally closing USAID is illegal. Donald Trump does not have the authority to erase an independent Agency created by Congress, nor can the Department of State absorb USAID, especially because now there is, basically, nothing left to absorb.

We also know this is just the beginning. If DOGE attacks USAID today, then you can be sure they will move on to another target tomorrow. Who knows, maybe it will be the Postal Service or the IRS or even the Social Security Administration--they could be next--or maybe our National Security Agencies.

We also know something else, by shutting down USAID, DOGE is doing the work of Russia and China at the expense of the United States. In 2 weeks, DOGE has done more to erode American global influence than Russia and China have been able to accomplish in a long time, for Russian President and Putin ally, Dmitry Medvedev, even celebrated DOGE's activities online. Russia is elated by what DOGE is doing.

Both Russia and China hate the work of USAID because it limits their own influence on the world stage. Now China and Russia have, in effect, their own propaganda machine within the Federal Government.

This is dangerous. This is against America's interests. And President Trump needs to show some leadership and rein in DOGE before it inflicts more harm on America's national security.

Finally, DOGE's behavior is part of the troubling pattern of Russian and Chinese communist sympathizers increasing their influence on American foreign policy. A few days ago, Donald Trump named Darren Beattie as acting Under Secretary of State. Mr. Beattie has long pushed the Chinese Communist Party line on the Uighur genocide. He has repeated Russia's propaganda on the Ukraine war. He has even advocated that the U.S. make a deal to allow China to take over Taiwan. And now he has one of the most senior positions within the Department of State and oversees a large swath of American diplomatic work.

Make no mistake: DOGE's conduct cannot be allowed to stand. Republicans in Congress must join us to take action to restore the rule of law and stop any potential lawbreaking by DOGE. DOGE is spreading across the Federal Government like a virus, and it is the American people who will pay the price when their benefits and payments are illegally taken away.

On Treasury, last Friday, DOGE forcefully gained access to the Treasury Department's payment systems and to the most sensitive information of virtually every U.S. citizen. Donald Trump basically handed DOGE the Social Security data of virtually every American citizen. He gave DOGE access to America's personal tax refund data. He gave DOGE access to American people's Medicare and Medicaid benefits, disability data, veteran benefit data. Worst of all, we don't know what DOGE intends to do with this information.

If you want to know how an unelected shadow government operates, look no further than DOGE. DOGE staffers, whomever they are, now have unprecedented access to the most sensitive payment data in the entire Federal Government; unprecedented access with no transparency, with no guardrails, and, guess what, the one independent watchdog who could have provided oversight was fired by Donald Trump over a week ago.

The Treasury Secretary must revoke DOGE's access to the Treasury payment system at once. If he does not, Congress must act immediately.

That is why Leader Jeffries and I will work together on legislation to stop unlawful meddling in the Treasury Department's payment systems.

We must protect people's Social Security payments, Medicare payments, and tax refunds from any possible tampering by DOGE or other unauthorized entities, and that is what Leader Jeffries and I will work to do.

Let's be very clear: DOGE is not a real government agency. It has no authority to make spending decisions. It has no authority to shut programs down or to ignore Federal law. DOGE is operating, in essence, as a shadow government without accountability or transparency or regard for the rule of law. The American people did not vote to let DOGE get ahold of people's Social Security numbers. To give DOGE a choke hold on Treasury payments is outlandishly dangerous. It is like letting a tiger into a petting zoo and hoping for the best.

It is impossible to overstate that this is playing with fire. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which oversees these Treasury Department payments, executes over 1 billion transactions a year worth over $6 trillion. If these payments were ever intentionally or even accidentally halted or manipulated, it could paralyze the economy if we are not careful. One mistake, and people's Social Security benefits could freeze. Disability payments, aid to veterans, loans to small businesses--they could all be in danger. The Treasury Department is already using extraordinary measures to ensure we do not default on the debt. If DOGE's careless meddling were to cause us to default, it could trigger a financial crisis around the world.

This all begs the questions:

What does DOGE really want with all of this data? What possible reason is there to give rightwing extremists people's Social Security payments, Medicare payments, and personal information?

Will DOGE try to halt Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid? God forbid.

Will DOGE cut funding programs approved by Congress that Donald Trump decides he doesn't like? What about cancer research? food banks? school lunches? veterans' aid? literacy programs? small business loans?

How do we know DOGE won't use its access to the Treasury to enrich Donald Trump's billionaire friends?

What if they go after the business competition of DOGE's leadership? It is laughably naive to look at the wealthy billionaires who run DOGE, who make enormous sums through government contracts, and take them at their word that all they care about is efficiency. Give me a break.

The immense danger is that we have no clarity, no explanation, no details for what DOGE is truly after. The potential for corruption is too great. The Treasury Secretary must revoke DOGE's access to the Treasury payment system at once.

As I mentioned, Democrats in the House and Senate, Congressman Jeffries, and myself will introduce legislation to take action. We must halt this unlawful and dangerous power grab. DOGE has no business being anywhere near the Federal Government's payment systems nor Americans' private data.

Finally, Mr. President, on tariffs, this weekend, President Trump kick-started a golden age of higher costs for American families with his 25-percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico--two of our four biggest trading partners.

By issuing his tariffs, Donald Trump is yet again rigging the game for his billionaire friends while doing nothing to lower costs for American families. Thankfully, President Trump got immense blowback, and for now, he has decided to back off his nonsensical trade war with Mexico, but President Trump's retreat is not enough. He must also back off his tariffs on Canada or everyday Americans will see prices going up.

Listen to this: Economists predict that President Trump's tariffs are going to raise prices on American families by as much as $1,200 a year. Let me say that again. President Trump's tariffs are going to raise prices on families by as much as $1,200 a year.

To President Trump and his billionaire buddies, $1,200 may be chump

change, but to most Americans, a $1,200 increase cost would be devastating. For most families, $1,200 could be the difference between putting food on the table or not, between affording medications or doctors' appointments or having to skip them.

Americans, do you worry about car prices? The Trump tariffs will raise your car prices. Do you use a car to get to work? The Trump tariffs will make gas prices go up.

And we should not listen at all to Donald Trump when he says it is about stopping fentanyl. That is nonsense. There are other ways to stop fentanyl without making inflation worse and raising costs on the American family. But Donald Trump clearly doesn't care. He said the American people need to suck it up and to accept that there would be ``some pain'' after his tariffs go into effect. That is outrageous. That is what an out-of-touch billionaire says.

Meanwhile, both sides of the ideological spectrum know the damage of these tariffs. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce--hardly a liberal group-- said President Trump's tariffs ``will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains.''

Even The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board--again, no friend of liberals--said that President Trump's tariffs will result in ``the dumbest trade war in history.'' That is what this would be, as The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board said, ``the dumbest trade war in history.''

This is not what the American people want. Senate Democrats are not going to stand quiet as Donald Trump makes inflation worse. We will push legislation soon to protect people's bottom lines and stop the President from unilaterally plunging us into a trade war with our own allies.

I yield the floor.

I am just going to ask the gentleman to yield for a question.

Well, we have seen just this shadow government sort of trying to change America inside out, run the show, and, as you said, put power in one man, not with the usual checks and balances that we have known for America and that have existed through Democratic and Republican administrations.

My first question is, Has the gentleman from Hawaii seen anything like what they did with USAID in terms of just totally eliminating it, being cruel to the people who work there, not understanding the security implications to the country, and just coming in and just shutting down the whole place? Has he ever seen anything like that in all the years we have had in American history, even?

Would the gentleman yield?

And it is similar. We see it repeated in place after place after place--when DOGE came into the Treasury Department and said they are going to control all of the funding and who is getting paid, what Social Security payments and Medicare payments and so much else that goes out--again, isn't this unparalleled, what we have seen?

They have gotten chosen without any checks or balances, without ever coming before the Senate, without anything else, and they have huge power. People's privacy is at risk. But, also, we don't even know if they have made protections, so that China or Russia or some other country could look at all this information and use it, and then the next step could well be even worse. They could just decide ``I will cut this. I will cut that. I will cut this. We are finding something wrong with it'' and come right in. I mean, this is just outrageous.

And to boot, we used to have some check called the IG, the inspector general, who would be in a Department and say: You are doing something wrong; you shouldn't do it. Isn't it true that they have eliminated this IG?

So this is virtually unchecked power by a small group of people, and no one knows who they are, what they believe in, what they are doing. It could have huge consequences and hurt average working people. This isn't something just, you know, up in government, two parties fighting; this could hurt average American families who get Social Security, who get Medicaid, who are veterans. In issue after issue after issue where the Federal Government is involved, you could find just decimation.

If the gentleman will continue to yield, if you remember, for instance, say a group that gets veterans' healthcare, and all of a sudden, they said: The money is not being spent right. We are cutting it off.

You almost have no recourse unless we get rid of this.

As I may have mentioned to my friend from Hawaii, the leader in the House Hakeem Jeffries and I will be introducing legislation to undo this, and we are going to fight like the devil to get this undone because this is just a crisis from one end of America to the other. It is this shadow government of people. We don't know who they are, what they believe in, and they have just come and stormed in. It is outrageous and dangerous.

Will the gentleman agree with those two assessments?

And we don't even know if these billionaires have any understanding of how a feeding program works, how Medicaid works, how a veterans program works, how we fund the police, how we help our firefighters--almost no understanding; just with the idea ``Oh, we want to slash''--which was in DOGE and, I think, in Project 2025--``$2 trillion. We don't care how, where, or when we get there, who it hurts. We just want to do it'' because very wealthy people don't want to pay taxes, and so they just want to cut spending. But the spending is not just wasteful spending; it is things that help American families day in and day out.

One of their other proposals--I love this one--is to get rid of-- privatize Fannie and Freddie. They are the people who give lower mortgages. Because there is a government guarantee, there is a lower mortgage rate. So many younger families really want to buy a home. They can't because it is expensive. This will make it even more expensive.

You go issue after issue after issue with Project 2025, and then you look at the power these five unknown people will have over the entire budget, many of them trying to implement 2025--and this is the way they do it--and it is frightening.

Yeah.

In New York, the Medicaid portal was shut down. People who desperately needed Medicaid, needed to get some information and get some help, were told to go home. Now they have put it back up, but who knows when they will shut it down again.

I would say he would use it as a bludgeon, as a consolidated bludgeon, when he can just cut, cut, cut, and hurt people in so many different ways, you can't even count them.

And I am so glad that we had--and the Democrats--every Democrat who was here tonight voted against Vought. But every Republican voted for him. And people have to realize that they are voting for the guy who said what he would do in Project 2025, hurt all of your constituents if you are in a red State, a blue State, a purple State. And they are going along with it--going along with it. It is amazing. So I really thank my colleague for all the good work and the talk he has given here. And I wanted to come out and lend some support and say ``right on,'' and we are going to keep fighting.

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

Mr. President, this morning, our hearts go out to everyone impacted by the horrible, heartbreaking incident at Reagan Washington National Airport last night. I have been briefed on the horrific incident at DCA and have continued to monitor the situation. My heart goes out to everyone who was impacted by this incident. I am praying for the victims, their families, and our brave first responders as we monitor the situation.

But I have to tell you, I just watched President Trump's news conference. Listen, it is one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracies; it is another for the President of the United States to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families are still being notified. It just turns your stomach.

In the meantime, we are keeping the families and loved ones of the victims in our prayers, and we are keeping our brave first responders in our prayers as well.

Mr. President, now on OMB and Russell Vought, this week, the American people saw firsthand just how destructive the impact of Project 2025 could be. In the blink of an eye, President Trump ordered OMB to illegally freeze trillions of dollars in Federal funding for families and kids, for hospitals and fire stations and police departments, impacting almost every single community in the United States.

Thankfully, the American people fought back and made their voices heard. Trump was forced to retreat, rescinding his disastrous memo--for now. But make no mistake, as long as Russell Vought is Donald Trump's pick for OMB Director, the American people can bet he will try again to illegally seize the funding for their communities.

Now that Donald Trump rescinded the OMB order, he should rescind the nomination of Russell Vought as well. The chaos of this week should be a lesson to President Trump: Following Russell Vought and Project 2025 is a loser. It is a loser, of course, for the American people, but it is also a loser for Donald Trump, as this week has shown.

Given the unlawful behavior of OMB this week, Senate Democrats will not move to advance Mr. Vought's nomination any further until he gives the American people more answers.

If Mr. Vought, the chief architect of Project 2025, intends to continue breaking the law at OMB and harming our communities in so many ways, he should return to the committee and explain himself. He should answer for the mess he launched upon the American people this week. d The committee's hearing was held last week, before the funding freeze was issued. The American people need new answers. And if he is doing the right thing and communicating what he is going to do in this powerful position at OMB, he should return to the committee for another hearing.

Mr. Vought tried to hide the truth during the hearing last week, but the truth of his plan was on full display this week.

The future of our hospitals and schools and food banks should not be in the hands of an ideologue who substitutes the rule of law for his own ultraright ideology. This is bad faith, and Mr. Vought needs to return to the committee to give the American people some honest answers--or at least some comprehension as to what the hell happened this week and what is the plan for moving forward.

Until then, I stand with Ranking Member Merkley and my colleagues when they said that they should do nothing to advance Mr. Vought and not go to the markup today which is, at best, premature. I support them fully in what they have done.

Mr. President, SALT. This week, House Republicans released their laundry list of priorities for this Congress. What Republicans included on the list is truly awful--draconian cuts, tax breaks for the ultra-, ultrarich, and the same ultraright ideology that most Americans, even most Republicans, reject.

But what is equally bad is what House Republicans left off their list. SALT, state and local tax, and that is what I want to focus on today. Republicans are saying that they don't have any plans to get SALT done this year, to get rid of the cap this year, and that should leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth, especially for New Yorkers in higher cost areas like Hudson Valley and Long Island, especially for police officers and firefighters and teachers who work hard, who are middle class, and get clobbered by SALT and the cap on the deduction.

With the absence of SALT from House Republicans' priority list, it is clear that the upcoming budget will be nothing more than a Trump budget grab. By omitting any SALT fix, this is what Republicans are telling hard-working Americans in New York, in Massachusetts, in California, and so many other States. It is saying: We don't give a hoot about lowering your costs. In fact, let's raise them. Imagine that. Imagine that.

Any Republican, particularly those in New York or New Jersey, who claim to care about helping our teachers, our firefighters, our police officers, our construction workers save money should be outraged. They should be blasting this proposal and calling on House Republicans to eliminate the SALT cap. But so far, all we hear is crickets or sort of shoulder shrugs of reassurance. Oh, it will work out. My question is: For who and when?

These Republicans from New York should listen to their constituents because New York taxpayers and other taxpayers across the country are sick and tired of unnecessary costs by the unfair SALT cap. People who live in the Hudson Valley, people who live on Long Island, and in many other places are severely affected by the cap.

And we should hear from our Republican colleagues that they won't vote for any tax package unless it eliminates the cap, which is a dagger at the heart of New York.

I will continue to do everything I can, first, to remove the entire SALT cap tax; and, second, to never let a new proposal that, for the first time, imposes SALT cap on businesses, small and large, to be put into effect.

Mr. President, OK. On the Patel and Gabbard nominations, today the Judiciary Committee, Senate Judiciary, is hearing testimony from Kash Patel, President Trump's nominee for FBI Director. The hearing is still ongoing, but it is already very clear Mr. Patel is not remotely prepared to serve as FBI Director.

Mr. Patel has failed to answer how his confirmation as one of the Nation's chief law enforcement officers will make Americans safer. He has failed to convince Americans that he will serve their interest and not Donald Trump's. It is no wonder that so many of Patel's colleagues from the first Trump administration have spoken out against him, saying he has ludicrous ideas and ``virtually no experience . . . to serve at the highest level of the world's [most prominent] law enforcement agency.''

No one who has a long history of spreading lies about the FBI and smearing the public servants who work there like Mr. Patel should be the FBI Director.

And, today, another nominee that defies belief and imagination, the Senate

Intelligence Committee is also hearing testimony from President Trump's nominee for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. If confirmed, Ms. Gabbard would be a walking liability to our intelligence community and our national security. She has a long and troubled history of spreading falsities and sympathizing with the likes of Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad.

And given her history, it is not unreasonable to ask if Ms. Gabbard would use the DNI to push misinformation for political ends.

Our intelligence Agencies are a place where truth and facts must prevail, or we become much less prepared in terms of protecting American security. And yet someone who is so immune to a fact-based analysis of things, who makes up conspiracy theories left and right, is the last person who should be the Director of National Intelligence. It would be antithetical to elevate somebody who is known to make things up out of thin air like Ms. Gabbard to the highest levels of our intelligence community which is, as I said, fact-based.

Mr. President, 2 nights ago, the Trump administration committed a breathtaking act of economic sabotage. In the blink of an eye, OMB announced a near-universal freeze on all Federal grant funding. Donald Trump's actions can be summarized with three C's: chaotic, careless, cruel. It is a gross overreach by Republicans, and it is no surprise that the American people are furious.

Last night, a Federal judge issued an administrative stay of OMB's announcement, but the danger is not over, not by any means. Donald Trump and his ultraright puppet Russell Vought will keep trying to make this freeze happen.

Today, I will speak to Democratic Governors around the country to discuss how this freeze is hurting their States and talk about coordinating our responses against this gross abuse of Presidential power.

The blast radius of OMB's announcement was seemingly limitless-- States, cities, towns, schools, small businesses, local law enforcement, nutrition services, elderly care, and so much more were impacted. It is as if OMB designed their announcement to maximize chaos and confusion and suffering for the American people.

Make no mistake, this decision from OMB is Project 2025 in action-- Project 2025 by another name.

Donald Trump's lawless behavior fits a pattern. First, he pardoned insurrectionists. Then, he fired independent watchdogs and labor commissioners. And now he is freezing--freezing--congressionally approved funding.

Before our eyes, Donald Trump is rigging the system and breaking the law to help his billionaire friends at the expense of working families.

I got calls yesterday from Republican town supervisors and mayors in panic about flood prevention and sewer projects, who told me they had shovel-ready projects to go but now those projects were in limbo. I got calls from food banks, like FeedMore in Western New York, fearful that suddenly they won't be able to make deliveries to hungry people. I got calls from groups like Rochester Head Start, worried sick they are not going to be able to pay rent or pay their staff. I got calls from the Roswell Park Cancer Center in Buffalo and Northwell Hospital on Long Island, asking if funding was suddenly going to vanish.

How is freezing all of this funding going to help families pay for groceries or make neighborhoods safer or create new jobs? Of course, it won't. In fact, it is going to do the opposite.

One week ago, OMB nominee Russell Vought refused to answer in testimony questions about the impoundment of congressional funds. Now we know why. He did not want to alert Congress about this freeze on funding. Mr. Vought clearly withheld information that Senators were entitled to know, and he needs to give us more answers.

The Senate Budget Committee should not proceed with Mr. Vought's confirmation until we get answers. I join my fellow Democrats in calling for a 2-week delay of Mr. Vought's markup.

Mr. President, yesterday, President Trump showed his true, hostile colors to working people and union members in America. Without cause, the President took the unprecedented step of firing a duly appointed Commissioner of the National Labor Relations Board 2 years before her term was set to expire. Then, last night, President Trump fired two Democratic members of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, leaving that body frozen without a quorum.

Let's be very clear. These unlawful firings are a direct assault on working people. The President's decision will increase workplace discrimination, worsen unfair hiring practices, and erode workers' ability to push for better wages and safer working conditions. What these firings will do is stack the deck against employees trying to organize or join a union to get better benefits and better pay.

Donald Trump says he wants to help working families. This is no way to do it. And these firings are clearly unlawful--unlawful.

These purges are another example of Donald Trump's lawless Presidency, like his pardoning of insurrectionists, eliminating independent watchdogs, and illegally freezing congressionally approved funding. Everything Donald Trump is doing fits a pattern. He is abusing the Office of the Presidency and is breaking the law to rig the system to help his billionaire friends--all at the expense of working families.

Nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Mr. President, today, Robert Kennedy begins testifying before the Senate Finance Committee.

To state the obvious, having a very wealthy anti-vaxxer running America's public health would put every single American in danger. Mr. Kennedy is a walking public health crisis waiting to happen.

Of course, he is doing exactly what everyone thought he would do in his hearing. He is suddenly saying what people want to hear about vaccines. He is claiming he was never against vaccines or that his words have been twisted. We need to look at Kennedy's record. He has spent years making millions peddling conspiracy theories and outright lies. His nomination should go no further.

Mr. President, on Mr. Patel, tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear testimony from Kash Patel, President Trump's nominee to be the next FBI Director.

Mr. Patel is not remotely prepared to serve as FBI Director. In fact, he has a long history of spreading lies about the FBI and of smearing the public servants who work there to keep us safe. He is a conspiracy theorist, a hard-right ideologue, and openly hostile to the free press.

During tomorrow's hearing, the most important questions for Senators is, How on Earth will Mr. Patel's confirmation make Americans safer? How will Americans be safer if the FBI is led by a darling of the QAnon movement? How does it serve America's public safety to elevate a January 6 sympathizer to the highest level of enforcement in the land? How can Americans trust that Donald Trump will drain the swamp if he puts one of his most loyal political fixers as chief law enforcer?

It is written you can't serve two masters, and that is sure true of Mr. Patel. He either serves the interests of the American people or he serves the interests of Donald Trump. Given Patel's history, it is very clear who he will choose--Donald Trump.

Mr. President, on Tulsi Gabbard, tomorrow, the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing for President Trump's nominee for DNI, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

Of all the people President Trump could have nominated for the job of DNI, few could be worse for our national security than Tulsi Gabbard. If confirmed, Ms. Gabbard would be a walking liability to our intelligence community and our national security. She has a long and troubled history of spreading falsities and sympathizing with the likes of Vladimir Putin and Assad. Given her history, it is not unreasonable to ask if Ms. Gabbard would use the DNI job to push false intelligence for political ends.

Is Ms. Gabbard really the best Republicans have to offer for the job--someone who is known to make things up out of thin air? Is this really who Republicans want managing our intelligence community, which is fact-based? Our intelligence Agencies and the people who work there rely on truthfulness and facts to keep our country safe. Ms. Gabbard is deficient in both qualities and clearly does not merit elevation to the position of DNI.

Mr. President, I want to thank my Democratic colleagues: Senators Shaheen and Blumenthal, Senators Kim and Padilla, and so many others; Senator Schatz, Senator Durbin, so many others who came on the floor tonight. And why did we all come on the floor? To sound the alarm of the reckless, lawless things Donald Trump is already doing to American families.

Americans need to know what is happening. They need to know what kind of damage people like Russell Vought will do to them. Tonight, we are holding the floor to sound the alarm. And, to augment that, I just got off the phone with a whole bunch of Democratic Governors from across the country, and we talked about Trump's administration's Executive orders, his erratic policies, and, most important, the impact on their States.

In State after State, people are on edge, people are so worried, because of what these executive orders would do: Head Start, rural hospitals, police, firefighters, you name it; schools, local governments. In every one of these States, people are angry and scared because of the damage that President Trump's Executive order would do.

Our group, the Governors and I, discussed paths forward to best respond and fight back. We are going to have a coordinated approach. We talked about how these policies would hurt their States. The amount of Federal money that is needed to support these States--and not just State government, so to speak, but feeding people, building roads, employing people, teaching kids, dealing with mental illness, helping keep us safe in fire and police--these are real things. And every one of these States could not provide the help that people need, provide the decent life that people seek, if this Executive order was fully implemented.

And so we talked about how we could inform them as to what is going on. We talked about how we can coordinate. And I told them that thanks to the Democrats' work here in the Senate, Donald Trump and Russell Vought hit a speed bump today. But I told them, as you will hear from my later remarks, we must keep fighting and working together to make sure they don't succeed, because if they succeed, they are going to hurt millions and millions of average working families. So we are working together to do that.

Now, today, we saw what happens when Americans fight back against disastrous policies. We saw what happens when Americans make their voices heard. A few days ago, President Trump launched his most reckless broadside yet against the American people here in his second term. In the blink of an eye, OMB announced a universal freeze on all Federal funding. The blast radius--the blast radius--of OMB's announcement was seemingly limitless--States, cities, towns, schools, small businesses, law enforcement, nutrition services, elderly care; hospitals, rural and urban and suburban; communities, people helping feed people, people helping people with mental illness, people helping house homeless veterans were all just so, so put on edge by the potential of these cuts.

Donald Trump's freeze can be boiled down to three Cs. You can talk about it in many ways, but the three Cs are apt: chaotic, creating chaos back home because there is chaos here in Trump's government; careless, not even knowing and realizing how badly these cuts would affect people; and cruel--cruel--outright economic sabotage against working families.

Make no mistake, OMB's funding freeze was intended. It is precisely what Project 2025 looks like in action--Project 2025 by another name. When Project 2025 first was announced, it was during campaign season, and it was amazing the reaction by the American people--Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, Independents--against it. It was strong, much stronger than I ever imagined. And as a result, it got a very bad name. I think one poll showed 68 percent of Americans opposed it.

So what did Donald Trump do? Typical in his fashion, he said: I never heard of Project 2025. I don't even know what it is.

They were so afraid of it. You think they would have learned a lesson during the campaign, but they didn't.

And, now, within a few weeks of his being inaugurated as President, President Trump seeks to implement Project 2025. Well, Americans were furious. Americans let Donald Trump know about it. They let their Republican Congressmen and Senators know about it. They pushed back, and today, after 24 hours of outrage from one corner of the country to the other, Donald Trump backed off.

He rescinded the OMB memo--for now. Of course, the danger is not over. Rescinding one OMB memo will not nullify all of the Executive orders Donald Trump has issued, which will continue to pose a threat to these funds. And we know damn well that if they can't do it this way because they were caught redhanded, they will try to do it another way. But I can assure the American people, we will be vigilant.

But I want to say to my colleagues and to my constituents in New York and to my fellow citizens--American citizens--the roots of democracy are real. So many of us are worried that Trump will try to upend them-- he and his cohorts--but they are real.

And this week was a good example. People heard how bad this was. They raised their voices. And now Trump has backed off.

This won't be his last assay, his last attempt to do this. We know that. But we also know that, when we raise their voices, and we will again, he knows that he will lose ground with the American people in a very severe and bad way, and if we keep fighting, he will back off and back off and back off until he stops. And once and for all, this evil scheme--this scheme that hurt so many American families--will be gone.

It is clear Donald Trump, with this freeze, seeks to violate the law, seeks to help his billionaire buddies, and hurt the American people. Violate the law, help his billionaire buddies, and hurt the American people--that is what he is trying to do. But we won't let him, America. We won't.

Now, let's talk about Mr. Vought, the chief cook and bottle washer of 2025. This episode, what happened today, should be a lesson to President Trump that following Russell Vought and Project 2025 is a loser--a loser, of course, for America, but a loser for him.

Now that Donald Trump has rescinded the OMB order, he should rescind the nomination of Russell Vought as well. If not, Mr. Vought will be the architect of more losses for President Trump because the next time this happens, Russell Vought will be the one calling the shots at OMB, a nightmarish scenario for working people.

I sat down a few days ago with Mr. Vought in my office. Because he is seeking nomination, he came to visit me. He told me, plain as day-- plain as day--if he is confirmed, these are the kinds of things he wants to do at OMB.

The Senate must not confirm Mr. Vought to lead OMB. His views are way too fringe for the majority of this country, and I am sure, if you asked in a secret ballot, for a majority of the Republican Senators who sit across the aisle from us.

But, tomorrow, the Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to hold a markup of Mr. Vought's nomination. I join Ranking Member Merkley in calling on the chair to delay this markup by at least 2 weeks. Why? First, because of the devastation that these Executive orders will do and that the funding freeze was prepared to do. But, second, because it is clear that Mr. Vought was not honest during his hearings, and we need more answers from him. When something this consequential is launched by an administration, the person behind it all deserves--or America deserves--to hear exactly his thoughts and exactly what he is going to do.

During his testimony, Vought refused to answer direct questions related to the impoundment, for instance, of congressional funds, of which this is a related issue. And we now know why. He didn't want to alert Congress about the incoming decision from OMB to freeze all grant funding. Mr. Vought clearly withheld information that Senators were entitled to know, that the American people were entitled to know, and he needs to give us answers.

In the meantime, the American people also are learning just how fringe Mr. Vought truly is. His North Star is very simple: He wants to eradicate trillions in basic services that help American families so Republicans can give tax cuts to their billionaire buddies.

The last time Vought led OMB, he pushed multiple budget proposals that slashed Social Security and Medicare and public health. During the last default crisis, Mr. Vought was a key adviser to hard-right Republicans who pushed America to the brink of disaster by using a debt ceiling as blackmail to cut trillions in funding for healthcare, for seniors, for hungry kids, and for so many others.

Mr. Vought wants to eliminate the Department of Education, eliminate education funding in many ways.

He has proposed to cut disability payments for retired veterans. He wants to cut SNAP, feeding hungry children. He wants to raise drug prices.

And he is also one of the chief proponents of a truly sinister theory about the powers of the executive branch that calls for the impoundment of congressional funds. That means, basically, that Russell Vought thinks the President gets to pick and choose which laws he wants to follow and which he doesn't.

Why have a Congress? If the President can say, ``Well, I will follow this law but not that, and this one and not that,'' that is so fundamentally against what the Founding Fathers believed, what Americans have believed through centuries, and yet he wants to just toss it away, again, so he can pay for the tax cuts his billionaire buddies desperately want.

If Congress wants to pass legislation investing in infrastructure or tech innovation or national defense, even, Mr. Vought thinks the President can just say nope, an explicit assault on our checks and our balances, which has served this Republic so well for centuries.

And, again, let me repeat so people understand clearly what is the end goal: to cut the daylights out of funding for middle-class families in order to line the pockets of the ultra-ultrawealthy--tax cuts for Donald Trump's billionaire buddies, funding cuts for parents and kids and seniors in healthcare.

I believe the Budget Committee tomorrow, because the chairman of the Budget Committee has not granted the delay that is so desperately needed, will not go to vote on Mr. Vought, because a vote without him coming clean to the American people, what is it worth? It is not a process that should be. And then they will explain to the American people why this man doesn't deserve a vote in such an unfair hearing practice and setting.

And now let's talk about President Trump's increasing lawlessness. It may be tempting to think everything Donald Trump has been doing, including halting Federal funding, is part of his chaotic, unthinking approach to government, but we should not be so sure that it is just that and nothing else, because beneath the surface, a very clear pattern is emerging from Donald Trump's second term in office, a pattern of sheer lawlessness--a pattern of sheer lawlessness. First, he pardoned over 1,500 insurrectionists on his first day in office, including people convicted of assaulting Capitol Police officers. These were hooligans. I was within 30 feet of them. They were not peaceful. I couldn't believe one Congressman said they were tourists. Give me a break. They had hatred in their eyes, and they sought to stop our government from functioning in its lawful way. Some of them were violent, and Trump pardoned them--over 1,500 insurrectionists--on his first day in office.

Can you image anyone, let alone a President, being proud that he pardoned insurrectionists, some violent, all trying to overthrow this government, on his first day in office? What does that say about this President?

Then, in the dead of night, he got rid of over 17 independent government watchdogs--people who report abuse and fraud and waste in government--without any notice or justification.

Yesterday, he eliminated Commissioners sitting on the NLRB and the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. The NLRB, folks--you may not have heard those initials, but it has been in place I believe since Roosevelt's time to make sure workers are treated fairly, to make sure that employers who don't want a union don't go beyond fairness in preventing a union from occurring.

When Donald Trump gets rid of the Democratic Commissioner on the NLRB who has always represented working people, he is saying to working people: I don't care about you. I care about the people who employee you but not you. And if they want to take advantage of you, Donald Trump says when he gets rid of the NLRB member, I don't give a hoot.

Another example. By the way, again, almost certainly against the law. The rule is, there should be a certain number of Democratic Commissioners and a certain number of Republican Commissioners. Whoever is President gets the Chairman, and then there are two Democrats and two Republicans. But Donald Trump didn't fire a Republican member of the Board. Maybe that would be less unfair. He fired the Democrat who stands up for working people.

Then, after all this, he issues his sweeping OMB memo virtually halting Federal grant funding.

These are actions of a lawless President, of a President who wants to erode, eat away at the rule of law and our system of checks and balances. And why? Why is Donald Trump storming right out of the gate so lawlessly? Why is he breaking one law after another? Might be because the Supreme Court said he can't be held accountable. Might be.

But it is simple. What is he trying to do? Before our very eyes, Donald Trump is rigging the system and breaking the law to help his billionaire friends at the expense--at the expense--of working families. That is the goal.

Finally, let's talk about how awful yesterday was for so many people. I heard from people in every corner of my State--frightened, worried, concerned--that they, average New Yorkers, no different than average Americans, were going to really suffer because of this funding freeze.

When I talked to the Governors, as I mentioned a little earlier, on the phone, it was happening in every State. It could be a rural State, it could be an urban State, a State that is large, a State that is small, from one end of America to the other, people are just fearful about what would be done.

The American people did not deserve to endure this 24 hours of panic and confusion, and they won't deserve to have to sit through that again when Donald Trump seeks another way to do the same thing even though we gave a speed bump, even though we thwarted him--not ``we.'' The Democratic Senators didn't thwart Donald Trump. The Democratic Senators, by our advocacy and our strength, alerted the American people, and they thwarted Donald Trump.

So, America, congratulations. Congratulations. Let's keep doing it when he is trying to hurt us.

Did Donald Trump consider for a moment the damage he was unleashing? Did he know he was kneecapping cops and firefighters from purchasing literally lifesaving equipment--bulletproof vests, breathing gear? Did he know he was essentially shuttering community health centers that so many people depend on for their health, that so many people bring kids to when they have a fever and might get something more damaging, like strep throat or influenza? Did he know that he was hurting rural hospitals that had to turn people away because they didn't know if they would get the funding? Did he know that he was telling food pantries: You are not going to get food next week to feed the hungry.

Yesterday was absolute hell for so many Americans trying to understand how Trump's order was going to hurt them; 24 hours of panic, confusion, deep, visceral frustration--all unnecessary.

All 50 States reported that the Medicaid portal was frozen, and 7\1/ 2\ million New Yorkers were shut out of Medicaid all together. That is just in New York. Nobody knew what would happen next.

My office was smothered by an avalanche of calls from New Yorkers, local leaders from every corner of the State in panic and fury.

I was getting calls from New Yorkers of both parties who were furious that the administration would have the gall to launch this sneak attack on them out of the blue.

I got calls from Republican town supervisors and mayors asking about flood prevention and sewer construction.

I got calls from food banks like Feed More in Western New York, fearful they wouldn't be able to make deliveries to hungry people.

I got calls from Rochester Head Start and other Head Start Programs worried sick--worried sick--that they weren't going to be able to pay the rent or pay their staff.

I got calls from the Roswell Cancer Center, which does some groundbreaking research--they developed the PSA test up there in Buffalo; Northwell Health on Long Island, one of the biggest hospital providers; Churches United for Fair Housing; local leaders in places like Syracuse; community health centers like Cornerstone Family healthcare in the Hudson Valley--from one end of the State to the other.

So we won't know what the administration will try to do next. An hour from now, we could get a new memo outlining a new round of freezes. They did the last one at night, in the evening. That is how this administration under Donald Trump works--governing by chaos, governing by confusion. And who pays the price? The American people--parents, kids, doctors, teachers, healthcare workers, police, firefighters, and so much more.

So, my friends, in conclusion, I see my colleagues waiting. I will cut short my remarks. I could go on for a while because I am so aggravated and angry about what he has done and will attempt to do.

Even though the Trump administration failed today, it is no secret they will try to find another way to cut these funds. When they do, I want to assure the American people that Senate Democrats will be there not only to call it out but to fight back, to defend American families and beat another evil proposal back--with you, the American people, as our real sword and shield--making sure he doesn't do bad things to you.

So thank you to my colleagues for being here. I see we have four colleagues waiting. Thank you for sounding the alarm on the terrible things this administration is preparing to do, and thank you for being true patriots who believe in our democracy.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, last night, incredibly and lawlessly, the Trump administration announced the virtual halt to all forms of Federal financial assistance. In an instant--one instant, one blink of the eye--in the dark of night, Donald Trump has shut off billions--perhaps trillions--of dollars that support small businesses, that support families, that support police officers and firefighters, that support hospitals and rural hospitals in particular, that support our localities, our States and cities, our schools, and so much more.

Why? Why did Donald Trump do this? Simple: to fund tax cuts for the ultrawealthy. This decision is lawless, destructive, cruel. The President must rescind this order at once, and Congress must act if he refuses.

Make no mistake, this is Project 2025--Project 2025--by another name, and the danger of having someone like Russell Vought, the chief cook and bottle washer of 2025, in charge of OMB is frightening-- frightening--to just about every American family in terms of what it could do to them.

When Project 2025 came out, it was so ridiculed that Donald Trump had to say: Oh, I don't know much about it. And now he is putting one of the main authors of Project 2025 in the place where he can implement all of these horrible, discredited, unpopular findings.

That is where they are headed, folk. That is where they are going.

Again, why are they doing it? So they can pay for tax cuts for the ultrarich by making these cuts on average American families.

This morning, I think every Senator's phone has been ringing off the hook--certainly, mine has--with nonstop calls from hospitals and police departments, volunteer firefighters, food pantries, drug treatment centers, on and on and on. If someone is going to say they are getting no calls, then they are just out of touch because it affects almost everything.

People are worried. People are scrambling. People are in panic mode, trying to figure out how this order is going to affect them. Hospitals with people on life support, food pantries that feed the hungry, police departments that patrol our streets--every one of them is worried because so many of them get Federal aid. If Federal funding is shut off, so many groups and institutions will be worried. Can they pay the rent? Can they pay their staffs? Can they keep their operations running?

Virtually, any organization--and there are millions--that depends on Federal grant money to run its day-to-day operations is now in danger. Nonprofits that help disabled veterans are now in danger thanks to Donald Trump. Funding that supports our Nation's mass transit, from one end of the country to another, is now in danger thanks to Donald Trump. Hospitals, particularly rural hospitals and community health centers, are now in danger thanks to Donald Trump. Meals on Wheels, in danger thanks to Donald Trump. Even smaller programs--and I am very proud of something I passed called the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which protects synagogues and religious institutions from anti-Semitic attacks. We just had one in our neighborhood on Sunday. They are now in danger thanks to Donald Trump. Senior centers, law enforcement, firefighters, water districts, food pantries--all in danger because of Donald Trump.

Again, their master plan: to hurt average folks from one end of the country to the another--in red States, in blue States, in suburbs, in cities, in rural areas. To take money out of their hides--all to pay for tax cuts for the ultrawealthy--is now becoming clear. It is now becoming clear.

The blast radius of this terrible decision is virtually limitless. It is American families who are going to suffer most.

American families should make no mistake: The money being stolen from them will be spent--just not on them. It is going to be spent on tax cuts for the ultrawealthy and the biggest corporations.

President Trump must reverse this course immediately. The Budget Committee should slow down its hearings with Mr. Vought until it fully comes out what they all intend to do.

The funding President Trump is halting is not optional. Congress has approved these funds, and they are law. The President does not, no matter what he thinks, have the authority to ignore the law and ignore Congress.

Let me be clear. This is not an isolated act, unfortunately. It comes a week after Trump pardoned violent criminals who sought to overturn our election and days after Trump fired independent watchdogs across the government in a naked attempt to shroud his actions from the American people.

I can assure every American that Democrats will pursue all available options, legal and otherwise, to halt this assault. I have talked to the attorney general of New York State, Tish James. She and her association--I believe she is the head of the State association, the State attorneys general association--are going to use all of their legal power to stop this illegal act.

I implore my Republican colleagues, who know in their hearts and their minds that this is a reckless and unconstitutional action, to speak up, to join us as Americans in defense of the law, but most of all, to protect our communities and to protect the American people from this awful announcement.