Floor Statements

Mr. President, now, on Mr. Vought. This morning, it is not business as usual on the Senate floor. Russell Vought is not a business-as-usual nominee. He is one of the most fringe and hard-right individuals the Senate has seen in a very long time.

For the last 20 hours, virtually every single Democrat has come to the floor of the Senate to tell the American people how bad Russell Vought will be for them, to sound the alarm on Russell Vought. We were here yesterday. We were here all last night. We are here today. And we will be here throughout the day to let the American people know exactly what is about to happen if Russell Vought is confirmed.

He is the chief architect of Project 2025. He is going to make Project 2025 the official policy of the Federal Government. And in OMB, he has the power to implement it to hurt every American--whether it is Medicare or Medicaid, Social Security, whether it is owning a home, helping afford a home, whether it is help for schools, for Head Start, for veterans, you name it. If you look at Project 2025, they want to slash so many of those things to bits.

And here you have the wrong man, Russell Vought; in the wrong place, OMB; with the wrong philosophy, Project 2025. It is, unfortunately, three times bad: wrong man, wrong place, wrong philosophy. And deeply, deeply so. Deeply wrong.

His policies will hurt children. His policies will hurt seniors. His policies will hurt veterans.

And I say to our Republican colleagues: You will regret your vote on Vought because he will do such harm to the American people, and you will hear about it day in and day out. But don't say we didn't warn you. Don't say we didn't let you know. We have been on the floor for now close to 24 hours. We will be on the floor close to 30 hours, the maximum we are allowed, to tell America from one end to the other that this man is dangerous, not just abstractly, not just in terms of Democrat-Republican, but in terms of how average people lead their lives and how we can make their lives better.

Just imagine what will happen if Russell Vought and DOGE team up, as they seem to be doing, to eradicate funding they allege is wasteful. Imagine what the awful combination of Vought and DOGE together would make for kids who struggle to get a good meal at school, for veterans who need help with healthcare, for parents who struggle to pay for groceries, for couples looking to buy a home.

Confirming the most radical nominee who has the most extreme agenda to the most important Agency in Washington is a triple-header of disaster--a triple-header of disaster. Again: wrong person, wrong ideas, wrong place to be to put those horrible ideas into effect.

So we are going to keep going and going and going for these 30 hours because we know how bad this nominee is.

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

Mr. President, starting yesterday afternoon, through the night, and now on into the afternoon here, my colleagues continue to make an extremely strong and powerful case against Mr. Vought becoming the head of OMB.

As I have said before, you couldn't have a person with a worse ideology in the most powerful position in the government, and the damage he will do to the American people is enormous. We will see it week to week and month to month if, God forbid, he gets confirmed.

I would make a plea to my Republican colleagues: You know that this man's views are so hard-right that even most of you don't agree with him. Yet to go along and vote for him because of pressure from the White House or somewhere else would just be misserving your constituency, whether they be liberal, conservative, rural, urban, suburban, red, or blue.

This man is a slasher. He has shown no respect for people and their needs. His goal is simply to cut everything--almost without regard to how important these programs are--so that he can cut taxes on very wealthy people.

To put him in such a powerful position as OMB, to put the man who was the architect of Project 2025 as head of OMB, to put the man who has one of the worst ideologies in the worst position is just a real dereliction to what America needs and America believes in.

I strongly urge my colleagues to reconsider and vote no.

I am proud that every Democrat will vote against this awful, awful choice.

Mr. President, now, I yield 5 minutes of my postcloture debate time to Senator Warner.

Mr. President, Democrats have spent virtually every minute of the last 30 hours sounding the alarm about the dangers of Russell Vought. We feel it a mission to let America know that Russell Vought is a threat to Social Security, to Medicare, to childcare, to veterans' benefits, and so much more.

He is the wrong man--he seems to care little about the needs of American families; at the wrong place--at powerful OMB, where his decisions will be felt in every corner of the country; with the wrong agenda--the horrible Project 2025.

There are three strikes against Russell Vought, and he should be out. He is the wrong man at the wrong place with the wrong agenda.

Mr. Vought's policies will hurt children and seniors, hurt veterans, hurt homeowners, and so many of our other friends and neighbors. The only people who should celebrate Russell Vought are Donald Trump's billionaire friends when they get another tax break.

I caution my Republican colleagues: Voting to place the chief architect of Project 2025 in charge of White House policy will come back to haunt them. If the chaos of the last 2 weeks is any indication of what is to come, Russell Vought will be a massive liability for Donald Trump, for Republicans, and worst of all, for the country.

Tonight, I will vote no fervently, strongly, with complete conviction, and urge my colleagues to do the same.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

For the hundreds of western New York families left scrambling when their Head Start closed, I vote no on Vought.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

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