Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to underscore the critical importance of maintaining temporary protected status, or TPS, for Haiti.

TPS allows nationals from designated countries facing ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or extraordinary conditions to live and to work legally in the United States until it is safe to return to their homeland.

First of all, I would like to thank my colleague Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware for leading this effort in the U.S. Senate. Thank you.

I want to thank the Senator from New York, Mr. Schumer, for his statement today, which is basically reflecting the views of millions of Americans who are outraged at what is transpiring and affecting dramatically the Haitian community in the United States.

I would really like to thank Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley for leading the successful effort in the House of Representatives to extend Haiti's TPS designation. I am also thankful to Congresswoman Pressley for her partnership, not only today but in her yearslong fight to advocate for our Haitian-American communities.

In January of this year, we cohosted a field hearing in Massachusetts to hear from Haitian TPS holders, business and union leaders, and advocates about the importance of Haiti TPS.

And in April, alongside Senator Van Hollen and Congresswoman Wassermann Schultz, we led an amicus brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of 180 Members of Congress in support of Haiti and Syria TPS.

But last month, the Supreme Court delivered a devastating ruling in the case. The far-right Justices green-lit the Trump administration's unlawful, racist termination of TPS for Haiti and for Syria. The Court failed a test of morality. It slammed the doors of justice in the face of more than a million TPS holders, including 45,000 Haitian TPS holders in Massachusetts. It is an outrage; it is a travesty.

For years, Donald Trump has demonized and attacked Haitian TPS holders. Trump has spewed racist, cruel lies about Haitians.

We know that Trump does not want to make America great again. Trump wants to make America hate again. That is what these policies represent--to make America White again.

And to do so, he is terminating the critical TPS protections that nearly hundreds of thousands of Haitians rely on. The Trump administration plans to force Haitian TPS holders to return to dangerous and life-threatening conditions.

But Haiti continues to confront overlapping crisis, political instability, widespread violence, and a humanitarian emergency that has strained every single facet of daily life.

In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, in September of 2016, I traveled to Haiti to deliver relief goods and meet with aid providers, even amidst devastation. The resilience of the Haitian people was palpable.

At the time, the country was still battling the cholera epidemic caused by the U.N. peacekeepers after the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed thousands and thousands and thousands of Haitians. Haiti faced this crisis without sufficient international support.

And, ultimately, I led the effort to get the United Nations to apologize to Haiti for what the U.N. had done to that country. And, finally, the United Nations did that.

I came away from that trip knowing that Haiti would continue to hurt and that the United States should do everything in its power to help the Haitian people.

Sadly, Haiti is still hurting. Haiti's security crisis is eroding the promise and future of an entire nation. Armed groups now exert control over much of Port-au-Prince. Kidnappings, targeted violence, and blockades have made it difficult for people to reach hospitals, attend school, and access basic services.

At the same time, natural disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, and recurrent flooding have further damaged infrastructure that was already stretched to its limits.

Together, these forces have left millions without certainty or without security. It is clear that Haitian TPS holders cannot return home safely.

And yet--and yet--the State Department currently advises American citizens against traveling to Haiti because of the dangers and instability. That is utter hypocrisy. You can't tell Americans it is too dangerous to go to Haiti and then say that you are going to tell 350,000 Haitians that they have got to go back to a place that is too dangerous for any American to go and visit.

It is protected status. It is protecting them against that which is too dangerous.

Instead of meeting this undeniable humanitarian catastrophe with compassion, the Trump administration has chosen to compound the trauma. And this brings us to the dangerous and politically cruel reality that Haitian TPS holders face today in our country.

For families with children born here--American children--it may mean a choice no parent should ever be forced to make: tearing their family apart or taking a child who has never stepped foot outside of the United States into danger in a country that child has never lived in and that the State Department is telling every American is too dangerous to go to. But parents may have to take children into that situation.

Imagine a mother or a father sitting at their kitchen table tonight, looking across at their child and trying to decide if that child has a better chance of survival returning to Haiti, a country consumed by violence, or staying in the United States, separated from the loving care of their parents.

If we do not act, this is the brutal reality of family separation that will play out in thousands of homes across this country. Families are being forced to endure agonizing and impossible calculations. We cannot stand by while hundreds and thousands of Haitians who have lived and worked and built lives in the United States are suddenly staring into an abyss of uncertainty.

What of the daily life for those who will remain? The moment these protections lapse, TPS holders--who have been here legally for years working, paying taxes, and raising families--will stare down the looming threat of detention and deportation.

That is what the Trump administration wants: to give ICE agents more work to do on our streets, to give his private army the authority to arrest a million more people to meet racist, cruel quotas. And no one should have to live through that constant fear of a sudden knock on the door or the panic of a random traffic stop.

To strip Haitians of their status of protection, which we have given them because of the catastrophic conditions that still exist in Haiti, is to strip them of their agency, of their safety, of their peace of mind.

Haitian TPS holders are Massachusetts. They are the United States. They are hard working. They are kind. They are resilient. They are strong in the face adversity and deeply committed to the communities in which they live, whether it is Mattpan or Brockton or Malden. And the same thing is true for all across our country.

A Haitian TPS holder is a friend and home-health aide who has taken care of grandma or grandpa for years. A Haitian TPS holder is a coworker and a construction worker that has helped build homes in our neighborhoods.

A Haitian TPS holder is a neighbor and a small business owner on Blue Hill Avenue who helps support the livelihoods of others.

Haitian TPS holders are essential workers. They are nurses. They are home health aides, educators, grocery store workers. They keep us safe. They keep us fed. They keep us healthy. They have followed the rules. They have committed no crimes at all, and yet they are now being told they are going to be sent home.

And these are the same people who have made our seniors smile, that have been in homes all across our country, in homes taking care of our loved ones, in hospitals taking care of our loved ones. That is who they are. They have protected our babies. They soothe our sick. They are us. We have a moral duty to protect TPS holders and provide them with protections and a permanent pathway to citizenship. Let's help them make America home.

For generations, Massachusetts has been shaped by our immigrant communities. It was one of our own, Congressman Joe Moakley, who served as one of the architects of the TPS statute and who understood both the moral clarity and the practical necessity of providing refuge in times of crisis.

In defending his provision for TPS protection on the House of Representatives floor in 1990, Congressman Moakley emphasized our ``deep moral obligation'' to protect innocent victims fleeing violence abroad. His words remain as urgent and relevant today as they were when he spoke them.

Protecting the vulnerable is not a political choice; it is a moral duty. Congresswoman Pressley's success in passing the Haiti TPS bill in the House of Representatives is an inspiration. And now the Senate must pass the bill, which I introduced alongside Senator Blunt Rochester, to designate Haiti for TPS until after the next Presidential election.

I have called on every recent administration to designate, extend, and redesignate TPS for Haiti. I have also supported legislation to provide a legal pathway to residency for TPS holders. I will keep supporting this community.

The narrative of TPS holders in the United States is a story of resilience, of hope, and of an enduring spirit. Despite facing adversity, TPS holders have continued to contribute to build lives and set down roots.

Haitian TPS holders deserve our full protection. We cannot turn our backs on them now. That is the choice which we have to confront right now.

And, again, I thank Senator Blunt Rochester for her leadership on this issue as well. And if you would like to be recognized now, or I will make the motion right now and then we will continue the debate.

So as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 374, H.R. 1689; further, I ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, the objection we just heard is exactly why this law to protect Haiti TPS is necessary, and I am incredibly disappointed in my Republican colleagues for turning their backs on the Haitian TPS community in this dire time.

TPS represents America's longstanding commitment to serve as a beacon of hope and refuge for the vulnerable. To honor and to protect Haitian TPS holders is a moral duty. It is also an acknowledgment of the immense contributions TPS holders make to our families, to our neighborhoods.

And for years, TPS holders have reliably, patiently, and emphatically offered stability and dignity and security to so many.

The Senator from Missouri said the keyword is ``temporary''; no, the keyword is ``protection.''

The duration of how long it should be extended to give people protection is what we are debating here today. If the State Department says it is too dangerous for Americans to go to Haiti, then Haitians who are given TPS protections are also living with a danger that is too great for them and their families to be returned to a State Department- designated country too dangerous to visit.

They only ask for something that is just so clear, so decent, so obvious--just the stability of preserving their status, the dignity to live without fear, the security of not being returned to danger. It is the least we owe to them. But this fight to protect Haiti and its TPS protections is not over.

To the families lying awake tonight afraid of what comes next: We will continue to fight for you. To the children asking if their parents will be here in the morning: We will continue to fight for you. To every person who did everything right, who followed the rules, who believed in the promise of America: We will continue to fight for you.

We are not done. This administration and Senate Republicans cannot take away your humanity, your dignity, your future. We are going to continue to fight, and it is my honor to be able to partner with the great Senator from Delaware, my partner in this effort, the great Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Government Accountability Office's determination letter on the matter of ``U.S. Small Business Administration--Applicability of the Congressional Review Act to Policy and Procedural Notices Updating Citizenship and Residency Requirements for 7(a) and 504 Loans,'' dated July 1, 2026, be printed in the Congressional Record.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I rise today to object to the Senator from Iowa's legislation, which would defund Planned Parenthood--defund Planned Parenthood and prevent millions of men and women across the country from being able to access the healthcare which they need.

This bill, which targets the largest provider of reproductive care in this country, is part of my Republican colleagues' relentless efforts to undermine reproductive rights and further erode the health, the freedom, and the dignity of the American people.

Four years ago this week, the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision, tearing down nearly 50 years of constitutional protections and declaring

open season on American reproductive freedom.

Since then, Republicans got to work. States passed sweeping abortion bans. They peeled back protections for birth control. They created confusing, punitive, and terrifying schemes that have thrown patients into jail and charged their providers for simply receiving and providing basic medical care. And this is just the beginning.

Today, my Republican colleagues are again seeking to advance their anti-choice, anti-health, anti-family, anti-freedom agenda right here on the Senate floor. They want to strip funding from health centers that prescribe birth control. They want to strip funding from health centers that provide birth control, that treat infections, that screen for cancer--and, yes, that offer abortions. The result? Hundreds of closed clinics. Traveling farther to get care. Paying more or not getting care at all. Untreated illnesses. Delayed cancer diagnoses. I will not allow that to happen without a fight.

Let me be clear about where Republicans stand. Republicans will not protect the right to an abortion. Republicans will not protect the right to birth control. Republicans will not protect the right for Americans to decide their own futures. Instead, they will continue to pursue an agenda that is so offended by bodily autonomy that they would rather follow the extremism of the few than the will of the majority, who want their reproductive rights protected.

We must make the right to contraception the law of the land. Are you ready for me to say that again? We must make the right to contraception the law of the land before extremist judges and legislators further strip it away to advance their radical political agenda.

By the way, this is not some hypothetical. In his written opinion for the Dobbs decision, Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States urged the Court to overturn settled precedent and threaten the fundamental right to contraception.

We know what the ``GOP'' really stands for: ``Gutting Our Protections.''

That is why I am again calling for the Senate to pass my Right to Contraception Act. This legislation would enshrine in Federal law the right to obtain and use contraception and put in place vital protections for providers.

The right to contraception shouldn't be a partisan issue. Americans of all parties overwhelmingly support it. It is central to an individual's health, well-being, life, liberty, equality, and economic and social freedom. It is a right grounded in the fundamental ability to make decisions about one's own body, one's own family, one's own future.

We must meet the clarity of their extremism with the clarity of justice. That is why I am out here on the floor of the Senate today--to make sure we debate that clarity which must be brought to this central issue of families' well-being all across our country.

Therefore, I ask that the consent be modified; that, instead, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 422. Further, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I object.

Mr. President, I want to thank the Chair for working with me to pass these two bills that were reported favorably out of our committee: Chair Ernst's SBA Fraud Enforcement Act and my Expanding the Surety Bond Program Act.

Senator Ernst's bill extends the statute of limitations for two COVID-era programs and incorporates my amendment to ensure that enforcement by the Department of Justice is carried out in a nonpartisan manner.

My Expanding the Surety Bond Program Act will expand opportunities for small contracting businesses looking to access larger contracts.

Not everyone is aware of the important role that surety bonds play in the contracting process, but every builder, every supplier, every producer in Massachusetts and across the country understands that without them, significant contracts cannot move forward.

In the last 7 years, SBA's Surety Bond Program has supported more than $13 billion in revenues--including $165 million in Massachusetts. My bill actually expands this program by raising the limit on SBA- backed surety bonds to $18 million on all contracts, and it also includes provisions that Chair Ernst added to mitigate risks to the program.

Again, I want to thank Chair Ernst for her commitment to seeing these bills through to passage, and I thank the Chamber for unanimously accepting our recommendations.

Mr. President, I thank the great Senator from Rhode Island, from the Ocean State. I represent the Bay State. We kind of have a relationship with the ocean in Rhode Island and in Massachusetts. That is why we are here.

I rise today in support of Senator Whitehouse's resolution recognizing the grave threat of sea level rise due to human-caused climate change.

After decades of fossil fuel companies polluting our planet, ocean and atmospheric temperatures are rising. Our glaciers and ice sheets are melting.

Greenland's ice sheet is three times the size of Texas. And in some areas, the ice is 2 miles high. So just think of Greenland this way: 1,000 miles long, 300 miles wide, and a block of ice on it--the world's biggest ice cube--2 miles high is on top of Greenland, and it is melting.

So just think of a full glass of water: the Atlantic Ocean. Now, just drop the

biggest ice cube into an already full--an already full--glass of water. It just creates a flood no matter where you have done that.

So in 2007, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi named me as the chair of the Climate Committee in the House of Representatives, she asked me: Where should we go?

And I said: Well, our first visit should be to Greenland because it is the scene of the crime.

So we went up there end of May and out about 50 miles deep into Greenland on top of the 2-mile high icecap, and there is already lakes that are forming because the Sun starts to melt it in May and June and July and August.

What that water does on top of that 2-mile high ice cube is it starts to eddy out groove marks all the way down to the bottom of that 2-mile high ice cube. And then that water--that now warm water--starts to liquefy the bottom of that body of ice. And they measure on the Richter scale ice quakes inside of that big ice cube.

And that is what is happening on the planet. Greenland is a perfect example. I am so glad that Senator Whitehouse raised it because it is the scene of the crime; and all along the East Coast, we are going to see absolutely catastrophic consequences if we don't stop it.

I mean 2 miles--I am thinking 30 football fields high of just ice going straight up in the air--30 football fields. That is what this is. That ice and ice all around the world is running into the ocean faster and faster and causing seas to rise.

The result has been sea level rise on a global scale. In the 20th century, sea levels rose nearly 9 inches over the 20th century. Now, as climate change speeds up, we are expected to see that amount of sea level rise from 2000 to 2030 as much as a foot--1 foot additionally--in just 30 years.

The rate of rise is accelerating, and if we continue to emit greenhouse gases that warm up that ice, sea level just won't quit. It is going to get worse and worse and worse. And for coastal communities across the country like those in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, this rate of rise is very, very real. It means more frequent and severe flooding events, eroding beaches, worsening storm surge, catastrophic consequences.

I mean, in the year 2000, there were three climate-related events that cost $1 billion worth of damage--three in 2000.

Two years ago, 27 events occurred in our country that cost $1 billion worth of damage, and the total amount was $180 billion just out of those 27 events, much less all of the other climate-related damage that was being caused.

It is getting worse and worse and worse, and it means billions of dollars in infrastructure damage, insurers raising premiums or exiting the insurance market for that part of the coastline altogether, and home values just keep dropping.

Senator Whitehouse has talked about this over and over again, warning like a latter-day Cassandra of the coming danger of the impact it is going have upon the valuations of homes, and it means serious risk to human health, to livelihoods, and to lives.

And in Massachusetts, from Winthrop to Chatham to Rockport, our communities are adapting. They are building seawalls, investing in flood modeling, raising homes, and restoring natural ecosystem barriers.

But sea level rise is a particularly challenging crisis. Even if we stabilize emissions, scientists believe that our seas could continue rising for centuries. What we can control is the future rate of sea level rise through our actions right now.

So the task is very clear for the Senate, for our country. We must immediately lower our emissions, invest in ocean science, and build resilient infrastructure to protect against the threat that is already built into the system.

So knowing all of this, what are President Trump and his administration up to? Instead of lowering emissions, they are blocking and killing and delaying 28,000 megawatts of clean energy projects that would cut greenhouse gas emissions instead of tethering the country further to pollution and costly fossil fuels.

Instead of investing in ocean science, President Trump is proposing to cut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by more than a quarter, and that would slash the budget for the National Ocean Service, which coastal communities rely on for water level models, flood risk assessments, and weather forecasting. And it would eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and laboratories like the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory that have been the backbone of coastal scientific research for decades.

We need to understand our rising seas, not undermine science. Instead of investing in resilient infrastructure, Trump tried to eliminate FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program last year which would have delivered $90 million just to Massachusetts alone.

So let's be clear. These cuts will not save the government money. We are going to pay more on our energy bills. Not double, not triple, not 10 times more because we are not building in the safeguards, but an infinity size more. It is penny-wise but pound-foolish.

Prevention is preferable to cure. That is where we should be. We need to make sure that we send a message. The President and his administration do not care about coastal communities. They do not understand the seriousness of climate change. We have to reject these cuts to science. We have to protect clean energy investments. We have to have the backs of our climate and ocean scientists, and we must support our local governments and first responders on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

This resolution--the Whitehouse resolution--affirms the facts on sea level rise. These facts are forecast and felt on our coasts, and I urge my colleagues to support Senator Whitehouse's resolution and pass this commonsense resolution.

I yield back to my friend from Rhode Island.

Mr. President, since Donald Trump took office, electricity prices have risen by as much as 13 percent--three times faster than inflation. Families are already falling into debt, and it is only getting worse.

Utilities requested a record $31 billion in rate increases in 2025. That is twice as high as the year before. Republican cuts to American energy programs stoked this fire of a crisis. The Republican ``Big Ugly Bill'' is expected--this is unbelievable--to kill 790,000 megawatts of new, clean electricity over the next decade. It has already canceled or stalled 28,000 megawatts from 365 energy projects. As we produce less and less new electricity, the remaining electricity becomes more and more expensive for families all across this country.

Instead of providing a blank check for ICE, we should be providing--

--relief on electricity bills for American families, and that is what my amendment does. It says that if Congress is going to pass--

--this budget, then the budget must result in lower electricity bills for all American families.

I urge my colleagues to support my amendment.

Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, I move to waive the point of order, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Vote on Motion

Mr. President, I rise tonight in support of Senator Sanders' joint resolutions of disapproval for select arms sales to Israel. The Senate has voted on similar resolutions in the past, all of which I have supported. The last time this Chamber voted on prior resolutions, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was bombarding Gaza. A cease-fire had collapsed, hostage release negotiations had stalled, and innocent children and families in Gaza were starving and suffering. That was because the Netanyahu government, fueled by extremist Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Smotrich and supported by the Trump administration, was blocking humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians in Gaza. The large-scale bombs covered by those resolutions went far beyond what Israel needed for its defense. Their use would cause indiscriminate damage and only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Now, the need for restrictions on military aid to Netanyahu has only taken on renewed urgency. The Trump administration is proposing to sell to Netanyahu 1,000-pound bombs and armored bulldozers that Netanyahu could

use not only in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon but also in Trump's illegal and unnecessary war in Iran. I fully support the current cease- fire with Iran, but tenuous as it may be, Vice President JD Vance's bid for a peace deal in Pakistan last weekend failed, and fighting could resume at any time.

So make no mistake, a vote to approve arms sales to Israel at this time would be seen as a message of approval for Trump and Netanyahu's disastrous war against Iran. I will not send that message. Trump's war of choice in Iran is a moral tragedy and economic disaster playing out before our eyes. It is only making the United States, Israel, and the world less safe.

Let us count the ways:

One, we have seen thousands of civilian deaths in Iran and Lebanon. More than 100 Iranian schoolgirls have been killed by American weapons, and 13 American servicemembers have been killed and hundreds injured.

Two, the United States and the Netanyahu government are losing credibility. In particular, President Trump's threats of war crimes and genocide against Iran are a total abdication of moral leadership on the global stage and must be opposed here and everywhere.

Three, the United States and Iran are blockading the Strait of Hormuz--crippling the global economy and sending energy prices sky high.

Four, gas prices in America are $1.20 a gallon higher than before the war. Vehicle owners will be paying $500 to $600 more here in the United States over the course of this next year. It is going to be Trump at the pump. The American people are going to be paying for this war.

Five, this dangerous, unnecessary, and expensive war has cost the American taxpayer about $50 billion so far, with the Trump administration seeking hundreds of billions of dollars more as part of a $1.5 trillion military budget, which must be rejected.

Six, Iran still controls its uranium.

Seven, there has been no regime change. We just swapped out one Ayatollah for another.

And, eight, Iranians are still not free.

Why would we send American military weapons that could prolong, escalate, or worsen this horrible situation in the Middle East?

I say no more. The Senate should express its opposition to Trump and Netanyahu's needless war and seek to stop it.

No. 1, we should pass these resolutions to block 1,000-pound bombs and armored bulldozers for use in this war.

No. 2, we should pass a War Powers Resolution that denies President Trump the authority to continue this war.

And, No. 3, we should reject any request for funding to pay for Trump's war of choice.

Today, we must send a clear message that the U.S. Senate opposes--in the strongest possible terms--Trump and Netanyahu's dangerous, expensive, unnecessary, and immoral war.

There is no military solution to this crisis. We must solve this at the negotiating table. We must end this war now. We must pass these resolutions in order to have the U.S. Senate speak to our outrage at what is happening in the name of the American people.

With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today we honor and remember Richard Ottinger, a mentor and friend and an historic environmental champion whose life and career is an inspiration to all dedicated to fighting for the people and the planet.

After serving in the U.S. Air Force and cofounding the Peace Corps, Ottinger served in Congress for 16 years from 1965 to 1971 and then again from 1975 to 1985. In his first year in Congress, he wrote and passed the Hudson River Compact Act, establishing an interstate commission to clean up the river. He continued to be the environmental visionary, being one of the first to call for addressing climate change as a moral, economic, national security, and health imperative. He helped found the bipartisan Environmental Study Conference and served as a moving force behind several landmark pieces of environmental legislation, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, PURPA.

Congressman Ottinger's leadership also extended to the foundational goals for a healthy democracy. He was a bold and effective advocate for peace and diplomacy, civil rights, consumer protections, and the day- to-day concerns of working families, often battling and winning against the powerful special interests and political players. He was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam war, and in 1969, Ottinger introduced the Vietnam Disengagement Act and in 1970 co-authored an amendment to end that unjust war. He never shied from the big challenges confronting the times in which he lived.

From serving as dean of Pace Law School and founding the Pace Energy and Climate Center to working closely with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature--IUCN--Ottinger continued to be a champion for climate solutions even after leaving office. I am deeply grateful to Richard Ottinger for being a pioneer in environmental legislation and advocacy and for paving the way for a fairer, cleaner, more just future for us all.

Mr. President, I am now going to just continue what Senator Whitehouse has been raising for the consideration of the American people.

I want to thank Senator Whitehouse for his leadership as the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee and for throughout his entire career focusing upon the corruption which is at the heart of the fossil fuel industry's control of the energy agenda, the climate agenda in our country. That is something which Senator Whitehouse has done insistently, persistently, consistently over the last decade, just rising over and over again to make the very clear, compelling, and undeniable point that the fossil fuel industry controls the energy policy of our country and that it has succeeded for 100 years in squashing the competition until very recently.

They got a second breath, once Donald Trump was reelected this year, in their efforts to ensure that wind and solar and all-electric vehicles and clean energy technologies were, in fact, once again snuffed out after they had seen a great resurgence because of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which really should be called the greatest climate bill ever passed in the history of the world.

Senator Whitehouse has been the leader in raising these issues about corruption, about their ownership of administration after administration which did not, in fact, advance a clean energy agenda for our country.

So I join with Senator Whitehouse this evening in calling for the resignation of Lee Zeldin as the EPA Administrator. When someone's track record is as full of failure as Lee Zeldin's, they should flunk out of the class. He has failed to uphold science, failed to protect health, failed to hold regulated industries accountable.

He has failed to carry out the basic mission of the Agency which he was appointed to lead. The basic mission he is failing on is to protect human health and to protect the environment of the United States of America. Since he has been in charge, the only thing ``EPA'' has stood for is ``Every Polluter's Ally.'' He has spent his first 15 months as the Administrator protecting the polluters instead of protecting the health and the environment of our country.

Trump and Zeldin may be in public office, but they are not on the public's team. They are batting for the Big Fossil Fuel and Big Tech billionaires, not for parents worried about their kids' asthma, not for families worried about whether their water is safe to drink or food is safe to eat, and not for young people worried about their future as climate change continues to cause global chaos.

One of Lee Zeldin's first moves as Administrator was to come for the Agency's brain trust--the dedicated public servants who serve as the engine powering the EPA's core mission. Who are those people? They are biologists. They are chemists. They are climate scientists. They are mathematicians. They are people who have dedicated their lives working at the EPA in order to create the best science which can be used in order to guide American policy to protect the public health and the environment in our country.

They empowered DOGE--these young, ideological thugs--to enter into the EPA headquarters and all the regional headquarters of EPA in order to peer over the shoulders of scientists, of chemists, of biologists, of climate scientists, and question, as a 25-year-old DOGEr, what the qualifications are for these people, these scientists, to have their jobs. I mean, it is absolutely absurd that in 2026, we would allow for that to happen at the lead environmental Agency for the world, but yet that is what Donald Trump and Elon Musk unleashed--the terrorization of career, brilliant scientists.

How do we know they are brilliant? Because every person in America knows that when they were in high school, the first row--the first row--was filled with all the kids who were going to go to college to study biology and chemistry and physics and mathematics. The second row was filled with everybody else. But everyone knows who the smartest kids are, and they have been the smartest kids since they were in the sixth grade or the seventh grade. They are dedicated to science. They are dedicated to getting the right answer. Yet Donald Trump and Elon Musk unleashed an army of DOGE--mostly young men, unqualified for anything except going in almost as mafia-like hit men to take out these career, brilliant scientists who decided not to go out into the private sector to make 5 times, 10 times more money working for chemical companies, writing algorithms for hedge funds--no. They dedicated their lives to working on the science of public health and the environment, and Trump just unleashed these young DOGE men to go in and terrorize these workers. They pushed out these EPA workers who test our water, who monitor our air, who study how to keep us safe from chemicals, from pollution. All the while, he pushed to keep--to keep--chemicals like glyphosate on the market.

The amazing thing about this is the Make America Healthy Again movement wants chemicals like glyphosate to be taken off the market. They want it. They actually ran on that, the Make America Healthy Again movement. That is what Robert F. Kennedy was saying he wanted to do.

Do you know who is more powerful? The chemical industry. The chemical industry wants it legal. The chemical industry wants it on the market. The chemical industry wants families to be exposed to it. So the EPA under Lee Zeldin--he is all on board for something like that. He is not going to be bucking the chemical industry on behalf of the health of the American people.

By the way, Zeldin spent $86 million in taxpayer money to pay EPA staff not to work. Your taxpayer money went to avoiding environmental protection and saying to the workers: You don't even have to show up. We will pay you not to come in, not to protect the public health and safety.

After firing thousands of these brilliant people, the Agency is at its lowest staffing level since the 1980s--40 years ago--all while we deal with our modern-day challenges like forever chemicals, toxic pesticides, climate change--you name it. All of these issues which have been identified by a new generation of scientists are now all on the back burner at the EPA because of Lee Zeldin, because of the White House, and because they are just completely beholden to these special interest, polluting companies that are in the favored class of Donald Trump acolytes.

But that wasn't enough. Then he came for the rest of the country. He came for projects to plant trees, to shade us on hot summer days, to get water to drink from our taps that is free from lead and build cheap solar energy to power our homes--projects that have been illegally shut down, shut off, shut out of funding in red and blue States alike. That is how ideological, that is how obsessed they are with giving the polluters everything they want.

Zeldin illegally came for the National Climate Bank, based on my legislation with Senator Van Hollen, which would have lowered energy bills, created good-paying jobs across the country, and built cleaner, safer, and healthier communities. And why did they come for the green bank, for the climate bank? Well, that had $20 billion in it, and McKinsey, a renowned and respected consulting firm, estimated that that $20 billion would unleash $150 billion of private sector investment in clean energy solutions, and that is an existential threat to the fossil fuel industry.

So Zeldin just said: It is gone. It is gone. I can't, on my watch, said Zeldin, be part of a plan that allows for competition with clean energy technologies to reduce the profits of the natural gas and the oil and the coal industry.

So he just abandoned American families, and his polluter pals refused to follow the law, so he decides he will just break it for them.

Lee Zeldin is rolling back soot prevention rules that could have prevented 4,500 premature deaths and 800,000 cases of asthma over just the last 6 years. Under Lee Zeldin, ``MAGA''--M-A-G-A--stands for ``Make America Gasp for Air.'' More asthma, more lung cancer, more disease in our society--that is what the Trump-Zeldin EPA looks like.

He set up an email inbox for polluters to receive automatic exemptions from nine air quality standards, allowing for complete noncompliance and unchecked pollution before any scientific review, public input process, or regulatory consideration.

Zeldin is shirking his duty to enforce the Clean Air Act that exists to ensure we don't breathe mercury or lead or arsenic--all because he wants polluters to make more money while they make us sick.

Just 1 year into this administration, the United States saw an increase in powerplant emissions after decades of emissions decline. That is not a coincidence. That is a diabolical scheme, written by the Heritage Foundation and its fossil fuel backers, and executed by Lee Zeldin, but that still wasn't enough for Zeldin. Last month, Lee Zeldin moved to repeal the endangerment finding, which is the bedrock of air pollution and emissions regulation in our country.

Senator Whitehouse has already made reference to this most important environmental Court decision in the history of the United States. That case is Massachusetts v. EPA. It was a decision that was rendered in April of 2007, and it was a very simple decision which was made, driven by the devastation that climate change wreaked on my home State of Massachusetts. Massachusetts sued, and the Supreme Court agreed that greenhouse gases were air pollutants, and they made that decision almost two decades ago. The Supreme Court also agreed that the EPA needs to regulate air pollutants if the science shows they endanger our health and our welfare.

Now, that may seem like a no-brainer to you. Climate change is real; the science is clear; and the harm from climate change is more obvious and more damaging every single year. The EPA acknowledged the connection between greenhouse gases and climate harm back two decades ago.

What makes Lee Zeldin think he can change the facts now?

Well, here is why. It is that Zeldin and Trump have taken a page straight out of ``1984,'' when George Orwell wrote:

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your own eyes

and ears.

Americans aren't stupid. Americans know what this crisis means. We are living through climate change, and we can see it with our own eyes that these extreme weather disasters are here now, making headlines, and making their communities more dangerous than ever before.

Over 10 years, from 2000 to 2009, the United States experienced 67 extreme weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. That is over a 10-year period. In the last 5 years alone, we have lived through 116 disasters that have cost $1 billion or more--nearly twice as many disasters in half the time just 10 years later.

Climate change is real; climate change is happening; and the evidence is in the damage that it is inflicting upon our Nation. It is drought. It is storms. It is making groceries more expensive. It is making insurance, as Senator Whitehouse constantly points out, for homeowners and small businesses go skyrocketing across our country. The heat waves are making our air-conditioning bills more expensive. Wildfires and rising tides are making home insurance again more expensive all across our country. Lee Zeldin would rather sell us a lie than make our lives more affordable.

Even if Trump and Zeldin try to put EPA's science in shackles, the law is clear. The EPA is still beholden to its mission to protect human health and the environment. Trump's EPA might break the law, but they cannot rewrite the law. All they can do is break the law. Greenhouse gases are air pollutants, and the Clean Air Act says the EPA must act. By repealing the endangerment finding, the Trump administration will be creating a clear and present danger to the public because climate denial costs lives. This isn't a deregulatory agenda; it is a deranged agenda.

Our lives may be worth nothing to the Trump administration--and that is not an exaggeration because, under Lee Zeldin, the EPA is valuing human health at zero dollars in its rulemakings. But we know that we matter; that you matter; that every American matters. It is our voices, our lives, our futures that matter in this battle, and the EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment still matters. So that is what we are going to raise from now to the end of this year.

Donald Trump, today, in a press conference, with his Cabinet members, said that the country was going great, but he decided to take a little detour, he said, into Iran. Well, Trump's little detour is coming at a very high price--higher gasoline prices, higher home heating oil prices, higher natural gas prices, higher prices for jet fuel, higher prices as a result for plane tickets, higher prices for groceries because they have to be transported across the country. In fact, there are higher prices for everything in our country which needs oil or gas, which is every other product.

So, when you look at the stock market, you will always see the same thing. Whenever oil is skyrocketing, that means all of the funding from all of those businesses and consumers is all going to one industry, and right now, their stocks are skyrocketing. Their executives are cleaning up. Their executives are getting the return on investment that they made when they met with Trump in April of 2024, and he said: If you give me $1 billion, I will kill all of your clean energy competition. And, in the IRA, in July of 2025, with JD Vance coming here to cast the deciding vote, that is what they did to the wind tax credits, to the solar tax credits, to the all-electric vehicle tax credits, to all of the incentives that were in the books for a clean energy revolution. Yes, it was pay to play. The oil executives and the gas executives got exactly what they bought when they raised all that campaign cash for Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

Yes, that is where we are right now. We have the United States over in a war against Iran. The Strait of Hormuz is, for all intents and purposes, shut down. The price of oil is skyrocketing. The stocks of the oil companies are skyrocketing. The pay for CEOs, you should be sure, is going to skyrocket this year for oil companies, and the whole rest of the stock market is cratering because they are all dependent upon oil and gas to fuel their industries.

Trump is now saying, because of what has happened over in the Middle East, that he is going to send in the Marines to attack Kharg Island, which is the center for the export of energy out of Iran. So he is going to take what is already a complete mess--what is already one of the most pluperfect violations of the first law of holes--which is, when you are in one, stop digging. He is planning on digging this hole even deeper because what happens in the Persian Gulf winds up at the pump for ordinary consumers and ordinary families. This is Trump at the pump. His picture might as well be on every single pump in the United States of America.

This is all as a result of Zeldin, Secretary of Energy Wright, and Secretary of the Interior Burgum all going along with this agenda to kill the all-electric vehicle revolution and the solar and wind revolution. They said we have energy independence. There is no energy independence with the price of oil and gas being set on the global market. If it goes up, you are going to see it at the pump in the United States no matter where you live.

So that was a big lie right from the get-go, right from the Trump administration--that they had achieved energy independence. No, we have not. We are reliving right now what we should have learned over and over and over again, but Trump could not learn it because there is an old saying: It is hard to learn something when you are paid not to understand it.

He got paid by the oil and gas industry not to understand that reality. The oil and gas industry wanted to be able to engage in these predatory practices--in this exploitation of families across our country--for their own self-enrichment. That is what this is all about. Every time you fill up your tank, it is Trump at the pump. He owns it.

What is he asking for right now from my Republican colleagues? He wants $200 billion more for the war. What does that mean? Well, it costs $2 billion a day to fight the war. If you give him $200 billion, which my Republican colleagues seem to want to do, that would be 100 days more of this war. That takes us into the summer.

So, if you are watching the deliberations here in the U.S. Senate, be mindful of the fact that their plan is to fund a war that will go on indefinitely, and as a result the price at the pump, the price for heating oil and the price for natural gas are going to continue to spike.

It doesn't make any difference whether you are just an ordinary family member with their car and they are trying to fill it up or if you are a small business person who is basically saying: Oh, my goodness. There has been a 40-percent increase in the price I have to pay for my home heating oil tank or to just keep my business warm or the air-conditioning on. It is everybody in America who is going to pay the price because of what Trump is seeking to perpetrate upon the American people because there is no energy independence when we depend upon fossil fuels.

We need to ensure that we move to real energy independence. That is a renewable energy agenda--an all-electric vehicle future. That is when we will have energy independence. We were heading in that direction before Trump cut the clean energy incentives, the clean energy programs, and these CEOs, you know, are now reaping the benefits of that--the fossil fuel CEOs personally. They are getting the windfall profits. They are able to engage in this profiteering out on the open marketplace.

By the way, the price of oil goes up like a rocket when the crisis starts, but it comes down like a feather, very slowly, so that the oil and gas industry can milk every last cent out of every single consumer, tipping them upside down at the gas station and shaking money out of their pockets so that they can enjoy those profits while they are chuckling that they won't have the competition from the wind and solar and all-electric vehicle industries that were moving at the most rapid pace that our country had ever seen, and it was endangering the business model of the oil and gas industry.

And Lee Zeldin? He was at the front of the line saying: We are going to end that threat. We are going to make sure that those oil and gas and coal executives don't have to worry about their business future.

And who is going to pay the price?

The price is going to be paid in higher taxes to fight this war by ordinary families, in higher prices at the pump by ordinary families to fight this war, and by the families who are going to, unfortunately, lose loved ones who are service people who are serving our country over there. The price is going to be very high for American families.

And who is going to benefit?

It is going to be the oil company executives. It is going to be the natural gas company executives.

That is where we are right now. We need to end this war, and we need to end the war on clean energy technologies because we have no energy independence as long as we are dependent upon fossil fuels. That is the big headline of what has happened over the first 28 days of this war, and that is why Senator Whitehouse, myself, and others on this floor are going to campaign all year long on these issues.

We are going to campaign against the Zeldin agenda, against the Wright agenda, the Burgum agenda, and, ultimately, the Trump agenda, which is nothing more than the oil and gas and coal industry agenda for our country--making us less healthy, less safe, more dependent upon fuels that get us into more and more danger the more that we allow ourselves to have this law of unintended consequences to its pluperfect form be invoked every single time we go over to the Middle East for a war.

So that is where we are right now. We have got this moment where, as a Senate, we can stand up and fight; or we can be like the Republicans out here, who can see the rising costs for all of these goods-- including healthcare; including their tariffs, the sales tax which Trump has imposed on pretty much every product in our country.

The American public is arriving with pitchforks, heading toward the Republicans at the polls this year, and they know it. And that is why, for the last several days, they have tried to squash Americans' right to vote, Americans' right to be able to go in and cast a ballot independently and freely without fear.

That is what the SAVE Act is all about. The SAVE Act is all about squashing the ability for minorities, for married women, for transgender folks to be able to vote this year, because they are afraid they are going to lose.

The SAVE Act is really the ``Save Their Asses Act.'' That is what it is all about. How do they protect themselves from all of these rising costs that are coming from Trump economic policies? That is what this is all about--the bottom line.

The way to protect themselves while enriching the oil and gas and coal industry, the insurance industry, all of those industries that are part of that MAGA coalition? Just suppress the vote. Just make sure fewer people show up at the polls.

So that is really at the heart of where we are right now on the floor of the U.S. Senate. We are waiting for the Republicans to finally become responsible, to accept the responsibility of actually responding to the real harm that is being imposed upon American families.

So, from my perspective, we are at a historic inflection point, and I just hope that the Republicans finally--finally--hear the American people, because, otherwise, as Steve Bannon said, having these ICE agents go to the airports right now is only going to be practice for ICE agents at the polls in Georgia, in Ohio this fall, in order to suppress the vote of the American people. And it is all to protect this assault upon affordability, assault upon the budgets of ordinary American families.

And at the heart of it all is a failed energy policy, because every American driver is going to have to spend $500 to $600 more this year just to drive their car. And the same thing is true for home heating oil users and natural gas users, and that price is built into that family budget that they are seeking to figure out how to pay right now in every home across our country.

So this little detour that Donald Trump is taking has put a spotlight on his energy policy in a way that, in my opinion, requires us now to take this movement, to create the momentum, to create the moment where, next year, once again, we have a vote out here on the Senate floor; and that vote will be to restore all the tax breaks for wind, all of the tax breaks for solar, all of the tax breaks for all-electric vehicles, all of the tax breaks for all of those technologies which were flourishing and were reducing costs and greenhouse gas emissions, while employing hard-working union employees all across our country.

That is what is about to unfold over the next 7 months in our country--this battle for the soul of our Nation, which, at its heart is: How do we protect ordinary American families? And included in that is the protection against the absolute exploitation of them by the most powerful interest in our Nation: the oil and the gas industry.

So with that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to defend the heartbeat of our democracy, and that is and always will be the right to vote.

From the first National Women's Rights Convention held in 1850 in Worcester, MA, to Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, Americans have been mobilizing and marching and chanting and fighting for generations to protect the right to vote, which is the most cherished right. And it is now under relentless attack by the Trump administration and the MAGA Republicans who sit right across the aisle here on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

And that is why we are here today: because when you can't win by the rules, you have to sabotage. You have to manipulate the game. That is what this bill is all about. It is not the SAVE America Act. It is the ``Save Your Ass Act'' because the American public is rising up in revolution against higher healthcare costs, higher gasoline prices, higher home heating oil prices, higher prices for everything on Main Street because of the sales tax called a tariff, which is being imposed upon all those goods.

That is what they are afraid of because they know that the voters are coming with pitchforks toward them this November, and they have to do something about it. So they call it the SAVE Act.

But if there was a section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission of unfair and deceptive act provision here and it was applied properly, it would be called the ``Steal Act,'' the ``Steal the Election of 2026 Act.''

That is what they are doing on the Republican side. That is what they are trying to perpetrate upon the American people, upon our elections. They have to manipulate our elections through voter suppression, disenfranchisement, unconstitutional tactics to win in 2026 and in 2028 and beyond.

As Trump says, they will win every election if they can pass the SAVE Act. They won't have to worry anymore. And why is that? Because it is a craven effort to turn back the clock, institute a new modern-day Jim Crow, and take away the one right central to our democracy, and that is the right to vote.

This legislation is dangerous. It is anti-democratic, and it is wrong. The SAVE America Act would impose unnecessary and overly restrictive voter ID requirements. It would require Americans to present a birth certificate or passport in person whenever they register to vote or whenever they need to update their registration.

There are tens of millions of Americans without passports. There are tens of millions of Americans who don't have a birth certificate on them at all times. That is the goal of the Republicans: No, you can't vote today. We are going to make it impossible for you to vote.

Now the goal in America should be more people are voting. It is already too low. No, that is not the Republican Party's goal here. Their goal right now is fewer votes, lesser participation in our democracy.

That is what they are trying to perpetrate upon our democracy right now because most Americans, right now, they register to vote online, through the mail, or at their Department of Motor Vehicles.

Only 6 percent of Americans register to vote in person at an election office, and the Republicans know this. And that is why they want to establish the new standard for everyone. It is like forcing everyone to use a fax machine to register to vote. It makes no sense, it is unnecessary, and it would only prevent people from participating in our democracy.

The new requirement to present a photo ID at the polling place is more stringent than laws already on the books in all but one State in the country. If the SAVE Act--if the ``Steal Act''--passes, it would be easier to buy a gun in many States than to vote.

Can I say that again? The NRA does not want it to be difficult to buy a gun. Republicans go along with that. In red States, the standards are very low to buy a gun. But to vote, oh, now they are concerned. Now we need standards, which make it almost impossible for tens of millions of Americans to be able to comply.

So just let that sink in. It would be easier to buy a gun than to exercise the most fundamental right of citizenship in our Nation.

And who would bear the brunt of this law? The 146 million Americans who do not have a valid passport.

I had never been to Washington, DC, before I was elected to the U.S. Congress. My father drove a truck for the Hood milk company. I ran when I was 29 years old for the U.S. Congress, and I won.

And my first visit to Washington was to be sworn in as a Member of the U.S. Congress when I was 30 years old. I not only had not been to Washington, I had never been anyplace outside of our country. I didn't have a passport, and I was a U.S. Congressman.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, here is a bulletin for you: 146 million Americans do not have a valid passport. I know because I would have been one of them. That is nearly half of all American adults.

The 69 million women who have changed their names after marriage and lack an updated birth certificate, they are out. Sorry. Oh, you--that is not the same name. You must have gotten married. Sorry, can't vote today. Just using your maiden name here? I am sorry. Can't vote.

Elderly voters who would be forced to navigate bureaucratic mazes to renew their voter registration in person; an 85-year-old who helped build this Nation and has voted in every election for 60 years could suddenly be told: The ID you have been using your whole life is no longer sufficient. Prove it again or you don't get to vote.

Do you know who else loses big time? Black and Brown communities who already face preceding, already existing high barriers to their being able to vote in too many States in our country; young people who could no longer rely on their student IDs to vote; disabled voters who may face challenges in getting to polling places; Native Americans whose Tribal IDs may be rejected for registration to vote and then for actually voting. That is their goal.

You can see which one of the groups in our country they are trying to dissuade. You can see which of all of these subgroups of Americans-- they are going to create barriers to their ability to go into the polling places.

How about a working American who would be forced to miss more shifts to exercise their right to vote, rural voters who would have to travel for hours to satisfy the strict in-person registration requirements, and LGBTQ+ Americans who face hurdles in obtaining accurate IDs that match their gender identity?

So instead of free and fair elections, it is bought and paid-for elections. Instead of one person, one vote, it is one White person, one vote. And everyone else gets shown to the door. So sorry, you can't vote here today.

Take, for example, a constituent of mine, a woman who legally changed her name nearly 50 years ago. Her birth certificate no longer matches her legal identity.

But now the President of the United States and Republicans want to force her to dig through decades-old documents just to prove she has the right to cast a ballot.

So give us a break. We know what you are doing here. You are trying to disenfranchise that woman. You don't want her to show up. We know what you are trying to do.

Or take a servicemember who has been serving their country bravely. Under the SAVE Act, under the ``Steal Elections Act,'' a military ID alone would not suffice to prove citizenship because noncitizens can also serve in the military.

Can you imagine that? Somebody has served for 2 years, 4 years, 6 years, 20 years, they show up to the polling place. They show their military ID. And they are told: Sorry, that doesn't count.

It counted to send them overseas. It counted to put their lives in danger. But it doesn't count to be able to vote.

Well, this is, without question, all part of a pattern which has been created by the Republicans. And we had a

hearing today in the Supreme Court just as a continuation of that plan to reduce participation in elections in our country because without, for example, that military official who is now standing there, trying to explain why they should be able to vote, they have to provide a military record of service, showing the United States as the place of their birth.

Without that document, a servicemember who has been risking their life on behalf of our country may find themselves shut out of the voting process.

So under this bill, a servicemember can deploy overseas, carry classified credentials, the top secrets of the United States, defend our democracy, but come home and be told their military ID is not sufficient for that serviceperson to engage in our democracy after they spent their entire life protecting us, and they have a military ID to prove it.

Or take a young person who just went off to college and is eager to become a first-time voter. The student hasn't yet left the country and has never had a passport. And under the SAVE America Act, they are also not allowed to use their student ID.

But by the time they apply and receive their passport, the voter registration deadline has passed, and they won't be able to cast that first ballot they were so excited about. So just think about that.

The student at one of our great universities across the country, they think that they are going to be able to register and vote where they are going to school. And they have a student ID, and now they are told: You cannot vote. You have to get a passport, which that student has never had.

Let's take a single working mom who just moved home. This new law might force her to reregister to vote in person due to her address change. Although she has the required documents, she is unable to find the time between her shifts and taking care of her children to visit an election office in person.

On the day she does show up to the polls to cast her vote, after losing a day of work, she is told she cannot vote.

This bill is unconscionable. It is un-American. It is actually unworkable, but that is not deterring the Republicans. They have a goal. They want to save their seats. They want to lower the participation in the elections this year and in the 2028 election cycle. That is what it is all about--steal elections. That is all it is about.

And this bill itself doesn't test whether you are eligible to vote; it tests whether you can outmaneuver unnecessary redtape, whether you have the time and the resources and the documentation to satisfy a system designed just to say no.

We cannot become a country that cares about representation for some instead of representation for everyone. The future and the strength of our democracy depend on every single American being heard at the ballot box, not just those who Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters deem as worthy to be able to vote.

The SAVE America Act would also force States to hand over supersensitive voter data to the Department of Homeland Security. So just think about this. Kristi Noem--by the way, we are still celebrating ``Kristi Noem Got Fired Day.'' Kristi Noem and whoever her successor might be, they would have access to all of this voter data.

This would give Trump unprecedented power to interfere in local elections, conveniently just before the 2026 elections as Trump is down at 40 percent favorability and looking at a landslide heading his way, a tsunami of voters ready to change the control of the House and Senate.

So are any of these provisions an accident? No, this is designed. You know, there is such a thing that Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a great Senator who served here--he used to call something, when he didn't want to help something or hurt something, he said that people should just act in ``benign neglect''--``benign neglect''--of the problem.

That is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about designed neglect. It is a plan. It is a plan that they are putting together. The SAVE America Act--``the Steal the Election Act''--is a calculated effort by Trump and MAGA Republicans to erect barriers between American citizens and their fundamental democratic rights.

Republicans can claim that this bill is meant to combat voter fraud or to prevent noncitizens from voting, but the truth is that noncitizens already cannot vote in State and Federal elections. They run the risk of criminal prosecution if they vote in our country.

In this climate, with the way the immigrant community is being terrorized and targeted, the last thing noncitizens want to do is to register with the Federal Government to vote or to open themselves up to criminal penalties because they are not qualified to vote.

It is absolutely absurd to think otherwise. States already implement many checks to ensure that only citizens are allowed to vote. And despite numerous studies and audits and investigations over the years, it has been determined that noncitizens voting is very, very, very, very, very, very, very rare. It is not a problem.

I will tell you what is a problem: High oil prices, that is a problem; high healthcare prices, that is a problem; high tariff taxes on small businesses by the millions across our country, that is a big problem; inflation going up, that is a big problem; unemployment going up, that is a big problem.

Are we debating that on the floor? Are the Republicans having hearings on the Iran war? Are they having hearings on skyrocketing oil prices?

No, they are not. They are having the Senate, now, for over a week, debate something that is very, very, very, very, very, very, very rare, and they are trying to make a big crisis out of it.

Why is that? Because they want to distract everyone's attention away from the real crises of oil and healthcare and Iran and tariffs and all the other messes which they have created this year. It is strictly a distraction. It is a ``Wag the Dog.'' It is the take everyone's attention away from the actual issues that are harming families in our country right now on which we have no hearings, none--none--because there is absolutely no evidence that supports Trump and the MAGA Republican conspiracies that noncitizens are voting at a large scale.

It is simply false. It is a ghost story told for political purposes, used to justify laws whose real function has nothing to do with election security and everything to do with election outcomes so that the Republicans are not punished for their economic policies, for their foreign policy mistakes which they are making for which they do not want to be held accountable.

The SAVE America Act is a solution in search of a problem, but it is worse than that. It is a distraction from American efforts to strip millions of eligible Americans from their right to vote. Why do they want to do that? I have got five reasons--five reasons--why the Republicans want to establish this goal of disenfranchising millions of Americans:

No. 1, so that they can continue to give handouts and tax cuts to billionaire CEOs while making it harder for millions of Americans to get access to Medicaid and Medicare and affordable healthcare and looting by the trillions the money from healthcare for ordinary families to give over to the billionaires who do not need it; reason No. 1.

Reason No. 2, so they can continue their vendetta against the wind and solar energy industry, the all-electric vehicle industry, so that Big Oil and Big Gas can make bigger profits off of the hard-earned cash of American citizens because they will be forced to buy all gasoline- powered cars, and the oil companies can tip them upside down and shake money out of their pockets at the pump.

But they don't want that reversed. They don't want solar and wind and all-electric vehicles to be the future. No. That is reason No. 2.

Reason No. 3, so they can continue to give billions of dollars to ICE to terrorize immigrants while trampling on the constitutional rights of our communities. Right now, we have masked agents across our country not wearing cameras and violating constitutional rights that were built into the Constitution during the American Revolution and its aftermath. And they just hate the idea that they would have to comply with those constitutional safeguards that have matured and been codified over the centuries.

No. 4, they can continue to operate a pay-to-play pardon system, where fraudsters and friends and supporters of the President can essentially buy their way out of convictions and jailtime.

No. 5, so they can keep raising prices at home while razing countries abroad--but to do so without a peep coming out of the majority in the House and the Senate because that is where we are right now. We have a Senate; we have a Republican leadership which has been supine for the first 15 months of this second Trump administration. They have shown no courage. It is almost as though they had a vertebrae bypass operation that has made it impossible for them to be able to stand up to the illegal, to the corrupt, to the absolute disgraceful foreign policy, from Venezuela to Greenland to Iran and on and on and on, that Trump has been engaging in without a peep out of the Republican Party.

There are only three things you need in politics: backbone, backbone, and backbone. And what do they want on their side? They don't want to be held accountable for their lack of backbone. And the only way they can do that is reduce the number of people who vote this year. Don't allow for there to be a change of government by suppressing the votes of those who are most likely to be angry over what they have been doing to our country over the last 15 months.

Trump has thrown us into an illegal, reckless war, which is costing lives abroad, costing hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars, costing American families at the pump, in-home heating oil, airline tickets, grocery prices, and in every other monthly bill. It is just going to ripple through our entire economy because he has created a global energy apocalypse. And every time Americans go to the pump, they are in for a crude awakening, courtesy of Donald Trump's illegal war in Iran.

The average price at the pump right now is $1 higher than it was just 4 weeks ago. Cumulatively, Americans spent $2.6 billion more last week than they did on gasoline before the war started. And $2.6 billion, it could pay for a lot of solar on more than 850,000 homes without any incentives. Mr. President, $2.6 billion could pay for about 350,000 drivers to use the electric vehicle tax rebate, which would insulate drivers from these crazy oil spikes.

Home heating oil prices are up by $1.20 a gallon in Massachusetts, which many families rely on to heat their homes. That means $350 more to fill up their tank, and it is still cold in Massachusetts in the winter.

So 500 bucks more for gasoline over the course of the year, 350 bucks more just to fill up their tank, and all as they watch television at night and watch a war going on in Iran that, so far, has had no public rationale that makes any sense whatsoever, and the Republicans are refusing to even have hearings so that we can cross-examine the rationale, if it existed at all, that Trump is using in order to perpetrate this insane war and its consequences not only on the Middle East but on the entire planet.

Oil prices go up like a rocket, but they come down like a feather. So we are going to see this price of oil in our economy that is going to go on for months and months and months, and when the President says he needs $200 billion more, well, it is costing $2 billion a day to run the war. So that means at least a 100 days more--2 billion times 100 days. That takes us into the summer. He is asking us--he is asking the Republican Senators to give him enough money to fight the war into the middle of the summer, which means the price of oil is just going to continue to go up and up and up like a rocket, and people are going to be standing there with the pump in their hands, with the nozzle in their car, and they are going to be looking up at that price as it goes up and up and up and up as this war goes on.

So experts say that Donald Trump's illegal war has now caused the largest oil supply disruption in the history of the world.

Can I say that again? Donald Trump has caused the largest oil supply disruption in the history of the world, and he has yet to explain successfully what the rationale for that war is.

So, to me, Trump's entire reign has caused the largest corruption in modern American history because his entire Presidency has been a disaster for American families. Even before the war, electricity prices were up by as much as 13 percent.

Can I say that again? People are paying their bills across the country--a 13-percent increase in electricity bills last year under Trump. And now those attacks on natural gas facilities in the Middle East are spiking prices worldwide, spikes that will likely hit American utility bills soon as U.S. natural gas exports surge to chase the highest price on the international market, which has been the goal of the natural gas industry right from the beginning.

And by the way, Trump is just wholly owned subsidiary of the natural gas industry. He said to them in April of 2024: If you raise me $1 billion, I will make sure that I kill all of the environmental laws in the country, all of the incentives for wind and solar and all-electric vehicles.

So that is cash and carry. They raise the money, and now we are living with the consequences of just having a total dependence upon those industries that Donald Trump said were going to make America great. No.

We are, right now, hostage to the oil industry, hostage to the natural gas industry. They can charge whatever they want.

This whole idea that he created energy independence for us? No. The price of oil and gas is set on a global market, not in Tulsa, OK. And I think every American now understands that, because these Big Oil vultures are already circulating, looking to scavenge their profits at the expense of every consumer, every family in our country.

Major oil and gas companies are poised to reap record profits this year from higher prices, as Americans reap devastating losses.

So Americans are going to be paying $2 billion a day in taxes for the war and $2 billion more each week for high gasoline prices.

And I am not even talking about home heating oil prices. I am not talking about jet fuel prices. I am not talking about natural gas prices for people's homes.

So the rich are going to get richer, and the rest are going to pay taxes and their skyrocketing energy bills. That is what he has left us with.

Do the Republicans want to debate that? They do not want to debate that.

Is that all the American people want us to debate? Yes, please put that front and center. Please, let me know when this ends. When does this chaos and corruption end and its impact upon the lives of every family in our country?

So let's just be clear: Big Oil only serves as a destabilizing force in global politics--not a stabilizing but destabilizing force. This entire conflict is a reminder that our continued dependence on fossil fuels pulls the world toward instability and pulls it towards conflict.

And the lesson is clear: We must transition rapidly to clean energy sources that cannot be blocked or bombed or weaponized.

In reality, wind and solar are the fastest growing electricity sources in history because they just make sense. In 2025, renewables made up over 88 percent of all new electricity generation in the United States. In 2025, the United States added more than 50,000 megawatts of new solar and wind capacity, compared to just under 5,000 megawatts of new natural gas capacity--10 times more.

Do you know who hates that? The natural gas industry.

Do you know who gave half a billion dollars to Donald Trump? The natural gas industry.

And what was the promise that they wanted back from him? We will kill the solar industry. We will kill the wind industry. We will kill all of those industries that are an existential threat to our business model.

And we are now living with the consequences of that.

So just let me repeat that for the fossil fuel apologists: New solar is cheaper than simply operating an existing coal-burning plant in our country. Onshore wind is half the cost of building new gas plants.

This isn't about ideology. This is just about arithmetic. It is not complicated. It is cheaper to do onshore wind.

And yet Trump and Republicans are failing basic arithmetic. Now, this is

not trigonometry. This is not calculus. This is not algebra. This is just arithmetic. It is very simple.

We were in an energy crisis already before the war because of AI data centers, which are demanding record electricity, while Trump and Republicans have done everything possible to destroy American-made cheap, clean energy, leaving Americans dependent on the expensive fossil fuels, whose prices are now skyrocketing.

And now we are in an even bigger crisis. Trump may be crushing American manufacturing, but he sure is good at manufacturing an energy price hike for every American, every small business in our country.

We have to invest in true independence: electric and fuel-efficient vehicles; cheap, clean, energy and battery storage made in the United States; and energy efficient technologies that do more with less.

And do you know what Trump says? Oh, that is all socialism. That is socialism for wind and solar, tax breaks for all-electric vehicles. That is socialist.

Well, what do you call 100 years of tax breaks for the oil, gas, and coal industry? I call that socialism. And all we are asking for is some of that socialism for the competitive technologies that have been attacked and stopped for 100 years by the fossil fuel industry. That is all we are asking for, and that is what we have been denied.

And that is why they don't want to have any hearings. That is why they don't want to discuss what is going on in the Persian Gulf. That is why they don't want to discuss the Strait of Hormuz. That is why they don't want to discuss how we are hostage to the price of energy that comes out of the Middle East.

And the only way to break that dependence is with solar and wind and all-electric vehicles that don't need any fossil fuels whatsoever.

But because of Trump, because of the Republicans--they voted on this floor, last July, to kill all of those industries--kill them. They don't want to have that discussion right now. They know that they would be on the defensive. They know they would be backing away from the microphones while they try to explain why they would kill something that would actually break our dependence upon imported oil, break our dependence upon natural gas, break our dependence upon coal.

And, by the way, we do import oil into the United States. The Presiding Officer may not know that, but it is coming in from Canada. It is coming in from Mexico. It is coming in from Venezuela.

Just so you know, Mr. President--sometimes, it is a bulletin to you that we are part of a global oil marketplace that you are part and parcel of.

Foreign dictators and authoritarian regimes cannot stop the Sun from shining or the wind from blowing, but they can disrupt oil and gas supplies. Electricity generated by the solar panels can't get stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. Electricity generated by our offshore wind plants can't be bombed by drones in Kuwait.

The SAVE America Act--the ``Steal the Election of 2026 Act''--is a classic ``shock and awe.'' Trump is trying to distract us from the cost he has created by bombing Iran--costing lives, costing hundreds of billions to fund his war, and costing us at the pump, at the airport, and at the grocery store.

And he has just become so desperate--so fearful that he is going to lose--that he is absolutely willing to suppress the vote of especially minority voters in our country because he knows that, otherwise, he will probably lose in Georgia, he will probably lose in Ohio this fall, and that we will have a revolution that is heading his way.

So that is what this is all about here today. It is millionaires and billionaires, greedy corporate executives, corrupt cronies against the voters.

And that is why the Democrats are not going to go away. We are going to stand up. We are going to fight. We are going to make sure that the American people understand what is at stake right now and why we cannot allow the Republicans, the MAGA base, and President Trump to pass this legislation because it would fundamentally be the end of democracy in our country.

And how do I know that? Trump says it himself that he would suppress the votes to an extent where they would never lose an election again.

So that is where we are. It is a moment in history. There is a nostalgia that some people have for a past that never existed, instead of the ideals which we need--to fight for the poor and the sick and the elderly and the immigrant communities, because for them the past is just a memory, and the future is their hard reality.

And that is what we are standing here today to fight to protect--the protections for their hard reality--and that can only be protected if we stop the SAVE Act, if we stop the ``Steal This Election Act,'' if we stop the ``Save Our Asses Act,'' which the Republicans are seeking to pass on the Senate floor today.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 118, S. 843.

Mr. President, in a few moments, I will ask for unanimous consent to pass S. 843, the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act.

The bipartisan Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act, which is coled by Senator Cornyn of Texas, will provide funding for the incredible institutions that are leading rescue, recovery, and rehabilitation efforts for the endangered and threatened sea turtles that become stranded along on our coasts and in our bays.

Our current rescue efforts are largely volunteer and underfunded, forcing stranding networks from Cape Cod to the gulf to shell out to keep our shelled friends safe.

This legislation tackles this pressing issue by making sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation activities authorized for dedicated funding under an existing program.

Unlike marine mammals, sea turtles don't have a designated program in statute to support their rescue, despite facing similar stranding challenges.

Right now, turtles require rescue, but without this bill, their rescuers don't have the resources required to save them.

This bill addresses a gap in our Nation's marine stranding system and solves it.

I thank my colleagues for the bipartisan support on this legislation, especially my long-time partner Senator Cornyn and again ask for unanimous consent to pass the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendment be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, the Republican majority, representing the views of the President here on the floor of the Senate, are trying to engage not in a save-democracy but a steal-democracy movement. That is what this entire debate is about.

It is about a great fear which the Republicans have that because of their healthcare policies that are raising the price of healthcare for Americans across our country, because of the anger which Americans have, the dramatic spike in the price of oil and gas and home heating oil, that voters are angry across our country, that voters across our country are angry at the lies and the price for food across our Nation, that voters are angry, that there is a dramatic spike in the concern which Americans have about the arresting and incarceration of innocent citizens in our country who have no previous criminal records--all of this is a part of an attempt by the Republicans to steal the election of 2026.

They are afraid that they are going to go to the minority, that they will lose their power, and they know that the only way they can win now is if they steal the election. So this should not be called the SAVE Act; it should be called the Steal Act because they are going to try to suppress the votes, especially of Black and Brown citizens in our country. They are going to attempt to make it very difficult for them to vote, and then, as a result, they are hoping with their fingers crossed that they can win a very narrow election in 2026 in our country.

So democracy is on the line, and the SAVE Act--misnamed--is a direct attack upon our abilities to have free and fair elections in our Nation.

They want to make it very difficult for people to be able to register to vote. They want to make it very difficult for people to be able to actually vote on election day. That is their goal. Their goal is to suppress the vote, not to make it easier to vote in our Nation.

Rather than working with Democrats on this issue, they are just going ``my way or the highway.'' They are just

going in a direction which tries to save the Republican majority this year. The SAVE Act is to save the majority for the Republicans that is right now in serious jeopardy.

Even today, we see that the latest news is attacks upon further Iranian natural gas fields, which is leading to a further spike in the price for oil and gas and home heating oil in the United States of America. People are being shaken upside down at the pumps in our country. People are now paying upwards of 90 cents or a buck more for a gallon of gasoline. That is going to mean, over the course of a year, $400, $500 more out of the pockets of every American family.

It is a tax. This war that is illegally and unconstitutionally being run by Trump in the Middle East, in the Persian Gulf, is a tax first on Americans, who will have to pay for that war in higher taxes, and then, as they hit the pump or pay their home heating oil bill or their natural gas bill or their electricity bill, they are going to pay another tax in terms of the higher price they have to pay on top of the price for lost lives. That is the highest price of all. And those lives are being lost in the conduct of an illegal war.

It is all now coming back to our homeland. It is all coming back to the price of oil, of electricity, of natural gas, of home heating oil that every American family is going to have to pay.

The only way to solve this problem is to end that war because as the price of a barrel of oil goes from $70 a barrel to $80 a barrel to $90 a barrel to $110 a barrel, that then gets translated at the pump into $3.40 a gallon, $3.80 a gallon, $4 a gallon, $4.20 a gallon, and it is just going to continue to rise and rise and rise as long as this war continues.

So it is absolutely imperative that Trump end this war because families at home are paying the price. It is directly translatable into every single product which is purchased in our country, from food, to the price of airline tickets, to the price of transporting on trucks every single good across our country. That gets built into the price for everything that people are going to be buying this year.

So all I can say is that is what we should be debating on here. We should be debating that war. We should be debating the impact it is having on our economy.

The stark difference between the priorities of both parties is on display here on the Senate floor right now.

The Republicans are trying to suppress the vote so that voters are going to have a more difficult time in reflecting their views on election day this year on this dramatic spike in home heating oil, gasoline, electricity, and natural gas prices in our country. They don't want people to be able to easily vote on them.

They don't want people to be able to easily vote on the fact that 22 million Americans have seen a dramatic spike in their premiums for their healthcare insurance in our Nation.

They don't want it to be easy at all for people to be able to vote on the price of food or the effect which naming the head of the World Wrestling Federation to be the head of the Department of Education is having upon children's ability to get access to the education they need in every city and town in our Nation, the destruction of the Department of Education. That is cascading down into every community as well. That is reducing funding and requiring communities to talk about raising taxes at the local level.

All of that is what we should be debating out here on the floor, and what the Republicans are saying is: No, we want a debate about suppression of the vote--reducing the number of people who can easily access the ballot box this fall in order to express their views on all of their policies.

So that is really why we are here today. We are here in order to witness the Republicans' lack of priorities, their lack of focus upon the issues which the American people care most about--gasoline prices, electricity prices, natural gas prices, home heating oil prices--as they watch every day this dramatic rise in those prices as a result of the war in the Persian Gulf--the war illegally declared by Donald Trump--with an escalation again today.

Every time they hit all of those energy facilities in the Middle East, we pay the price. Every consumer, every family pays the price at their kitchen table as they try to figure out their payment of the bill that they are responsible to pay for their family for energy in our country.

So that is what we should be debating, and it should be an all-out debate. We should be having hearings on this issue. We are not having those hearings. We are not having that debate. The only thing the Republicans want to talk about is the suppression of the vote-- especially in minority communities and especially in the States that have the highest probability of electing Democratic Senators and House Members this year.

That is what this is all about. It is why Trump tried to cut a deal with Minneapolis on the day that Alex Pretti was murdered, and the White House, his administration, said to Minnesota: If you give us access to your voting rolls, then we will negotiate with you on pulling ICE out. Then they sent Tulsi Gabbard into Georgia just to try to grab all of the election materials at Fulton County--all as a prelude to, as the President says, the invocation of the Insurrection Act, which means the activation of the Marines and the Army in order to be deployed on election day in 2026 to suppress the vote. And we know where he wants to do that--in the States that they are most afraid of losing this year to the Democratic Party.

When he talks about the nationalization of elections, of course it is in complete violation of the U.S. Constitution, which gives that power to the States.

So we are heading towards a constitutional crisis later on this year. Donald Trump is a walking, talking constitutional crisis roaming around the Oval Office every single day trying to figure out how to avoid any accountability, any checks and balances that would be imposed by the U.S. Congress or by the Supreme Court upon his actions.

That is where we are right now. That is the status of the United States of America, and that is why Democrats are going to be standing up and making this case to the American people that they are trying to suppress the vote in order to protect all the impacts which their misbegotten policies have had upon American families in our country. They are living with the consequences economically at home.

Republicans today, by their actions, with their attempt to pass their ``Steal the Election Act,'' are trying to make it very difficult for the American people to make the Republican Party accountable.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, in a moment, I will ask unanimous consent that the Senate pass the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA 2.0, bipartisan legislation that would finally update our children's online privacy law for the modern internet age.

More than 25 years ago, I passed the original Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. At that time, the internet looked very different than it does today. Only birds tweeted 25 years ago. TikTok was the sound that a clock made. But one thing that has not changed, children and teens deserve privacy, they deserve safety, and they deserve protection online.

Unfortunately, Big Tech's business model has evolved far faster than our laws. Today, the largest online platforms collect enormous amounts of personal data from the users, including from children and from teenagers. That data fuels an advertising machine designed to keep young people clicking, swiping, and scrolling for as long as possible.

These ads are big business for Big Tech. In 2022, the major Big Tech platforms earned nearly $11 billion from U.S. users 17 and under. This model has real consequences for the well-being of our young people--$11 billion.

And we are facing a youth mental health crisis in this country, driven in part by social media platforms.

I have said these statistics on the floor before, but they bear repeating. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in four teenage high school girls in the United States seriously considered suicide in 2023.

At least one in eight high school girls in the United States in 2023 attempted suicide. Among LGBTQ+ youth, the number is more than one in five who attempted suicide in 2023.

Congress has a responsibility to respond. COPPA 2.0 does exactly that. It brings our children's privacy law into the 21st century and gives young people and their families meaningful control over their personal information.

First, COPPA 2.0 bans targeted advertising to children and teenagers. The days of building detailed behavioral profiles on young people in order to serve them manipulative, hyperpersonalized ads--that era must come to an end. That is what we are talking about in this legislation here today--ending that era in our country.

Second, the legislation creates an ``eraser'' button, allowing children and teens and their parents to delete the personal data that platforms have collected about them.

Third, COPPA 2.0, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act 2.0, establishes strong limits on the collection of personal information from minors. If a platform, for example, does not need a child's or a teen's data to provide the service, it should not be collecting that data in the first place.

These are simple, commonsense protections, and they have broad bipartisan support.

I am very, very proud to have worked over the last 3 years with my friend Senator Cassidy from Louisiana on constructing this legislation and moving it to the floor here today. He is a physician, and he is someone who believes in preventive care. That is what this bill is today. It just avoids much of the harm that otherwise will be imposed upon teenagers and children in our country.

I also want to thank Chairman Cruz, Ranking Member Cantwell, and many other Members in this body who have helped move this legislation forward.

This effort has also been driven by parents, by advocates, by young people themselves--families who have experienced firsthand the harms that can result when online platforms prioritize profit over the safety of children.

Passing COPPA 2.0 today would represent the single most significant update to children's online privacy protections in a quarter of a century. It is long overdue. We know there is a crisis, and it would send a clear message that Congress is prepared to stand up to Big Tech and put the interests of kids and families first.

I would be remiss if I did not note what is happening across the Capitol

today. Even as the Senate works in a bipartisan manner to strengthen protections for children and teens online, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is marking up a weaker partisan version of this legislation. That proposal strips away key protections and undermines the strong bipartisan compromise that Members of this Chamber have worked for years to develop. The children in our country deserve better than a watered-down privacy bill in this online era. For kids in our country right now, online access is like oxygen for them. It is all day. It is every day. Yet we haven't updated the safety protections in 25 years.

I urge my colleagues in the House to set aside partisan differences and take up the Senate's bipartisan bill so that we can finally deliver meaningful online privacy protections for children and teenagers across our country. Young people and their families have waited long enough. That is what we will be voting on right now.

With that, I yield to my partner and my friend in this effort, the Senator from Louisiana, Senator Cassidy.

I thank my friend for his consistent support in protecting teenagers and children in our country.

With that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 304, S. 836.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

With that again, Mr. President, I thank Senator Cassidy. It is a historic day. We have begun this process on the Senate floor today with protections in place, which has been long overdue for teenagers and children in our country. Again, it is the ongoing assault against their privacy and undermining their mental health. So I thank everyone who participated in this, especially my friend Senator Cassidy.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, the military strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel are a reckless escalation of an illegal war. Americans do not want another endless war in pursuit of regime change. Americans want to fix the affordability crisis here at home. Americans want to fund healthcare, not endless warfare. Americans want to reclaim the tax breaks for billionaires and millionaires to spend it on healthcare and education and environmental protections in our country. This war is not helping America; it

is hurting America. This war is built on lies about nuclear threats, and those lies are now costing American servicemembers' lives.

Senators got a classified briefing from the administration yesterday, and it confirmed what we already knew: This is an unnecessary and illegal war--of choice--by Donald Trump. Iran posed no immediate threat, and there is no plan to end this catastrophe.

President Trump said yesterday that he started this war because ``he had a feeling''--Donald Trump ``had a feeling,'' he said, that Iran was going to attack. There is no evidence--zero--to back this up. He has presented no evidence to back up his feeling, and that is outrageous. We should never ever start a war based on a feeling but only on facts. Donald Trump is risking the world on his whims and on his feelings.

There was a time for diplomacy and for Trump to seek congressional approval. Instead, this war will be a wrecking ball through the Middle East and must be stopped.

Any war should have the support of Congress and the American people. Trump's war has neither. This attack has not been approved by Congress and holds dangers for all Americans.

If Trump does not stop this war now, Congress must. I look forward to voting later today to support the bipartisan War Powers Resolution to stop this illegal war.

Let me be clear: This is a crisis of Trump's own creation. Iran's nuclear program was under control, thanks to the 2015 nuclear deal which severely limited Iran's enrichment program and was working to prevent Iran from producing a nuclear bomb. But Trump tore up that deal in 2018 and then bombed Iran last June. Trump claimed then that the attack obliterated Iran's nuclear program. If it did, why is he attacking now? Was he lying then or is he lying now? He was lying at some point in this process. Either it was obliterated or it wasn't.

A diplomatic solution remains the best way to permanently and verifiably prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The more Trump bombs Iran, the further we get away from diplomatic deals. We are going backwards.

Now, with the death of the Ayatollah--a terrible, repressive leader who no one will miss--there is a power vacuum in the country and more chaos. There is no guarantee that there will be a change of regime at all or that whoever replaces the Ayatollah will be any better. In fact, the replacement could be much worse than the Ayatollah.

Trump clearly sought regime change in Iran, but it is unlikely we will see it without sending ground troops, which we should not do. History teaches us that air wars alone do not force regime change. In Venezuela, we removed the leader but did not change the regime.

The future of Iran should belong to the Iranian people. I stand with them. Before the attacks, they showed extraordinary courage by peacefully taking to the streets to demand change.

As much as we all want to help and support the Iranian people, this is not a moment to impose solutions or shape outcomes from the outside, but that is what Trump is trying to do.

I left yesterday's classified briefing understanding that Trump had absolutely no plan for this war or its endgame. It is not clear at all as to whether or not their goal is to engage in regime change or not. It is not clear at all when they plan to end this war and what their goals are that will end the war. And it is very clear that they have no idea what the successor government will look like in Iran.

They are making this up as they go along in Trump's Oval Office. I know that because they clearly had no evacuation plan for the scared Americans who are now struggling to leave the region, many without answers still as to how they get out of the region. My office is doing everything we can to help Massachusetts residents who are abroad in the Middle East trying to get home. We are hearing that the State Department has no plan to help them. This is a dangerous and reckless approach to war, and these families do not deserve to be in the crosshairs.

I am pressuring the State Department to act quickly and decisively to help bring these families home safely. It is day 5, and it is unacceptable that they still do not have a clear plan in the Trump administration as to how to evacuate all of these Americans who are caught in this Middle Eastern conflict. There was no plan.

The best way to protect people in the region is to end this war and end it right now. President Trump is completely out of control, and Americans have already lost their lives because of it. We need to end this illegal and unnecessary war now, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen.

No war with Iran.

I yield the floor.