Floor Statements

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. President, I am so happy to come to the floor today to reopen the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs. These programs deliver more than $4 billion to thousands of innovative small businesses across our country every single year.

But for nearly 5 months, these programs have been shuttered. That never should have happened.

In September, I came to the Senate floor seeking unanimous consent to pass H.R. 5100, a bipartisan bill sponsored by the chairs and ranking members of the Small Business Committee and House Science and Technology Committee to temporarily extend these programs while negotiations continued. Unfortunately, my motion was blocked and the programs abruptly shut down.

As a result, the smallest SBIR and STTR companies were hurt. Important research and development was stalled, and jobs were lost.

While I am glad to have come to an agreement, I am disappointed at the suffering that was caused by the longest shutdown in the program's history.

But we did ultimately come to an agreement. That is what we bring to the floor here today.

More than 40 years ago, Congress created the SBIR Program to serve four purposes: one, stimulate economic innovation; two, use America's small businesses to meet Federal research and development needs; three, to foster and encourage participation by minority and disadvantaged individuals in innovation; and, four, to increase private sector commercialization from Federal research and development.

Ten years later, Congress created the STTR Program to promote collaborations between small businesses and research institutions.

And since the creation of the SBIR and STTR Programs, 33,000 American small businesses have won more than $77 billion in awards.

In my own home State of Massachusetts, more than $9 billion in SBIR and STTR funding has been won by more than 2,600 small businesses in Massachusetts. It has been the engine of growth out on our tech belt.

The SBIR, STTR Programs have been overwhelmingly successful in supporting innovative small businesses and their technologies. This is just great news here. Data shows that 60 percent of all awardees in the past 5 years are first-time winners. The SBIR Program has returned anywhere from $22 to $33 for every $1 spent by the program that is pushed into our economy. And through SBIR and STTR funding, small businesses have created cutting-edge lifesaving medical breakthroughs. In fact--this is an unbelievable number--one out of every eight FDA- approved drugs is linked to the SBIR and STTR Programs.

SBIR funding ultimately led to the creation of a drug to treat COVID- 19 infections, a medication that treats HIV infections, new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, a continuous glucose monitoring device for type 1 diabetics, and even the world's smallest heart pump--SBIR, STTR.

These programs have also led to the creation of technologies we take for granted, such as GPS, wireless communications systems, and even self-automated vacuum cleaners.

Simply put, the benefits of the SBIR and STTR Programs touch our lives far more than most people realize. It has unleashed a cornucopia of innovation that now is a part of every American family's lives, and we must keep this program funded and going.

The American people deserve to have access to the most innovative technologies. Our brave men and women who defend our freedom deserve to be equipped with the best available technology to keep themselves and all of us at home safe as Senator Ernst said. Our families and our friends who are battling illnesses deserve access to the most effective breakthrough treatments that innovation can offer.

For the Federal Government to continue investing in the most innovative technologies, SBIR and STTR funding must continue to be based purely on the strength of an idea, the best ideas our country has. That is the spirit of Darwinian paranoia-inducing competition, which is the heart of our system in our country.

So now, after 5 months of the programs' lapse, I am proud that the chair and I have negotiated a bipartisan agreement that does not automatically eliminate any small business from the program. Unlike previous proposals that would have automatically kicked out more than 50 successful small businesses across 20 States and severely curtailed hundreds of small businesses, this reauthorization would allow small businesses to continue innovating and creating groundbreaking technology for our country.

In an attempt to preserve quality proposals, this legislation requires each Agency with an SBIR and STTR Program to place a ceiling on the number of proposals that any small business can submit. The ceiling must be placed in one of three categories: one, a proposal limit per fiscal year; two, a proposal limit per solicitation; or, three, a proposal limit per topic.

This language provides Agencies the flexibility to administer these programs in a manner that best promotes innovation.

I recently met with Agency officials across the administration, including at the Pentagon, to ensure this language would not hinder the development of cutting-edge technologies to protect our country. I received assurances from the Pentagon--the largest awarding SBIR and STTR Agency--that the provision would be implemented on a per-topic basis and no company would be unfairly targeted. That means any small business can take their best shot at solving any problem the government--the NIH, the Defense Department--poses, and Agencies can secure the most innovative solutions.

I will continue to hold this administration accountable and fight to maintain the merit-based nature of these programs.

This reauthorization also includes several new improvements for the SBIR and STTR communities.

The bill retains the bipartisan 2022 foreign due diligence program, which requires Agencies to create a process to communicate with small businesses if they have been flagged for a foreign risk, and explicitly ends the blacklisting of companies. This transparency measure allows small businesses the opportunity to address any foreign risk they pose, likely unknown to them.

Two, the bill expands direct to phase II authority to the Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This will fast-

track clean and cutting-edge technology.

Three, the bill preserves STTR Program funding for universities and research institutions.

Four, the bill directs Agencies to train contracting officers so that SBIR-STTR technologies can more effectively transition to commercialization.

Five, it allows any unused fiscal year 2026 funding to be carried over so that no SBIR or STTR funding is lost as a result of the program's lapse. Therefore, that funding can be used next year.

Finally, the bill reauthorizes the program until 2031, giving some stability, some reliability, some certainty to small businesses, which they need after a tumultuous 5 months.

Throughout this process, I knew any agreement had to have broad support, and that is why it was so important to get input from all stakeholders and receive assurances from the implementing Agencies. So while this legislation does not include every improvement--I would like to see or make programs permanent--it is a bipartisan product that resulted from a negotiation between the chair and myself as the ranking member.

The agreement now immediately reopens the programs so that we can once again stake our position on the world stage, empowering our most nimble companies in our country and our nimble allies around the world in the innovation ecosystem to partner with our brilliant small businesses to make the technological breakthroughs to put us at the cutting-edge of world leadership.

I thank you, Mr. President, and I thank you, Madam Chair, for our work together.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today because, once again, the sitting President of the United States has threatened something antithetical to our democracy, something patently unconstitutional and unlawful, something that should give every single American pause. Donald Trump has now suggested that he might nationalize our elections. Trump has suggested that the Federal executive branch should take over elections, which, under our Constitution, belong to the States.

So let me be clear. This is not a policy disagreement. This is not a gray area. This is not a novel constitutional question. This is, flatly, outright, unquestionably, unconstitutional. The Framers could not have been more clear. Article I, section 4 of the Constitution places the times, the places, and the manner of Federal elections in the hands of the States, not in the hands of the President, not the White House, not in an Executive order. There is no clause in the Constitution or law on the books--none--that allows a President to commandeer State election systems--no emergency power, no implied authority, no ``because I just say so.'' The President's role is to faithfully execute the laws, not to rewrite the Constitution when the facts or the voters displease him.

Yet here we are. Donald Trump's dangerous threat rests on a familiar and thoroughly discredited premise that American elections are rigged, fraudulent, or illegitimate. That claim has been examined exhaustively and has been rejected everywhere it has been tested. State election officials--Republicans and Democrats alike--certified the results of the 2020 Presidential election. Courts across the country rejected claims of widespread fraud. Federal judges appointed by Presidents of both parties dismissed these cases for a lack of evidence.

There was no stolen election. There was no massive fraud. There was no justification, then or now, for the Federal seizure of elections. To suggest otherwise is not really wrong; it is reckless. And it is exclusively intended, ultimately, for the President to take over the elections in November of this year so he can rig the elections so that Democrats cannot win the House and Senate. That is what is at the heart of what the President is trying to do.

What is most alarming is not just that Donald Trump spoke those words, but that so many congressional Republicans have refused to say plainly what the Constitution requires. Silence in the face of an unconstitutional power grab is not neutrality. It is acquiescence to the undermining of the U.S. Constitution. Our system of government depends on elected officials who are willing to say no, especially to a President of their own party when the Constitution is at stake.

The Founders divided power deliberately. They placed elections close to the people. They rejected centralized control because they understood that democracy cannot survive when the Executive controls the ballot.

That principle is not optional. It is structural. It is foundational. It is what the Founding Fathers built into the system to make sure that we did not have a King, that we did not have a Monarch. They built it in this way so that the representative government would be selected at the local level, that the elections would be conducted at the local level--no taxation without representation.

They were fighting to create a House and Senate. They were fighting to put checks on King George. They were fighting to make sure that ultimately no latter-day King George--King Donald--could emerge that would then seek to impose his will on the people.

And that is why we have a Senate. That is why we have a House of Representatives--no taxation without representation--ensuring that each community, each State, has their own representatives selected in elections conducted by the voters in that State, by the leaders in that State.

And if the President were to attempt by order, directive, or coercion to nationalize or commandeer State-run elections, that action would be unconstitutional; it would be illegal; and it would be without effect. It would be a violation of the Constitution.

And let me be clear about one final point: Such a brazen attempt would not merely be unlawful; it would also be impeachable. A President who seeks to seize control of elections is attacking the constitutional order itself, and that is precisely the kind of abuse of power for which impeachment exists, not as a partisan weapon but as a constitutional safeguard against the usurpation of the electoral process in our

country by a would-be King, Donald Trump.

That is what they were protecting against. They anticipated, in drafting the Constitution, the emergence of Donald Trump, the emergence of someone who said we should nationalize the elections, the emergence of someone who said that he could invoke the Insurgency act in order to put marines--an army--on the streets of America during election times in order to serve the will of the President so that he would not have the checks and balances of the leaders of the other party being able to control the gavels to be able to subpoena him.

So in a moment, I will seek unanimous consent to pass my resolution expressing the sense of the Senate on these indisputable points. President Trump cannot nationalize our Federal elections. Our Constitution prohibits it.

Our Constitution was established in order to make sure that a President cannot subvert elections at the State level. And if he tried to, he would be committing an impeachable offense against the Constitution of the United States, and he would have to have been tried then in the House and the Senate on that impeachable offense.

This resolution draws a bright line. It affirms what should never need reaffirming, that elections belong to the States, the Constitution belongs to the people, and no President--ever--stands above either.

The Senate should speak with one voice on this question tonight. The Constitution demands the Senate speak with one voice tonight. Democracy requires that the Senate speak with one voice tonight, that it is an impeachable offense to nationalize elections which the Constitution requires be conducted at the State level.

So with that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 605; that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Reserving the right to object.

The objection we just heard to my resolution proves exactly why this resolution that we should be debating is absolutely necessary in order to ensure that President Trump does not, in fact, nationalize--or attempt to nationalize our elections.

And this unanimous consent request is not about the SAVE Act. It is not about voter registration policy. It is not about partisan election administration debates. It is about something far more fundamental: whether the President of the United States may unilaterally nationalize elections that the Constitution places squarely in the hands of the States. Those are separate issues and no amount of legislative deflection can change that.

The SAVE Act that the gentleman from Florida is speaking to right now is a policy proposal, one that many of us oppose because it would impose rigid documentation requirements, disenfranchise eligible voters, burden State election officials, and do nothing--nothing--to address a problem that does not meaningfully exist.

But today, the resolution I am bringing out is not about that legislation. It is about constitutional limits on Presidential power. No act of Congress--the SAVE Act or otherwise--would give a President authority to seize control of State-run elections. That power does not exist; it cannot be created; and it cannot be exercised by Executive fiat.

So let us not confuse the issue, and let us not allow anyone to dodge it. The President suggested nationalizing elections. That suggestion is unconstitutional; it is illegal; and if acted upon, it would be grounds for impeachment. The Senate should be able to say that clearly without diversion, without delay, and without changing the subject.

I urge my colleagues: Do not silence or allow procedural maneuvering to excuse an assault on the very Constitution itself, and that is what the motion from the Senator from Florida is intended to achieve, and therefore, I object.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor Patricia Harrison, president and chief executive officer of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as she concludes her service at the close of a historic chapter for public media in America.

Throughout her tenure, Ms. Harrison ensured that CPB's investments strengthened service to local communities and delivered lasting public value. In Massachusetts, those investments supported some of the Nation's most trusted and innovative public media organizations: advancing education, journalism, and civic engagement.

Under her leadership, CPB supported PBS LearningMedia, expanding online access to high-quality, free educational resources for students, educators, and families across the Commonwealth and the country. CPB also backed children's programming produced in Massachusetts that reflects both educational rigor and creativity, including Work It Out Wombats!, Ruff Ruffman, and Molly of Denali, helping young learners build critical thinking skills while seeing themselves reflected on screen.

Ms. Harrison also championed Massachusetts-based journalism and documentary storytelling that informs our democracy. CPB's support enabled nationally recognized programming such as FRONTLINE, American Experience, and NOVA, as well as impactful storytelling like ``My Home Is Here: Stories from Rural America'' and ``American Veteran,'' which elevate voices often overlooked in national discourse.

Across education, civics, journalism, and cultural storytelling, Patricia Harrison led CPB with integrity, accountability, and a clear commitment to the public interest. Her legacy is deeply felt in Massachusetts and across the Nation.

Mr. President, I rise today because the United States, once again, stands on the brink of a dangerous and unnecessary war, one that neither the American people nor the elected representatives whom they sent here to Washington have authorized and one that risks yet another endless conflict that will drain our coffers and cost American lives.

President Trump took military action against Venezuela without the express consent of Congress. The Constitution is clear: The power to declare war belongs to the people through their elected Representatives in Congress. That authority is not optional; it is not symbolic. It is actually a pillar of democratic accountability when it comes to matters of war and peace, to life and death.

The Senate has now spoken with a clear bipartisan voice: Trump must end his dangerous and illegal military action in Venezuela now. This Senate must speak with a bipartisan voice, especially if there is no prior congressional authorization. It must stop today.

If the Trump administration believes military force against Venezuela is necessary, the Constitution provides a clear and lawful path forward: go to Congress and make the case to the American people. If President Trump cannot make that case, then he has no business launching military strikes, killing civilians, and putting American servicemembers in harm's way.

Even after yesterday's classified briefing from ``Secretary of War Crimes'' Pete Hegseth, we all left with far more questions than answers: What will this unending occupation cost the American people? Why did the administration, led by Secretary Rubio, lie about regime change? Which is next: Greenland? Cuba? Colombia? Mexico?

But one answer is perfectly clear: the answer to the question of why Trump and Rubio did this. It is obvious. This is not a war for the Venezuelan people. It is not a war for democracy. This is an illegal war for oil. It is a coup for crude on behalf of big oil companies in our country. It is just like ``The Godfather Part I.'' Trump made Venezuela an offer it couldn't refuse. Capturing Maduro is the head in the bed. We are holding their country hostage for the foreseeable future until Venezuela gives up its resources. We are stealing their oil at gunpoint.

Trump told Big Oil CEOs that he would help them if they paid his campaign $1 billion just a year ago, and he has already given them countless tax breaks and nearly unlimited access to our public lands and waters, killing wind, killing solar, killing all-electric vehicles, killing anything that gets in the way of the agenda of the oil and natural gas industry in our country, and now--now--he is giving them Venezuela. We know he told oil execs before and after the invasion about his plans for Venezuela, not Members of Congress and not the American people.

He said to the oil companies: Get ready. Something is going to happen.

So the oil companies knew, but the American people did not. The President would not brief the U.S. Senate before the invasion. Secretary Rubio said that you can't trust the U.S. Senate, but they trusted oil companies to know; that they should get ready and that something was going to happen. On top of that, he is promising these very same oil companies that stand to get rich by selling the oil that they will get reimbursed by the American taxpayers whom they already charge through the nose for their products.

This war is not for the American people. It is for oil CEOs to profit off of instead of the American people. Chevron's stock? It is up. Americans' stock? It is down. Their bill will be paid by everyday Americans during the days to come as Trump tries to get us in a new war without end.

The Trump administration must immediately halt further military strikes in Venezuela, whether it is at sea or on land, and come to Congress if it believes force is justified. If President Trump cannot make his case to the American people and our elected representatives, then he has no business using military force and putting American servicemembers in harm's way.

So it is absolutely imperative that the Members of the U.S. Senate go on record. We are going to uphold our constitutional obligation before we commit our military to further operations in Venezuela. We must put them on record before they commit our military in Greenland. We must put them on record on the Republican side before our troops--our military--are committed in Cuba or in Colombia or in Mexico. This body must go on record. We must reclaim our constitutional prerogatives that are built into article I of the U.S. Constitution. That is the job which we must do, and that is what the American people expect from us.

Mr. President, I want to thank Dan Ohlstein for all of the great service which he has given to our country.

With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Daniel Ohlstein, a fellow in my office, be granted floor privileges for the rest of this month.

Mr. President, 5 years ago, Donald Trump incited a vicious MAGA mob to storm the U.S. Capitol with one goal: to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election.

Fortunately, Trump and his gang of violent extremists failed in their mission to undermine our democracy that day, but make no mistake, Donald Trump continues to bear direct responsibility for this disgraceful attack, an attack that forever scarred our political system and scarred our Nation.

We cannot, and we must not forget, what happened on January 6, 2021. That morning, my colleagues and I started the day in this Chamber, ready to fulfill our constitutional duty to ratify the electoral college votes that would elect Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States, a peaceful duty undertaken by Congress after every Presidential election since 1789.

But by the afternoon, the peaceful transition of power was obstructed by armed rioters sent to us by Donald Trump. Trump's vicious mob forced its way into the Capitol Building armed with firearms, bear spray, and baseball bats. The rioters beat U.S. Capitol Police officers with flagpoles bearing the American flag itself.

They blinded officers with chemical sprays. They smashed windows and caused millions of dollars in damage to our temple of democracy. They hunted for lawmakers in the Halls of this building. They called for the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence. For several hours, American democracy hung by a thread.

Those people came into this Chamber. They desecrated this Chamber. They went through the desks of the Members of the Senate here. They hung from the walls of this Chamber. They did the same thing to the House of Representatives. They were looking for House and Senate Members that they could capture.

And our Parliamentarians, they actually took the electoral college votes out of the well of the Senate and whisked them off to safety, and we thank the Parliamentarians for their courage that day.

The insurrection, however, resulted in the deaths of several of our officers here and injuries to more than 140 members of law enforcement, who were here trying to protect the Members, trying to protect the building, trying to protect the electoral college votes.

Just this morning, I spoke to a Capitol Police officer who stood shoulder to shoulder with Officer Brian Sicknick on January 6. He was with Officer Sicknick who collapsed in the Capitol after being assaulted by insurrectionists and, tragically, passed away the next day, trying to protect this institution, trying to protect democracy.

And to this day, the brave officers who defended Congress bear the scars, physical and mental, of that dark day. And thanks to these brave officers, the rioters were ultimately pushed out and lawmakers returned that night, as I could sit at this desk after 9 p.m. that night to return so that we could, in fact, ensure that Joe Biden was certified as the President of the United States, as the winner of the 2020 election. And democracy, though bent and battered and bruised, was not broken. That is what we are remembering here this evening.

But today, we confront something that perhaps is even more sinister than the heinous violence that occurred that day. Today, we face the systemic attempt by supposed leaders, by Trump and rightwing MAGA Republicans, to erase and rewrite the truth of January 6, whitewashing the violence of the riot and calling it a ``day of love.''

I invite everyone in this Chamber and across the country to watch the footage of that day, to ask the colleagues and families of those law enforcement officers who were hurt and killed that day if they see January 6, 2021, as a ``day of love.''

On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned the January 6 criminals en masse. He gave amnesty to the insurrectionists, rightfully charged with and legitimately convicted of assaulting law enforcement with dangerous weapons in this building as they protected democracy.

And as one of the first official acts of President Trump, as he came back into power in January of 2025, President Trump chose not to lower costs for the American people or to end Putin's war in Ukraine in 1 day, as he promised, and instead on his first day in office, Donald Trump chose to betray the brave law enforcement officers who protect us day in and day out. He chose to erase the crimes committed that day for his personal political benefit.

He chose to send the chilling message that political violence in his name would not only be condoned, it would be rewarded. Trump and his rightwing MAGA supporters hailed those who carried Confederate flags and symbols of White supremacy as patriots. That is gaslighting on steroids. The true patriots are our brave Capitol Police officers who fought on the frontline and held the line for as long as they possibly could. The true patriots are the Americans that stand up for democracy and speak out against authoritarianism. The true patriots are Americans who refused to bend the knee to wannabe Kings.

Trump will continue to lie about what happened here on January 6, 2021, but the video, the texts, the personal messages from that day do not. We all saw what happened that day. We all heard what happened that day. We cannot and we must never forget what happened that day.

January 6 was not an isolated incident. It was the first page in Trump's authoritarian playbook. It marked the start of Trump's sustained attack on our democracy, on the legitimacy of our elections, on our government institutions. In just the last year, Trump has unlawfully imprisoned international students for their speech. He has exacted revenge on his political rivals. He has deployed troops in our cities to do his bidding. He has ignored court orders. He has engaged in unauthorized and illegal acts of war. And now, Trump and MAGA Republicans have set their sights on the 2026 election.

They are rigging the system in their favor by peddling lies and misinformation, by enacting partisan gerrymandering schemes and by restricting access to the ballot for millions of Americans. Five years later, Donald Trump remains laser focused on sabotaging our free and fair elections in the United States of America. This President has no regard or respect for the Constitution. This President has no regard or respect for the rule of law. This President has no regard or respect for our most sacred values as a nation. He is testing our democracy day in and day out.

And in the face of this historic test, every American must denounce the actions of those who chose to subvert our Constitution on January 6. Every American must condemn those who continue to side with lawlessness and authoritarianism over the basic principles of American democracy, equality, freedom, and the peaceful transfer of power.

Every American must stand up and say no to this wannabe King. On the 250th anniversary of our country's founding, a founding that began in Massachusetts, on Lexington Green and in Concord with ``the shot heard round the world,'' we are once again saying we will stand up for democracy. Our future demands it. We ourselves must summon the courage to fight to protect a democracy that began 250 years ago. We must show the same courage to take on a king, a dictator, a despot in the same way that those minutemen and women 250 years ago displayed their courage.

Those great patriots, they did create a Constitution under which we live here, but that is now under assault. So it is up to us to stand up--and by the way, to redeem the courage of all of those police officers, all those law enforcement officers who gave their lives and their own personal health in order to protect this institution. That is what we remember today, and we must never forget it.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I was prepared to come to the floor today to seek unanimous consent to pass H.R. 5100, a bill to temporarily extend the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs until September 30, 2026.

However, because Senator Ernst is unavailable to state her objection to the bill, I have decided not to call for unanimous consent at this time.

I want to express my condolences to Senator Ernst, a combat veteran who served in the Iowa National Guard, for the tragedy in Syria that killed two and injured three Iowa National Guard members.

The bill I would have brought to the floor today would have re-opened the SBIR and STTR programs, which have been shut down now for more than 70 days. The bill was unanimously passed by the House, led by the Republican chairs of the House Small Business Committee and House Science Committee.

Since the SBIR and STTR programs closed their doors, I have heard from hundreds of small businesses across the country that are being forced to lay off employees, cease critical research, and may soon have to close their doors for good. Passing H.R. 5100 is not just a matter of policy; it is about whether small innovative companies can survive. This is the only real path that will immediately reopen this program while we continue to negotiate. Each day the program is shut down, the further behind our innovation economy falls.

The fate of this program lies in the hands of six negotiators: the chair and ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee, the chair and ranking member of the House Small Business Committee, and the chair and ranking member of the House Science

Committee. Five of these six negotiators agree that the best path forward is to temporarily extend the SBIR and STTR programs, to keep them running while we continue to negotiate reforms and a longer reauthorization. We have been working to try and find a path forward for a long-term reauthorization and will continue to do so, but we have yet to find a solution that does not irreparably harm innovative small businesses, nor have we found a solution that meaningfully addresses foreign due diligence concerns. The SBIR and STTR programs have produced technologies that have changed Americans' lives: the world's smallest heart pump, new cancer therapies, Alzheimer Disease treatments, GPS, and Qualcomm wireless communications systems.

I am disappointed that these programs have been forced to shut down, ending funding for the most cutting-edge technologies being developed by our most nimble allies, small businesses. I am disappointed that a company in Pennsylvania may have to cease scaling their patented brake technology due to the lapse in the programs. I am disappointed that a company in Virginia producing the next generation of energy technologies is being forced to put their research on hold until these programs are re-opened. And I am disappointed that a company in Texas must put its progress towards unlocking unprecedented spacecraft maneuvering for our Agencies on hold.

Just because we are unable to come to a long-term solution today does not mean we should decimate a critical part of our innovation ecosystem by keeping these programs closed. In May, I introduced a 52-page bill with my long-term vision for the programs. I want to provide small businesses with the certainty they deserve by making the programs permanent, ensuring we do not watch the clock hit zero like this again.

I want to increase how much Agencies are required to allocate for these programs to maximize our innovation potential. I want to strengthen our commercialization efforts through allowing direct to phase II authority for all Agencies, as well as better data collection, better training, and specifically designated commercialization officers. I want to increase the number of new entrants by reauthorizing and codifying new programs that aim to reach underserved populations. And, like all of my colleagues, I want to make sure that our technology never falls into the hands of our adversaries.

That is why I want to continue the bipartisan foreign due diligence program enacted in 2022, which has already successfully identified and mitigated foreign risk in its short period of implementation. If it were just up to me, I would want my bill to pass tomorrow. However, I understand that is not possible. That is why I have joined the four House negotiators in supporting a temporary extension while we figure out the long-term path forward that not only preserves our innovation ecosystem but supercharges it.

As a long-time champion of the SBIR and STTR programs, I will continue to fight to protect the innovation ecosystem and the small businesses that support it.

Mr. President, I rise to acknowledge the leadership of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of more than 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. As the 269th direct successor to the Apostle Andrew and the 270th Ecumenical Patriarch, he represents a centuries-old tradition of faith, service, and moral guidance that has shaped communities around the globe.

His All-Holiness recently visited the United States, where he continued a tradition of engagement with U.S. leaders. While in Washington, DC, he participated in meetings with bipartisan congressional leaders in the U.S. Capitol, reinforcing the long- standing friendship between our country and the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

While in the United States, His All-Holiness was honored with the Templeton Prize, joining a select group of global figures recognized for their spiritual vision and commitment to faith and leadership. His presence in our country highlighted both the continuity of Orthodox Christianity and the enduring need for moral and spiritual leadership in the modern world.

Mr. President, today, I rise in support of the legislation that is going to be considered here on the Senate floor tomorrow to extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits so that we can lower the healthcare costs for 22 million Americans.

Those Americans get that protection today. If the Republicans do not vote for that protection to be continued tomorrow, then 22 million Americans and their families are going to see a dramatic rise in their healthcare bills beginning the end of this year. This threat is looming over those families. It is 22 million Americans.

By the way, it is 10 million Americans who either own small businesses or work in small businesses. So we are talking about Main Street America. Ten million of the 22 million people actually work for small businesses in America, so for them, this is going to be a bill that they are going to be receiving in the mail. And we are talking Main Street America. We are talking Republicans turning Main Street into ``Pain Street'' for 10 million small business employees and owners.

Tomorrow is the Republicans' opportunity not to see this dramatic rise, this skyrocketing price, be passed on to them. It is going to be devastating to them. These are not rich people, these small business workers and owners. They go week to week. They go month to month. These aren't big businesspeople; these are small businesses. They are Main Street people, and they are about to get crushed. That is the vote that the Republicans are going to cast tomorrow.

It is going to lead to a $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, $10,000 a year increase in the premiums they have to pay for the coverage for their families. It is going to be devastating to those families.

The very fact that President Trump and the Republicans are only just allowing a vote on continuing these critical tax credits just 2 weeks before all these families have to make their decision--it is only 2 weeks to go, and then they have to send the check in to get the coverage for January 1. So the Republicans have waited until 2 weeks left to go.

In Massachusetts, it is December 23. That is the last day, and people have to send in the check to cover. It is 2 days before Christmas. Can you imagine 22 million families all trying to figure out how they are going to write that check for a dramatic increase in their healthcare 2 days before Christmas? That is what the Republicans are setting up across our country--22 million people who are all going to have this financial bomb go off on their kitchen tables. It is going to make it harder to buy presents. It is going to make it harder for these families actually to plan for 2026. And it is all because these Republicans aren't willing to do it.

Honestly, it just shows how unserious the Republicans are about addressing affordability for families at the kitchen table. The cost of living in this country is skyrocketing. And it is not just the healthcare bill for these 22 million people; healthcare across the country is skyrocketing--just skyrocketing. Instead of trying to deal with it, the Republicans are doing nothing--nothing--to solve the problem.

It is no surprise because the Republicans have harbored an ancient animosity toward all these Federal healthcare programs. The Republicans voted no on Social Security in 1935. They voted no on Medicare. They voted no Medicaid. They voted no on the Affordable Care Act. Today, they are trying to destroy the vaccine regime we have in our country. They are withholding by the billions research on cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, Parkinson's, and other diseases that need more research. They are pulling back the funding for that. That is what they are leaving as a legacy for families this Christmas in our country. Ultimately, health is the first wealth. That is what Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great Massachusetts poet, said. That is what the Republicans are now trying to loot on behalf of their billionaire buddies, because all the money is just going to be shuffled off to billionaires.

So this is without question just a continuation of their efforts. They tried to stop Medicare. They tried to stop Social Security. They tried and they failed to kill the Affordable Care Act. Now they are trying to eliminate the tax credits that help people afford their health insurance.

In Massachusetts, for example, it is 60,000 small businesses and their owners who rely on these tax credits to afford health insurance for themselves and their families.

Here is what Trump says. Trump says affordability is a ``hoax.'' He is saying to these families: What you are now saying is a hoax.

He has called affordability a ``con job.'' But the only hoax, the only con job is Trump and the Republicans repeatedly promising a cheaper alternative to the Affordable Care Act and instead offering nothing--absolutely nothing. That is where they have been.

The Affordable Care Act went on the books in 2010. For 15 years, they have been promising that they would have an alternative.

There used to be a television show, ``Perry Mason,'' and he was a lawyer. He always had very difficult cases, and in the final 5 minutes of each one of the shows, Della Street, his great associate, would show up with the critical evidence that would then solve the case.

Well, it has been 15 years, and we have been waiting for the Republican Della Street to show up with the paper, with the document that is going to solve this healthcare crisis that the Republicans, with crocodile tears, year after year say that they care so much about. And they are not going to show up with a plan.

There is a great play, ``Waiting for Godot.'' Of course, at the end of ``Waiting for Godot,'' Godot never shows up. And this healthcare solution that the Republicans have been promising for 15 years--it is not going to show up tomorrow. As a result, 22 million Americans are going to lose their coverage. They are going to have to pay exorbitantly higher prices for their healthcare coverage than they have to pay today.

So this week, Trump, in a self-grading exercise, graded his economy an A+++++. That is five pluses that Donald Trump gave himself. But I think

most Americans right now are giving him an F. Why? I will tell you simply. The cost of groceries is up. The cost of electricity is way up. The cost of housing is way up. The cost of healthcare, because of Republicans, is way up, and they are even going to complicate it more tomorrow.

They are going to have their own scarlet letter for the next year that they are going to have to walk around with--an ``H'' for healthcare--on their forehead, because they are just going to be branding themselves, as opposed to providing the healthcare for all these hard-working families across our country.

And when the backbone of our economy, small businesses, can no longer afford their premiums, they will make tough decisions about hiring, about growing, or even closing their doors for good--turning, again, Main Streets all across our country into ``Pain Streets.'' And it is all going to be in the mail in just the next 2 weeks, right before Christmas.

To me, it is almost unimaginable. It takes Scrooge, and it gives a whole new meaning to it in terms of what they are about to deliver as coal in the stockings of 22 million American families. They were expecting a lot more, and that is not what they are about to receive.

And so despite the fact that these costs are going up under the Trump administration, despite the fact that they plundered a trillion dollars from Medicaid, just back in July, to give a tax break to CEO billionaires, despite the fact that reckless tariffs are decimating our small businesses to the tune of $38 billion a year, somehow, OMB Director Russell Vought wants to fund the Department of Defense at more than $1 trillion. Pete Hegseth declared it would be the Defense Department's first trillion-dollar budget.

They are so proud. More nuclear weapons, more capacity just to blow up the whole world. They are very proud of that. They are very proud of the trillion dollars that they are now stealing from Medicaid, from the healthcare of every family that needs it. They are very proud of the tax breaks by the trillions that they are giving to millionaires and billionaires in our country.

But when it comes to just making sure people in our country, this Christmas, don't see a dramatic spike in the price of healthcare for them and their families, they are going: Sorry, I don't have any money.

And there is good reason. They are giving it to the Defense Department. They are giving it to millionaires and billionaires. Of course, they don't have any money.

Somebody has to pay for it, and the bill is going to be one that 22 million American families write to get their healthcare coverage for January 1, and it is going to be a skyrocketingly higher number than it was just this week.

So Donald Trump and his congressional Republicans, they just can't seem to find anything to help working families and grandma and grandpa, but they can find it for the billionaires. They can find it for the defense contractors.

And you want to talk about waste and fraud. Just look at the defense budget. You just look at it. It is just loaded with waste and fraud, but they aren't going to look there.

They are looking at the pockets of ordinary families in our country, and they are going to tip them upside down and shake the money out of their pockets, 2 days before Christmas, and make them pay more money in order to get the health coverage that their families need.

So the Republicans just care more about ``wealthcare'' than they do about healthcare. They care more about caring for the wealth of the richest than they do about the healthcare for every family in our country.

And at every opportunity, Republicans are looting healthcare from families and small businesses in order to pay for tax breaks for people who already have too much. They are robbing the American people, and they are asking the Democrats to drive the getaway car--that we should be voting to take away healthcare from ordinary families to pay for these tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.

But let me just say right now, the Democrats refuse to be accomplices to this healthcare crime of destroying Americans' lives and their livelihoods and their health.

The consequences are real, and they are happening right now. In the face of skyrocketing premiums, 10,000 people in Massachusetts have already dropped their affordable care coverage for next year. That is unbelievable. And there are going to be tens of thousands more who will be following them. That is just in Massachusetts. That is already double the number of residents who typically drop coverage in a year.

And in Massachusetts, they have 2 more weeks to figure out whether or not they can afford this healthcare coverage next year, and the same thing is going to be true in 49 other States in our country and in the District of Columbia.

They are going to have to decide if they are going to keep their coverage at all, and for those who do keep it, it is going to skyrocket. And we don't know yet the final number of how many people are trading their good insurance for junk plans that have cheaper premiums but also have unaffordable deductibles. But we do know that working families will suffer while billionaires rake in the dough with great healthcare. You never have to worry about the billionaires and their healthcare. They are, in fact, giving money to build new wings on hospitals--they have so much money--to make sure they and their families get the care they need at that hospital.

But it is going to be unaffordable for the families who are going to be left behind right now. Those families are going to be heading for emergency rooms. They are not going to be getting the kind of help that they need with their family's healthcare.

So Trump told families, last night, they should ``give up pencils'' to deal with his affordability crisis, but Americans just can't give up health insurance when these tax credits expire.

Who is going to suffer from Republicans' dogged opposition to lowering healthcare prices?

I am just going to tell you a few brief stories in Massachusetts-- people like Jeffrey. Let me tell you who he is. He is a small business owner who is seeing his premiums increase by $8,400 next year. His wife died of cancer a decade ago, and by the time she passed, his family's medical bills had topped $1 million. They would have been crippled by debt without the affordable care insurance policy, which they were able to receive through the ACA plan. But his bill is now going up $8,400. Jeffrey doesn't have that money.

Second is people like a couple out in Western Massachusetts, whose annual premium is doubling, from $15,000 a year to $30,000 a year. They are going to owe $1,000 more a month for their health insurance, which is going to be bigger than their mortgage. Do you hear what I am saying, Republicans?

For this couple, health insurance is going to double and be bigger than their mortgage. Is that really what you want to say to families across our country, when we have a plan in place already that protects them and gives them the healthcare which they need for their families?

I give you a third one, people like a small business owner in Auburndale, whose premium is more than doubling to over $19,000 next year, and she cannot afford what she calls a ``painful blow to my budget.'' So she is just going to opt for a cheaper plan with less healthcare coverage for herself. She shouldn't have to make that choice. We already have a plan in place that protects her. She shouldn't have to go down in the amount of protection which she is receiving.

And then we go to Jeff. Jeff lives in Natick, and Jeff has stage IV lung cancer. And Jeff right now pays $30,000 a year to get the drugs which he needs. Do you know where his bill is going to, as of December 31, in just 3 more weeks? I am going to give you a second to think about it.

His bill is going to $300,000 a year, and Jeff does not have $300,000 a year for his stage IV lung cancer drugs.

By the way, even as I am telling these stories, there are 22 million of these stories that are all about to unfold a couple of days before Christmas, when people have to figure out how big that new check is that they have to write to get the coverage which they need.

I will just tell you one final story, which is Laurie. She is from Truro. The premium for her and her husband is

going from $6,000 a year up to $26,000 a year. And Laurie and her husband can't get coverage through an employer and are a few years from qualifying for Medicare. So they are in kind of a black hole. They are going to be left out in no man and woman's land, OK. That is where they are going to be.

And they are going without insurance next year. That is the decision they are making. And they are hoping--they are hoping with fingers crossed--that neither one of them is going to have an emergency next year.

Well, that is the Republican plan for Laurie and her husband: Just cross your fingers. Pray that no healthcare catastrophe hits your family for a year--because they cannot afford $26,000 a year, up from $6,000 a year.

So the Republicans are asking Americans to trade their health insurance for hope, but hope is not a healthcare strategy. The only thing that gives hope to families is the actions that are taken to ensure that they have access to the healthcare which they need, and they are not going to take any action on the Republican side.

And so Laurie and her husband are just going to forgo health insurance next year because their $26,000 a year is just not affordable for them.

So I will just tell you, in conclusion, what Democrats are going to offer tomorrow. It is going to be a simple, straightforward extension of the healthcare tax credits these families depend on, so that families like this don't have to rely on hope alone.

And my Republican colleagues, they are going to have a different plan. Instead of lowering people's premiums, they are going to give everyone $1,000 for their healthcare expenses. And that sounds nice in theory, but you already heard the stories of the people who are, right now, trying to figure out what they are going to do on December 23, because they actually are not going to be allowed to use that money-- the $1,000--to pay for their health insurance premiums. They actually are not going to be able to use it for that purpose.

So how is this Republican so-called healthcare plan going to help someone who works in a hardware store, who owes $12,000 a year in premiums, and has a $7,500 deductible? How does that $1,000 help anyone whose premiums will be $19,000 next year? How does $1,000 cover $19,000, which would have been covered? How does that $1,000 help a senior couple paying more for their insurance than for their mortgage?

That is not a healthcare plan. That is a ``they don't care'' plan, and that is what the Republicans are offering them--a Republican ``we don't care'' plan for 22 million American families, 2 days before Christmas. That is their plan.

Their ``Make America Sick'' agenda does nothing to help the 337,000 residents of Massachusetts who are going to be confronting skyrocketing premiums next year--22 million people across the whole country. The only people that the Republicans' plan will help are the millionaires and billionaires who already have the money to afford their premiums, and, yes, their donations to Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans to protect those billionaire tax breaks.

That is their plan. The ticking healthcare timebomb that Republicans are setting off, that Democrats have been warning about all year long, is about to go off. In Massachusetts, you have got to write the check by December 23, and that check has to be written all across our country to make sure you are covered on January 1.

And this is as families are trying to get ready for their Christmas celebrations. There won't be any celebration in those homes. They are going to be trying to figure out how to balance their budgets. They are going to be trying to figure out how to deal with all that money that is now going to be spent for that healthcare that they did not have to spend this year.

So this is going to be an absolute disaster for families, and it is avoidable. And the Republicans can avoid it, but, instead, Trump and the MAGA Republicans have traded away healthcare for tax breaks for corporations. And it is the cruelty--the absolute cruelty--- of the Trump administration, which knows no limits. And just in time for the Christmas holidays, ``President Grinch'' is stealing medication from dad, inhalers for grandma, insulin for children, toys right out from underneath the tree.

So it is absolutely essential that we vote to extend the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. We must listen to the American people who are begging us to help lower costs. Tomorrow, we can do that on the Senate floor.

I implore the Republicans to vote to extend these tax benefits for 22 million American families. Please do it for them.

This is going to be terrifying for 22 million people. It is going to be a terrifying Christmas for these families, and it is going to be a terrifying reality next year, when they have lost their health insurance or they cannot afford their health insurance unless they do so at the expense of all the other things which their families need.

So we have to vote to avert this crisis. We need some Republicans to join us--not many, but just enough with a conscience this Christmas to make sure that they are protected.

I just close, once again, by urging my colleagues to vote yea on our bill to protect those 22 million families.

Mr. President, this past Saturday marked 50 years since the passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1975.

Before IDEA, children with disabilities were often institutionalized or excluded from classrooms, deprived of the support needed to achieve their God-given potential. IDEA changed that by guaranteeing every child, regardless of ability, the right to a free and appropriate public education.

The IDEA said that every child--every child--is worthy of reaching their full potential and that the Federal Government ought to provide the resources to make that possible.

Massachusetts, the birthplace of public education, first passed a State law, section 766, which established the high legal standard that would be adapted

and expanded federally as IDEA. I was proud to vote for that bill, section 766, as a State representative--one of my first votes in my career. That bill then became the law for the entire country.

In the decades since the IDEA became Federal law, students, parents, educators, administrators, and support staff have worked tirelessly to deliver the promise of a world-class education to millions of students with disabilities. But far too many students with disabilities are still waiting for their shot at a meaningful education.

The Federal Government committed to funding 40 percent of the cost to school districts of implementing the IDEA, but Congress has never fully funded special education. Right now, the Federal Government is only covering 12 percent of the tab, and that is unacceptable.

Now President Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon are threatening the very foundation of public education. They are slashing education funding, stealing from children to give tax breaks to CEO billionaires and millionaires. It is Robin Hood in reverse. They are trying to destroy the Department of Education. When the Department first opened its doors, fewer than one in three students with a disability graduated from high school--only one in three. Today, that number is over 70 percent of kids with disabilities who graduate from high school. But instead of fighting to make that 100 percent, Trump and McMahon are attempting to send education for students with disabilities back to the Stone Age.

In their ``Big Ugly Bill,'' Trump and the MAGA Republicans doing his bidding also slashed Medicaid, which covers over $8 billion of school- based health services delivered to students. Medicaid funding is the fourth largest Federal funding stream for public schools.

Two weeks ago, I visited the Campus School in Boston, which is a school for students with complex disabilities and extensive support needs. During my visit, I met Natalie, a middle school student, and her mom Julia. Natalie has Dup15q syndrome, which causes serious developmental, behavioral, and medical needs, such as frequent seizures. Natalie requires 24-hour caregiving support.

Natalie's story demonstrates how crucial the IDEA is and how devastating Trump and MAGA Republicans' cuts will be to families around the country.

In April of 2023, Natalie and her mom moved to Massachusetts to seek out a safe, accessible education for her, which she was not receiving in her home State. The implementation of IDEA and outcomes for students with disabilities vary dramatically across State lines. Now Natalie is receiving the support she needs to flourish. Her school has set up an individual education plan with goals for her academic achievement, occupational therapy, communication, and motor skills. Her home school district is able to access funding from the State of Massachusetts, the IDEA, and Medicaid to cover Natalie's educational costs.

Her school pays $18 million each year to allow students like Natalie to receive the highest quality and best-fit school placements out of district. In turn, her school receives $1.7 million from IDEA funding and $500,000 in Medicaid funds to offset those costs--around 10 percent. If this Federal funding is jeopardized, the school, Natalie, and her peers, their educators, and their families will have no idea how to continue providing the level of education that these students not only deserve but are legally entitled to.

That includes the nurses, the teachers, the occupational therapists, and the school staff who work with Natalie. It includes the assistive technology that Natalie uses to communicate. Federal health and education funding give Natalie her voice. It also includes the transportation that Natalie receives to and from school each and every day.

Natalie's disability does not preclude her ability or deny her the right to receive an excellent education. At school and at home, Natalie radiates joy because she is given the support she needs to flourish. Every student with a disability is worthy of that same support, inclusion, and joy.

Natalie's mom Julia, with whom I spent a couple of hours talking, is among the strongest amongst us. Natalie's mother navigates a world that is not yet designed for her daughter to thrive without ceaseless advocacy and effort. Yet Julia says what keeps her up at night is thinking of the thousands of children just like Natalie who don't have the extensive support that her daughter has. I will tell you that Julia needs that help. It is 24 hours a day. She needs that help that is going to be slashed.

There are millions of students across America who are still fighting for what Natalie has and what is promised by the IDEA: an education that allows them to thrive. Because of Donald Trump, Linda McMahon, and MAGA Republicans, that promise is moving further and further out of reach.

At the same time, the education that Natalie currently receives is under threat. Natalie, her mom, her teachers, her school administrators--they all want to ensure that Natalie receives a world- class education, but a vision without funding is a hallucination. If the Federal funding and protections backstopping education for students with disabilities stop flowing, as insufficient as they may be right now, we will see a nationwide regression. We cannot let that happen to Natalie or to any child in our country. They deserve our Nation's support.

As we look ahead to the next 50 years of the IDEA, our moral obligation to students with disabilities must not waver. We must, finally, fully fund the IDEA. We must forcefully reject the Trump administration's continued attacks on public education. Ultimately, we must make sure that every child in America--no matter what State they live in--is given the opportunity to excel and to thrive.

This anniversary is a call to action. Children are only 25 percent of our population, but they are 100 percent of our future. We must fight for them every single day. Natalie's is a story that all of us must be aware of.

Mr. President, I also rise today to oppose the effort to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to permanent, irreversible damage from the Big Oil industry.

This effort to overthrow the Biden administration's Record of Decision for the management of the Arctic Refuge through the Congressional Review Act process will sow chaos, create legal uncertainty, and put the refuge into limbo. But we do have some certainty. Republicans know this will put our last most wild place at risk. It will put the rare caribou, polar bears, and wildlife that call the refuge home at risk. The Gwich'in people have said over and over that it puts their way of life at risk.

But this vote would also put business and legal certainty at risk-- years of confusion, lawsuits, and paralysis all from this unnecessary resolution. And for what? This fossil fuel fiasco has been rejected time and time again by insurers, major banks, and oil and gas companies. They have said they won't finance development in the refuge. They are even paid to get out of leases. Two failed lease sales, one of which was held under President Trump, should have been the end of this political theater, but they persist. And even before drilling, any fossil fuel exploration in the refuge will leave scars that will last for generations.

Instead of tackling our affordability crisis, instead of fighting the climate crisis, instead of protecting healthcare programs or fighting for the needs of special education students, this is what Republicans want to work on--an attempted favor for Big Oil executives.

This CRA resolution would jeopardize the Arctic Refuge--the greatest intact wildlife refuge in our Nation. It would jeopardize our chance at a livable future, and it would jeopardize the Gwich'in people's way of life.

Our public lands belong in public hands. Yesterday, the President of the United States, with the auto industry of our country standing behind him, signed a new resolution saying that we are not going to try to increase fuel economy standards in our Nation. Do you know what the consequence of that is? They want to just put a big gas station up in the Arctic Refuge, and we will just start drilling for more oil because we don't want to make our vehicles more efficient. We are going to cede the future of all-electric vehicles

to the Chinese and just pull out of the race rather than compete with them. At the same time, they are saying we will drill; that we will drill for oil in the most precious part of our national public lands. It is an absolute disgrace.

We are a technological giant. To give up on our ability to be able to make these vehicles more efficient is a death sentence for the most precious and vulnerable areas in our Nation. It is completely and totally irresponsible, immoral, and it is going to wind up with scarred oilfields all across these refuges that, unfortunately, were completely and totally avoidable.

Yesterday, President Trump signed, in many ways, the death warrant for all of these precious areas in our country because he pulled out of the race to increase the fuel economy standards--where we put the oil in the vehicles that we drive.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, our dedicated Federal workers deserve to get paid, and I am glad this deal means that the government will reopen, that public servants will be returning to work, and that they will receive their paychecks, including backpay.

I am also pleased that this deal will prevent Donald Trump from further delaying SNAP benefits for hungry children, senior citizens, and families. Using hungry people as political pawns,

which is what Donald Trump has been doing, is disgusting.

But this legislation does nothing--nothing--concrete to lower costs or protect healthcare for millions of Americans from MAGA Republican attacks. There are 22 million Americans who are going to see dramatic increases in their healthcare costs at the end of this year, 22 million Americans who are going to be very concerned about the healthcare of their families.

I cannot support this deal. I cannot support a deal that does not say to those 22 million American families, including 337,000 of them in the State of Massachusetts, that we have not been able to reach an agreement here because Republicans refused to come to the table to talk about their healthcare costs that are about to skyrocket--and for many of those 22 million families, skyrocket out of the ability of those families to even have health insurance. This is on top of their housing bills, their grocery bills, their electricity bills--all of their day- to-day needs that are absolutely skyrocketing.

And, of course, if they can't already deal with all of those other bills, seeing those bills skyrocket thousands of dollars for their healthcare or tens of thousands of dollars for their healthcare, because of the Republicans' decision to kill critical Affordable Care Act tax credits, is going to be devastating for those families.

I have one constituent, Jeff from Natick, who, right now, because of the healthcare tax credits, has a $30,000 bill for his stage IV cancer drugs--lung cancer. If they expire, his bill is $300,000 a year. That is what we should be debating out here.

By the way, there are 22 million stories just like that one that are about to hit American families. This health insurance timebomb, coupled with deep cuts to Medicaid, will also be a brutal one-two punch which devastates community hospitals throughout the United States, leaving millions of Americans with reduced care or no care at all.

Here is what we have right now. Twenty-two million American families are starting to think about what is going to be on their table for Thanksgiving--just coming up in 2, 3 weeks for all of them. They are saying: We are losing the tax subsidies, the tax credits that help us to pay for our healthcare bills. So 22 million Americans will have that as their primary conversation this Thanksgiving.

The Republicans who serve in the House and Senate are not going to have that conversation because their healthcare coverage is going to continue.

What about those 22 million American families, this Christmas or this Thanksgiving, who are losing their benefits? What are the Republicans saying to them, because they are going to be scared? They are going to be angry that they will not be able to afford this holiday or any holiday in the future because their healthcare bills are just going to be going up by thousands--tens of thousands--of dollars a year, which they don't have.

Again, it is in the context of their electricity rates, their food costs, their clothing costs. Everything is skyrocketing for them, and they are not getting raises that will help them to pay for it--22 million American families.

Let me just tell you, I heard from Laurie in North Truro. The insurance for her and her husband is increasing from $6,000 a year to $26,400 a year.

Who can afford to pay more on health insurance? Who can afford to pay $20,000 more on their health insurance and just get the notice now that it is over on December 31, and have the Republicans just walking away from that problem for Laurie and for 22 million other Americans?

Now, they are going to have to decide: Do they take the funding from retirement savings or do they just do without other things in their families' lives, because $20,000 is a lot for a family who are not millionaires?

Millionaires don't qualify for this tax credit. It is just regular families. It is middle-class families. That is who qualifies. They just don't have 20 extra grand under the cushion that can pay for their health insurance.

This is a tragedy in the making and one that we can avoid. But let's not fool ourselves. Trump and MAGA Republicans have been shutting down the government since Inauguration Day--gutting Medicare, gutting Medicaid, gutting the Affordable Care Act. That was their big vote in the first week of July of this year, 2025--gutting, gutting, gutting, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act.

They have been committing the greatest healthcare heist in history, and it is all to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. They are looting the healthcare for middle-class families, poor families, in order to pay for tax breaks for people who already have too much.

The top three hedge fund managers in the United States have more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of our entire population combined. Think about that. It is that bottom 50 percent that qualifies for Medicaid, that qualifies for the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies. That is who we are talking about right now. Those are the people who are going to be most negatively impacted.

The American people want us to stop this healthcare heist. They don't want Democrats to be driving the getaway car with all of those tens of billions--hundreds of billions--of dollars which will just be transferred into the bank accounts of the wealthiest people in our country. So we should just be fighting for transformative policies to fix our broken healthcare system and bring us back from the brink of this crisis. That is what the American people want us to do. That is what they want us to fight for.

Even when it is hardest, even when we are in the darkest moments, we have to remember what we are fighting for. A better future is still possible, one where one missed medical bill won't lead to bankruptcy; a future where families don't have to choose between a prescription and a meal, a future where no malignant corporate greed in our healthcare system shutters hospitals and endangers patients, a future where universal healthcare is taken for granted and not taken away, a future where families can afford their healthcare and their rent and their electricity bills and childcare and to save money for college or vacation or retirement. That is the future that we should be fighting for, but the American people did not see that from the U.S. Senate yesterday.

So that is where we are right now. We are in the throes of a healthcare crisis wherein 22 million Americans this Thanksgiving will be at their tables--if they can even afford to celebrate Thanksgiving-- looking at tens of thousands of additional dollars, potentially, on their healthcare bills. It is a catastrophe looming.

The Republicans, so far, have refused to do anything about it. That is what we should be discussing. That is what we should be debating: How do we solve this problem? Instead, the Republicans are just punting this issue. They are absolutely ignoring the consequences for those 22 million American families.

So I will just say this: These families, they are scared. These families, they are angry.

But I will say this: In addition to those 22 million families, tens of millions of other families are angry for them. They are pissed that people are going to be victimized by having their tax credits just be pulled away from them for their healthcare bills, and then that healthcare is going to be unaffordable for them--22 million people and their families in our country. That is what we should be talking about here.

Now the Republicans, at the eleventh hour, are asking us to trust them that they will have a vote on extending the tax credits Americans rely on to afford their insurance.

Remember when, earlier this year, Trump promised, We are not going to touch Medicaid? Remember that? Trump said: We are not going to touch Medicaid. Four months later, he decimated it. Remember when Trump promised he would love and cherish Medicare? Then he slashed a half a trillion dollars from Medicare. How are we supposed to trust him?

So, to all of the Senate Republicans who are inclined to oppose a simple 1-year extension of the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits when a vote is held in December--credits that are hugely popular in both red and blue States--just remember that you do so at your own political peril. The American people are watching. They are

angry. They want to know who is on their side, and they are going to remember your vote. They are going to remember your vote if you do not solve this problem.

Thanksgiving is going to be the worst Thanksgiving ever for millions of families in their knowing that they are going to lose their health insurance, and the Republicans can do something about it. Unless and until they do so, then we are about to hit a healthcare tragedy that could have been avoidable and that the Republicans have, in fact, created.

This is a man-made crisis, and that man is the President of the United States, and the Republicans here on the floor of the Senate are following him blindly in a way that is going to result in harm to 22 million Americans and their families. So this is the moment. This is the time. This is the place. This is where people should be standing up to fight for those people.

Health is the first wealth. Health is the most important wealth. Without your health, you have nothing. You have nothing. Everything else is built on health--everything--and the Republicans are taking away that healthcare from 22 million Americans.

This is not the way to send families into Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is not the way we should be treating people. We are the wealthiest country in the history of the world. Yale University has made it very clear that 50,000 people additionally are going to die per year if all of Trump's healthcare cuts go into place. That is 500,000 people dying over the next 10 years if these healthcare premiums--Medicaid--are slashed. That is on this body. That is on this Senate. That is on the Republican leadership.

All I can say to you is that this is a mistake; it is a historic mistake; it is cruel; it is wrong; it is not what we should be doing to those who are the most vulnerable, to those who are the most in need in our country; and that is what the Republicans are about to perpetrate upon this country.

We are better than this. You can't have trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest and then say we don't have enough money for those who are the sickest. If you have room for a tax break only after you have taken care of the sickest people--the people most in need of healthcare in our society--that is when you have room for tax breaks for billionaires. The Republicans are doing just the opposite: First, tax breaks for billionaires; then we will see what is left over.

``Oh,'' they say. ``We can't afford healthcare for 22 million Americans. We can't afford to take care of their families because we don't have enough money.''

Why don't you have enough money? Because you gave the tax breaks to billionaires. You gave the tax breaks to billionaires. That is why you don't have enough money.

And who are you going to take it out on? Are you going to say, all of a sudden, with your green eyeshades, that you are really concerned about the Federal budget deficit? And are you going to take it out upon those who are the least healthy? to those most in need of help in our society? No. We are better than that.

So this is a historic mistake, but just remember that Republicans have always harbored an ancient animosity toward Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. They voted against all of those programs. Now, with Donald Trump, they have the ability to gut them, and that is what they are doing. That is what they are doing. When they have a chance to stand up and say, ``No. Let's be reasonable. Let's keep the healthcare subsidies, which are most needed,'' they are just walking away right now.

Donald Trump operates under ``The Godfather, Part 1'' rules. He gives them offers they can't refuse. And we saw that with Senators who tried to stand up to say: No. The Medicaid cuts are too deep. The Affordable Care Act cuts are too deep.

Trump just called them and said: Your career is over. You will not be a Senator again.

So now we are seeing the remaining Senators who are here who are Republicans, and they are just saying: Whatever you want, Mr. Trump, whatever Russell Vought wants at OMB, and whatever Stephen Miller wants, we will do. We are not going to have a negotiation. We are not going to sit down.

Before they cut the Medicaid and the Medicare programs back in July, did they negotiate with us? No, they did not. They refused to negotiate with Democrats at all. That is who they are. They saw their one opportunity to slash it once and for all.

All I can say is that we are in an incredible moment. The Republican House Members still are not back in Washington. They have been in a 6- week witness protection program. They refuse to come back to Washington. They refuse to sit down. They refuse to negotiate. So we are witnessing Robin Hood in reverse. We are seeing money taken from the poorest and given to the richest--that is what this is all about-- and what they are taking from the poorest and the middle class is their healthcare. It is their protection.

So, from my perspective, this is a mistake--it is a historic mistake--and it is a mistake that will come back to haunt the Republican Party at the ballot box next year.

With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I stand here today on behalf of the people of Massachusetts to say that we are angry.

We are angry that Trump and MAGA Republicans are doubling the costs for millions of Americans and that their healthcare bills are going to skyrocket when they promised lower prices.

We are angry that Trump and MAGA Republicans are stripping Medicaid from the most vulnerable people in our communities.

We are angry that Trump and the MAGA Republicans are making families with hungry children go to food pantries for their next meals and forcing families to choose between groceries and rent.

We are angry that Trump and MAGA Republicans are using public servants as pawns in their hateful, political games.

And we are angry that, during all of this, the Republicans have refused to come to the negotiating table.

The House of Representatives has been out for 6 weeks. They are in a political witness protection program across our Nation--refusing to come to Washington to sit down to negotiate on these issues.

Americans are counting the hours that are left to solve this healthcare crisis for them and their families. They are looking around for help, and they are looking around for hope, but they are all looking, instead, at cruelty, pain, fear. That is the agenda of Trump's MAGA Republican Party.

Last weekend, I met with Jeff from Natick, who is fighting stage IV lung cancer. He pays $35,000 a year for an affordable care healthcare plan--$35,000 a year. If he can't keep that insurance plan on December 31, he will have to pay $300,000 a year. Jeff does not have $300,000. That is about to hit him in about 7 weeks.

Barbara retired early to take care of her spouse with dementia. Her bill is going from $7,500 a year to $18,000 a year. She cannot afford that. There are 22 million stories like Jeff's, like Barbara's. There are 22 million of them who will be facing Thanksgiving and Christmas over the next 7 weeks, and there are no answers for them--22 million people. That is outrageous. These people are afraid, and they are angry.

By the way, we saw a lot of that anger come out on Tuesday night. They came out angry. They came out, out of fear, to vote. That is what happened. It is only going to build and build and build as each day goes by, and we cannot get an answer from the Republicans on how we are going to handle those people. How are we going to give them what they need for those families?

It is very difficult to fathom the abject cruelty of this President, who is happy to force Grandma to choose between paying for her prescription and paying for her heating bill, to force a caretaker to choose between being there for their parent with Alzheimer's or picking up an extra shift, to force a single mom to choose between paying for a checkup or paying for extra school snacks.

Since they took over in January, the Republicans promised that they were going to solve the healthcare crisis in our country, and all it has done is grow and grow and grow. Then they pass a bill to take away all of the healthcare coverage for all of these 22 million people and then transfer the money to billionaires in tax breaks. They swiped the healthcare of 22 million vulnerable people for billionaires.

Ralph Waldo Emerson--the great Massachusetts poet--said that ``health is the first wealth.'' MAGA Republicans and Trump have looted that wealth--that health--for those people. These people are angry, and they are afraid. They are afraid. They don't have the backup funding that millionaires and billionaires have.

Now, my father drove a truck for the Hood Milk Company. He drove a truck for the Hood Milk Company. I am his son. I believe that God created a world where every single person is able to receive the healthcare they are entitled to, to three meals a day, to put children through school, to keep them safe from illness, to give Americans dignity in tough times. Those are the families we are talking to right now. It is the milkmen. It is the workers in nursing homes. It is the children across our country who are going to see loved ones lose their healthcare in 7 weeks, and the Republicans refuse to come to the table.

Every American has a right to live in dignity in tough times. That is where we are right now. They are facing increases in electricity costs, in healthcare costs, in food costs, in clothing costs--in everything. We can solve at least the healthcare part of this issue right here. The richest Nation in the world can ensure peace and health and opportunity for every man and woman and child in our country.

We are the wealthiest Nation in the history of the world, and the Republicans are about to let 22 million of them lose their health insurance or see it increase by double or triple or, in the case of Jeff from Natick, 10 times--from $30,000 a year to $300,000 a year--and he is in stage IV lung cancer. And we are not even discussing this?

The House of Representatives is on a vacation for 6 weeks. Well, those 6 weeks--if you project them forward from now, we are talking about Christmas. That is what we are talking about.

What in the world is in the mind of Donald Trump that he would allow these families for the next 6 weeks to worry about where the coverage for their families is going to come from?

The very least we can do is extend the Affordable Care tax credits for one more year and provide some desperately needed relief for those who are struggling to get by, who need our help right now, who need the peace of mind right now.

Of those 220 Republicans in their political witness protection program across the country, they are going to have health insurance for their families. They don't have to worry this Thanksgiving or Christmas about the conversation that is going to take place.

All we are asking for is a vote to provide that healthcare for the next year for those families and reopen the government so the Federal workers can get paid and go back on the job. It is pretty simple. We are looking for any Republican anywhere to come and discuss it with us, negotiate it with us, and they just keep saying: No.

So this anger--this anger that people are feeling--these people are pissed off at the Federal Government. They are pissed off that they are losing coverage for their family members, and they want the Republicans to come to the table and solve this problem. What we saw on Tuesday night was the beginning of this anger being translated into action.

They asked an ancient Greek philosopher once: When will we know true justice?

And he answered: We will know true justice when those who have not been harmed are as angry as those who have been harmed.

Across our country right now, those who have not been harmed are angry on behalf of those who are about to be harmed--22 million people losing their health insurance, seeing skyrocketing health insurance premiums. These are families--42 million of them--without food stamps, without a SNAP program for nutrition for their families. People are angry, and they deserve an answer.

All we are asking for is 1 year so that we can negotiate this issue-- 1 year so we can give peace of mind to 22 million families so that they will know they will have health insurance after this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today in defense of one of the most sacred pillars of our democracy: the freedom of speech.

Last Saturday, President Donald Trump declared on social media that comedian Seth Meyers' jokes about him were ``100% ANTI TRUMP, WHICH IS

Mr. President, it is telling that the Republicans have objected with an unrelated bill. This is a classic Republican move. They are scared of supporting anything critical of Donald Trump, but they don't want to defend his actions at the same time, so they object and pivot to an unrelated issue. But don't be fooled. The Senate Republicans just blocked a resolution stating that it is not illegal to criticize President Trump. I am genuinely shocked that we can't agree that the First Amendment protects our right to criticize the President.

This is unfortunately an era where Donald Trump wants to be King, and too many in the Republican Party are allowing him to believe that is possible in a democracy with a Constitution and a First Amendment that guarantees the right of free speech and the right of freedom of the press.

I yield the floor.

Reserving the right to object, I agree with my colleague, for sure, that during a government shutdown, lawmakers should not be paid. That is why I am having my pay deferred during this period.

But the real answer to this shutdown isn't to withhold pay from lawmakers. It is for Republicans to stop holding the healthcare of Americans hostage for millions of Americans, including 337,000 people in my home State. It is for the House Republicans to return here to Washington. They are in a political witness protection program right now, back in their home States. They should come here and negotiate on these issues.

We are seeing the consequences of this Republican shutdown every day--reduced SNAP benefits, canceled flights, rising healthcare costs.

Enough already. Let's sit down. We can open the government and protect the healthcare of all Americans with one vote on the floor. My Republican colleagues are kind of twisting themselves into knots trying to use the shutdown to block my free speech resolution. That is ridiculous. We should have the vote on free speech.

Because of that, I object.

Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Kaine for his leadership on this issue, highlighting it, meeting on it, bringing it to the attention of the American public. The same thing is true for Senator Wyden and Senator Klobuchar.

Thank you so much for your leadership.

And I rise to join them in highlighting the devastating impact President Trump's economic policies are having on small businesses across our country. Small business owners are struggling in President Trump's economy.

Let me just say this: 97 percent of all the companies in America that engage in trade are small businesses, and those small businesses represent one-third of all trade that our country engages in.

They are not big companies. They can't buy a year or 2 years' inventory in advance. They live week to week. They live month to month. And that is pretty much where they have been since April. They have been trying to survive. They have been trying just to make it through this hectic, unpredictable, roller coaster of tariffs, which the President has been imposing.

And these small businesses, they are unbelievably struggling in this economy right now. Thanks to President Trump, just this year, electricity costs are up 11 percent. Food prices are up. The cost of coffee is up 19 percent this year. Bananas are up 7 percent. Beef is up 13 percent. The cost of healthcare for millions of small business owners will increase by an average of 114 percent.

This is going to be a massive hit on small businesses and small business workers if the Affordable Care Act tax premiums expire. It is going to be 10 million small businesses and small business employees in our country that are going to see a spike that is going to be dramatic for their healthcare.

And 42,000 jobs we have lost in manufacturing this year--42,000 down, not up--not as promised. And that is supposed to be at the center of his tariff policy? We are losing manufacturing jobs at an accelerated rate after Joe Biden increased manufacturing jobs.

And I would like to, again, really point out what a great job you have been doing, Senator Kaine, on this in putting a great big spotlight on all of this, because this is absolutely central to the economic well-being of our country.

So back in May, I introduced and tried to pass my Small Business Liberation Act, a bill that would have protected small businesses from Trump's tariff chaos, just saying: Get those 97 percent of all the businesses engaged in trade--the small businesses--get them out of this war. They can't survive that war. Big businesses, maybe, but not little businesses. They just can't do it. But the Senate Republicans blocked that proposal.

Then I did it again. Republicans blocked my proposal just to spare the small businesses, and, unfortunately, Republicans have not shown the courage yet on Trump's tariffs, just capitulation, as they do on so many other issues.

By opposing my bill and preventing those sensible resolutions from moving forward in the House, Republicans are allowing Trump to tax any good from any country for any reason--no rules. And the only reason is Trump doesn't have the legal authority to do that. He doesn't have the legal authority to do what he is doing right now.

Trump claims to have authority under a 1977 law signed by Jimmy Carter, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This law was so uncontroversial in 1977 that it was passed on a voice vote.

Now, can you imagine? Jimmy Carter is President. There is a bill that is going to allow Jimmy Carter to become a dictator, to impose tariffs on any country in the world, to jack up the price anywhere they want on any product, at any time; anything that ticks him off, including some little commercial about Ronald Reagan, and all of a sudden, boom, we are smashing you, Canada.

Does anyone here really think the Republicans and the Congress, in 1977, at the height of Jimmy Carterism, were giving him unlimited authority to be able to impose tariffs?

You know that did not happen. He doesn't have the legal authority to do this, and I can tell you because I was there on the floor of Congress when it happened in 1977. I know there was no debate on this.

And so that is what we are talking about right now. The Congress did not give Jimmy Carter King-like powers--I can guarantee you that--on a voice vote. But Trump, he thinks he can exercise these emergency powers and tax any import for any reason. Our latest emergency? It is a television ad, a Canadian-produced and featured audio of former President Ronald Reagan denouncing the tariffs. And, in retaliation, President Trump decided everyday Americans and small businesses should pay 10 percent more on imports from Canada.

It is very clear, Trump is just making all of this up. He is making it up as he goes along.

And, for Massachusetts, it is very important. Every fifth grader-- when I was in the fifth grade and all fifth graders in Massachusetts-- in the geography book there is one chapter entitled: ``Our Friends the Canadians.'' And why is that? Because they are our leading trading partner. It is only like a 3- or 4-hour ride to get up to Canada. It is who we are. We trade with them every single day. We do $10 billion of trade with Canada. That is whom we do business with.

And this 10 percent additional tariff, you know who it cascades down onto? The small businesses of Massachusetts. Ordinary citizens, they are going to be further crushed. That is whom we partner with.

And he knows he doesn't have this trade authority. Small businesses have had enough of Trump's illegal actions and have successfully challenged the tariff authority twice already. He lost in the district court. He lost in the circuit court. And next week, this case is going to be heard in the Supreme Court. So small businesses have already won twice, and now they are going for the final round in the Supreme Court, hoping that they won't engage in creative legislative history reinterpretation of that Republican unanimous vote in 1977 that allowed Jimmy Carter to become a King on tariffs.

So the President says it is ``enemies of the country'' who are suing him. If that is how you view Main Street in America--Kiwanians, Rotarians, small business, chambers of commerce all across the country--they are the ones bringing the suit and have already won twice and are now heading for the showdown on the Supreme Court.

For small businesses, this isn't about politics; it is about survival. And right now, Trump's tariffs are taxes for them. So far, it is $30 billion coming from small businesses that Trump then transfers into tax breaks for the wealthiest people in our country or for the Argentine Government, but it is not staying on Main Street. They are not getting the rewards for the work which they have done.

A small business in Massachusetts that designs and manufactures and sells outdoor recreation equipment told me that they have paid an extra $500,000 this year because of Trump's tariff taxes. Earlier this week, they received a $40,000 bill from imports from Taiwan. It is just a small business.

And, meanwhile, big businesses have CEOs meeting directly with the President and receiving generous exemptions.

It is Robin Hood in reverse. Trump is taking from hard-working, regular people, and he is transferring the wealth to the millionaires and billionaires in our country. It is absolutely economic craziness that the President is engaging in. He is punishing Main Street. He is turning Main Street into ``Pain Street'' in every single State in our country.

And that extra increase in the tariffs from Canada puts a special burden on Massachusetts and our small businesses, our workers.

So it is very clear this tax is not being paid by other countries. American small businesses pay the tax. Main Street is paying this tax. And President Trump is taxing food and clothing and toys and even tea. And as a small business owner reminded me, the last time there was a tax on tea, there was a revolution in our country that began in Boston.

Small businesses have no lobbyists, no Mar-a-Lago, no golden gifts for President Trump, no margin for error. There will be no invitations to the new ballroom, but I am not going to back down. I am going to continue to stand up for small businesses across the country, across Massachusetts, from red States to blue States, who are bearing the burden of these tariffs, and I hope that our Republican colleagues will join us today by voting to pass this resolution.

And, again, I thank you, Senator Kaine, for your leadership, and the same to you, Senator Wyden and to Senator Klobuchar. This is a very important moment in the economic history of our country.

I yield the floor.