Floor Statements

Mr. OSSOFF. Mr. President, I rise today to commend the service and bravery of the hundreds of Georgia Forestry Commission personnel, volunteers, and paid firefighters who worked to suppress wildfires that ravaged over 50,000 acres in south Georgia this year.

Since April, these fires forced hundreds of families from their homes across south Georgia. Combined, the Highway 82 Fire and Pineland Road Fire have destroyed over a hundred homes.

State officials have said both fires are now fully contained, thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of the Georgia Forestry Commission. Hundreds of volunteer and paid firefighters have been working around the clock to stop these devastating fires to protect our communities.

Since 1921, the Georgia Forestry Commission has provided leadership, service, and education to protect and conserve Georgia's forest resources, including defending our State from over 2,300 wildfires annually. These firefighters have now added another chapter to this proud legacy, defeating these unprecedented fires with professionalism and dedication under the leadership of GFC director Johnny Sabo.

With gratitude for their service, as Georgia's U.S. Senator, I recognize and

commend these Georgia Forestry Commission personnel, volunteers, and paid firefighters for answering the call once more on behalf of the State of Georgia.

Mr. President, I don't know if you saw, but a study last year found that Members of Congress traded more than $600 million in stock, including stocks connected to committees upon which Members sit.

Members of Congress are playing the stock market, buying and selling shares in companies that Members of Congress directly regulate. Members of Congress have access to privileged and confidential and classified information. Members of Congress make decisions that send stock valuations up and down. And all the while, Members of Congress are playing the stock market.

We have made some progress in recent years to advance a ban on Member stock trading, but the bipartisan bill we passed successfully through a major committee just in the last year appears stalled. It seems that the Senate majority is intent on blocking legislation that would ban Members of Congress from trading stock.

But this is not a controversial issue among the American public. We could go to any town, any county in Georgia and ask anybody of either political party or no political party ``Should Members of Congress be playing the stock market while we make legislation?'' and overwhelmingly, the answer would be no.

The American people want Members of Congress to stop trading stocks. The American people are sick and tired of this corruption. In fact, this may be one of the most unifying issues in our deeply divided country.

So let's take action right now, today. We can pass this resolution. It is very simple. It says that starting on January 1 of the new year, no U.S. Senator can trade stocks or cryptocurrency. Those will be the rules of the Senate. I know there is a range of ideas about how to implement that.

Let's set this clock right now. Let's come together, Democrats and Republicans, and do what is right and pass this Senate rule that beginning in the new year, there will be no trading of stocks or crypto by U.S. Senators.

The time for debate and excuses and delay and obstruction must end. There will always be some reason not to do this. But the American people see through those excuses and demand action.

Let's pass this resolution and ban stock trading by U.S. Senators.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 784, prohibiting Members of the U.S. Senate from buying or selling publicly traded stocks or cryptocurrency effective January 1, 2027; that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I commend the Senator for having placed her portfolio in a blind trust. I am one of the few to have done the same. I think it is the right thing to do.

If we adopt this rule right now, which will ban stock trading by Senators effective the first day of the new year, we will have the time to finish the work of writing the legislation to implement this. But it is not going to happen unless we set this deadline for ourselves because there is always some reason that keeps being suggested not to do this. In fact, I offered this same language in the Rules Committee, and it was blocked on a party-line vote.

It is time to ban Senators from playing the stock market, period. If we adopt this rule today, we set for ourselves a deadline of January 1 to work out the details. But I assure my colleague--with regret--that if we do not set this deadline and adopt this rule today, there will always be more excuses and more delay, and the confidence of the American people in the integrity of this institution will continue to plummet.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I join in mourning Martha Zoller and send my deepest condolences to Martha's husband Lin, to her children and grandchildren, and to all who knew and loved her.

Martha was a respected stalwart of Georgia's civic community, an accomplished broadcaster, and a formidable activist. Whether on her radio show at WDUN, advising elected officials, running for Congress herself, or serving on the State board of education, Martha dedicated her life to service, family, and faith and will be deeply missed by all her life touched.

May Martha's memory be a blessing.

Mr. President, I have a motion to commit at the desk.

Mr. President, instead of slush funds for criminals and corrupt ballrooms, let's do something useful. Let's ban insurance companies from denying or delaying medically necessary healthcare to Americans.

My constituent Ellen lives in Atlanta, and a few years ago, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer. But not only did Ellen have to battle cancer, she had to battle her insurance company too.

Ms. Ellen told me ``for a corporation to have a finger on the button of your life is ridiculous. They have their minds on profit margins, I just want to be healthy and alive.''

Thankfully, Ellen's cancer is now in remission, but across America insurance companies continue to deny and delay medically necessary healthcare. A vote against this motion is a vote to allow insurance companies to continue denying needed healthcare to the American people.

I urge my colleagues to vote yes.

Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?

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

I call up my amendment No. 4897 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. President, think of the retired Georgia teacher who had paid over $100,000 into a cancer policy, only to be diagnosed with cancer and have her insurance claims denied.

Think of the Monroe County mother of three diagnosed with cancer who needed a liver transplant, was told she had 6 to 12 months to live, and had to fight her insurance company because her claim was denied; or the thousands of Georgia children who have had their claims for needed healthcare denied.

This amendment will ensure that this legislation prevents insurance companies from denying or delaying medically necessary healthcare for the American people.

Let's pass this amendment and protect Americans' healthcare.

Mr. President, I hear procedural excuses in defense of insurance companies. Americans deserve the healthcare they need, and pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, I move to waive all applicable sections of that act and applicable budget points of order for the purposes of the pending measure.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Vote on Motion

Mr. President, I support voter ID. Indeed, the State of Georgia has voter ID. It is only reasonable that eligible voters should prove their identity. I will not support a half-baked partisan ``gotcha'' amendment cooked up with no serious deliberation, no committee hearings, no bipartisan consultation, no input from State and local election officials, where the stakes are potential infringement of the most sacred right at the core of our constitutional Republic.

Mr. President, yet again, Senator Murray offered the measure to fund critical Agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, and yet again, the measure was blocked by the Senator from Alabama. As I urged last week, I urge the Senate to adopt this measure and fund these Agencies.

Mr. President, I support the measure offered by Senator Murray to appropriate funds for the Transportation Security Administration, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and other Agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. I regret that this measure was blocked by the Senator from Alabama and urge the Senate to pass the measure.

Mr. President, child trafficking in Georgia and nationwide is a crisis and one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. In my State, the Georgia Department of Public Health this year reported that more than 370 girls are trafficked in Georgia every month--370 girls every month.

It is every parent's worst nightmare. I have got two young daughters at home, and I know that there is no more fundamental question for any human being than, Is my child safe?

That is why here in the Senate, despite whatever differences and divisions we might have, we have to work together to protect children from trafficking. That is why Senator Grassley and I, together, have authored the Preventing Child Trafficking Act to strengthen prevention, investigation, and prosecution of child trafficking crimes and to ensure that prosecutors and law enforcement officials work together with those who provide supportive services to victims and survivors because too often the children who have endured this crime and this trauma fall through the cracks and are targeted and victimized again.

Now, the Government Accountability Office is one of the top Federal watchdogs, and its investigation found that this failure of prosecuting and enforcement authorities to work with those who provide services to victims leaves American children at risk in Georgia and across the country.

We have also found, through congressional investigations, that something that sounds simple--law enforcement working with those who serve victims--is essential to protecting children.

That is why Senator Grassley and I have written this bill to solve this problem to protect children in Georgia, in Iowa, and across the country.

So I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation because there is nothing more important than protecting children.

Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 1049 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that bill be read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 1510 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, in the summer of 1962, in Albany, GA, an effort was underway to desegregate the city, and a young woman named Marion King, participating in those efforts, carrying in her arms her 3-year-old daughter and 5 months pregnant at the time, was brutally beaten for demanding the desegregation of Albany, GA. That was July of 1962.

Just this week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced that the Cold Case Records Review Board, whose purpose is to investigate civil rights cold cases--the beatings, the killings and lynchings, the intimidation; cases that were never investigated and never solved, especially in the Deep South, especially in the State of Georgia during the civil rights movement--that review Board will soon release the full investigative files from the beating of Marion King in Albany, GA, in July of 1962.

There is no expiration date on justice. And Mrs. King--who was a Spelman College graduate, married to a prominent Albany civil rights organizer, Slater King--she still deserves justice, and the work of the Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board is helping take a step toward justice in this case.

In 2022, Senator Cruz and I worked together to pass into law a bipartisan bill that extended the work of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board, this vital work pursuing justice in cases that were swept under the rug, some of the most brutal crimes in our Nation's history targeting Black Americans in the American South in the Jim Crow era and during the civil rights movement. We passed that bill in 2022.

I am grateful for the unanimous, bipartisan support of the Senate tonight in passing the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act. The Senate has just passed this bill, which Senator Cruz and I, again, have offered to continue this vital work pursuing justice in civil rights cold cases.

As divided and bitter and hateful as American politics is today, for the U.S. Senate--Democrats, Republicans, and Independents--to stand together with one united voice demanding justice for the victims of these civil rights crimes is a much needed breath of fresh air.

We must continue working for justice for these victims, for these survivors, for these families--especially the families of those who were killed--and continue our work to safeguard civil and human rights in the United States.

Mr. President, what is an American supposed to do who loses health insurance in the middle of chemotherapy?

That is the question confronting one of my constituents right now, a Georgian who wrote in to my office. She is a woman in her early sixties, who is in the middle of a breast cancer fight. She waits tables for a living.

If Republicans allow these Affordable Care Act benefits to expire, her premiums will go up by hundreds of dollars, and she says she will have to cancel her health coverage. She needs chemo monthly to fight her cancer. What is she supposed to do?

Or there is my constituent with diabetes, who just had major surgery for another health issue, just a few months ago, and told me that, when she learned that this Congress might let these tax credits expire, she cried. She cried not for herself; she cried because she feared that others would die as a result of this policy choice.

Then she got her own insurance quote for next year: hundreds of dollars higher than she is paying now. She is a diabetic, in Georgia, who just had major surgery, who says she, too, will have to cancel her health insurance. She cried again when she got that insurance quote because, suddenly, she feared that she might die--she might die.

What is she supposed to do?

Another constituent who reached out to my office this week is a single mother who relies on medicine that, if she is not insured, will cost her $80,000 per year without insurance. Her premiums are about to go up by hundreds of dollars. She, too, says she probably will have to cancel her insurance. What is she supposed to do? How is she going to afford medicine that costs, without insurance, $80,000 per year?

The whole conversation about these Affordable Care Act tax credits in this town, in this building, has been focused on the politics of this issue. This is life or death. People will die.

This is one of the most consequential votes this Senate will take all year. By saying yea or nay to the clerk of the Senate later today, Senators will decide whether people live or people die. Senators will decide whether Georgians and folks across the country are financially ruined or have a shot.

Half a million Georgians, it is projected, will lose their coverage altogether. More than a million more will see their premiums double or worse. This is a choice. What is the point of having all of this power if you won't use it to help people?

I remember, just a few weeks ago, Members of this body wrote into a funding bill half-million-dollar payments to themselves.

Do you remember that?

But our own constituents who stand to lose their health insurance in the middle of a cancer fight--what are they supposed to do?

My constituents cannot afford this, and some of my constituents cannot survive it.

I urge my Republican colleagues to put the politics aside and vote to extend these tax credits for the health of our constituents.

Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate and honor Rev. Byeong Cheol Han for concluding years of ministry, service, and leadership to the people of Georgia at the Korean Central Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, where he served as senior pastor for the last 16 years.

Reverend Han's journey in ministry began when he emigrated to the United States in 2002 to pursue his theological studies at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, later obtaining his master of divinity. Following his education, Reverend Han became the associate pastor for the Korean congregation at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Wayne, IN.

Beyond his work at the pulpit, Reverend Han has utilized his voice to advocate for human rights, ensuring the most vulnerable are heard and supported.

In 2021, following the tragic Atlanta spa shootings, Reverend Han stepped up amidst a time of need and great fear within the Korean American community, organizing memorial efforts, comforting grieving families, and championing efforts to protect against anti-Asian hate.

Reverend Han has also worked to expand his church's reach and impact around the world, building church facilities in Central and South America, visiting Ukraine to aid victims of war, providing earthquake relief efforts in Turkey, and assisting in the construction of a grain mill and providing mosquito nets across Africa.

As Georgia's U.S. Senator, I congratulate and commend Rev. Byeong Cheol Han and First Lady Sunji Yang for this esteemed milestone and for their years of devoted service to the State of Georgia.

Mr. President, the Senate remains at an impasse over the renewal of soon-to-expire health insurance premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. Americans' health insurance premiums will skyrocket in 2026 unless the Congress acts to renew these subsidies. Time is running out to solve this problem. The enrollment period for next year's insurance plans opens in just 9 days. The Trump administration's intransigent refusal to work across the aisle to negotiate a solution has resulted in the ongoing government shutdown.

During this shutdown, military servicemembers, air traffic controllers, and TSA employees are among those who simply must come to work despite the lapse in congressional appropriations. They should be paid for that work. That is why today I voted to proceed to consideration of S. 3012, the Shutdown Fairness Act, sponsored by the Senator from Wisconsin. Senators from both parties should work together to ensure payment of military servicemembers and others in critical roles, including controllers, TSA workers, and those working at Georgia's CDC. Debate of this bill should include an amendment process to improve the bill, including by limiting the President's unilateral authority to determine which Federal workers are paid and which are not. Such authority could be abused by an executive determined to pay favored Federal workers and deny disfavored Federal workers pay without regard for congressional appropriations.

Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate and honor Rev. Dr. William E. Flippin, Sr., and First Lady Sylvia Taylor Flippin for their 35 years of ministry, service, and leadership at the Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA.

Throughout their nearly four decades of service at ``The Grove,'' Rev. Dr. Flippin, Sr., and First Lady Flippin have showcased distinguished leadership and a steadfast commitment to uplifting members of the Greater Piney Grove congregation and Georgians at large.

After leading Springfield Baptist Church in Greensboro and Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Locust Grove, both of which were founded by former slaves, Rev. Dr. Flippin, Sr., took the reigns as senior pastor of the Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church in Atlanta in 1990 and quickly became a catalyst

of upward change for the church, its congregants, and the community.

Since being named senior pastor of ``The Grove,'' Rev. Dr. Flippin, Sr., and First Lady Flippin have led transformational work inside the church. Under their leadership, the church has inaugurated a family life center, a 1500-seat worship center, a community resource center, and established the Grove's Gardens at East Lake Senior Living Community.

Beyond his devoted work at the pulpit, Rev. Dr. Flippin, Sr., has served as a mentor to many and as a leading advocate for education. During his time as assistant director of Black church relations for the Georgia Baptist Convention, he was responsible for the organization of Baptist Student Unions at colleges and universities across Georgia and the management of ministerial scholarships. In 2024, the State of Georgia honored him by naming the bridge on Glenwood Avenue crossing Interstate 20 in Atlanta as ``The Reverend Dr. William E. Flippin, Sr. Bridge.''

Originally from Nashville, TN, Rev. Dr. Flippin, Sr., holds a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics and business administration from Fisk University. He graduated cum laude from Candler School of Theology at Emory University with a master of divinity degree, honored as a Benjamin E. Mays Fellow and recipient of the Fund for Theological Education scholarship. He furthered his education with a doctor of ministry degree from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL, and is certified as a Life Transformational Coach and Leadership Coach Trainer.

First Lady Sylvia Flippin, a graduate of Vanderbilt University and holder of a master's degree in education from Georgia State University, served as a mathematics instructional coach for the DeKalb County Board of Education. The couple have four children: Rev. Dr. William Edward Flippin, Jr., and his wife Kedra Flippin; Rev. Dr. Richard Curtis Flippin; Rev. Joseph Charles Taylor Flippin; and Miss Sylvia Joi Flippin. They are also grandparents to Shamel Emani and Khloe Kristina Taylor.

Rev. Dr. Flippin, Sr., and First Lady Flippin's 35 years of ministry and service to our communities have been of thoughtful leadership both inside and outside of the church, and they have touched the lives of many Georgians along his journey.

As Georgia's U.S. Senator, I congratulate and commend Rev. Dr. William E. Flippin, Sr., and First Lady Sylvia T. Flippin for this esteemed milestone and for their continued service to the State of Georgia.

Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Duckworth, I call up amendment No. 3466 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. President, Senator Duckworth has an amendment that warrants bipartisan support.

Secretary Collins had announced earlier this year his plan to fire 80,000 personnel at the VA. Amidst public outrage, he has backed off that plan. We still don't know his intentions for mass firings in this coming fiscal year. All this amendment does is ask for a report on what the impact will be on the

provision of timely care and benefits for our veterans. So this is not a partisan or a political matter. If there are going to be significant reductions in force at the VA, we should know how it affects veterans' benefits.

I urge a vote for Senator Duckworth's amendment.

I would just note, if that is the case, the Department can make that clear in their report.

Vote on Amendment No. 3466

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

Mr. President, the Senator from Alabama offers an amendment that would require the VA to submit a report on the implementation of staffing models, and that is sorely needed. And I rise in support of this amendment.

We saw Secretary Collins initially say he wanted to fire 15 percent of the VA workforce--80,000 people--with no explanation. Then he demolished morality at the VA so that 30,000 people quit. Now he says he is not going to fire 80,000 people. He fired most of the new hires, probationary workers, many of them veterans, until that was held up in court. None of this is supported by any kind of analysis or assessment of how it would impact wait times or the provision of service for veterans.

So I appreciate the Senator from Alabama for wanting to hold the administration accountable.

I urge a ``yes'' vote to the amendment.