Margaret Wood Hassan

Madam President, I am honored to recognize Shaun Sullivan of Hampton as September's Granite Stater of the Month for his extraordinary commitment to public service and nearly two decades of work supporting vulnerable children in Rwanda.

Shaun's commitment to serving others began in New Hampshire. After attending Lakes Region Community College to learn about fire science and emergency services, he served as an on-call firefighter in Merrimack. He then spent a decade fighting wildfires across the country, including 6 years on a specialized ``hotshot crew'' in California and as an Alaska smokejumper that tackled the biggest and most severe

wildfires. And during his off seasons from firefighting, Shaun went to Rwanda, often staying for months at a time.

Shaun first traveled to Rwanda in 2008, eager to experience another culture and find a meaningful way to help others. When he returned in 2010, he began teaching English to adults and looking for an opportunity to volunteer with children. Through local connections, Shaun was introduced to Ubaka U Rwanda, a home for homeless children. Many of the children had experienced profound hardship, and the home offered them the stability and care they needed to build a brighter future. Shaun quickly became part of the family, spending his days tutoring the children, playing soccer, cooking and sharing meals, and helping children with their studies. He has now traveled to Rwanda 17 times, forming relationships that have lasted for years and watching children he once knew grow into adults with careers and families of their own.

Over the years, Shaun has worked tirelessly to raise money and build a community of support for Ubaka U Rwanda. His early fundraising efforts in California included organizing running challenges with fellow firefighters to raise money and awareness for the home. Since returning to New Hampshire, Shaun has continued raising money with the support of members in his community. His dedication has inspired others to become personally involved, with fellow New Hampshire fire fighters, friends, and family members traveling with him to Rwanda and some returning year after year. Shaun now holds his running fundraiser in Rwanda, completing most of a marathon himself before running the final miles alongside the children he has worked for years to support.

Today, Shaun continues to serve as a firefighter in Portsmouth while returning to Rwanda each year. Nearly two decades after his first trip, Shaun remains committed to raising awareness and support for Ubaka U Rwanda so that the home can continue providing vulnerable children with a safe place to grow and thrive. Shaun's compassion and commitment to serving others both at home and abroad are why I am proud to name him September's Granite Stater of the Month.

Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Cassidy and Senator Wyden for the colloquy we just heard because we do need to tackle a number of challenges in the Social Security system.

The most important job of government is, of course, to keep people safe. And increasingly, some of the most constant threats that Americans face are scams and identity theft.

There has been a sharp rise in identity theft and online scams, including the theft of Social Security numbers. Identity theft is more than an annoyance; it can cost people their savings, jeopardize their credit, and more.

This is a danger that we need to take seriously, just as we stopped highwaymen from menacing people on our streets, we similarly must stop the outlaws of the digital age from preying on our people.

Unfortunately, even as criminals steal Social Security numbers, their victims, ordinary Americans, feel as if they have no one to turn to for help. It is not as simple as finding a police officer on the corner to retrieve a stolen wallet or purse.

Criminals have modernized their methods. So the U.S. Government must modernize its response too. That is why I have introduced a bipartisan bill with Senator Grassley. Our bill would streamline the process for victims of identity theft to get help when their Social Security number is stolen, giving Americans a single point of contact at the Social Security Administration so that they can get the help that they need.

When someone's Social Security number is stolen, when they are at risk of losing their hard-earned Social Security benefits, they deserve better than to have to navigate a never-ending maze of hold times and transfers as they try to find someone within the government who can help.

This bill is only one step in the work we have to do to fight scammers, but it does mark a commonsense step that Americans from across the political spectrum can certainly get behind. This legislation will help keep more Americans safe, combat fraud and abuse, and makes our government work better for the American people.

Families are already struggling enough right now with high costs. They deserve to be able to keep the money and benefits that they have earned without being threatened by online criminals. And when they are threatened, they should have access to a straightforward and prompt process to get help.

Now, the House has already passed this bill on a strong bipartisan basis. So I hope that we can send this legislation to the President today.

Mr. President, therefore, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from further consideration of

H.R. 5345 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made laid and upon the table.

Mr. President, I appreciate the efforts of the Senator from Texas to get legislation that we have passed here passed through the House of Representatives.

But I think it is really critically important to understand that while he is in these negotiations, people's identities are being stolen, people who need their Social Security benefits are going without as they try to navigate a complex and outdated Social Security system.

It is high time that we pass this bill. I am disappointed that we weren't able to send this bill to the President today. I understand the concerns of the Senator from Texas, but I really do think this is urgent for our people. I hope that my colleague from Texas and I can work together in a bipartisan way to get this over the finish line soon.

Madam President, I rise today to speak about a broken promise, a promise that the President made to the country when he took office.

Time and again, the President promised that ``starting on day one'' of his administration, he would ``end inflation''--his words. A year and a half into his term, it is clear that the President not only has broken his word but that he disdains the very notion that he should even try to make good on his pledge.

Now, for the vast majority of Americans of all ages and walks of life, of all political stripes, costs aren't a partisan thing, and it is simply clear: It costs more to be an American with Donald Trump as President.

Part of why I am speaking today is because, as a new Joint Economic Committee minority report details, American life has become more expensive under this administration. As of June, in my home State of New Hampshire, the average Granite State family has had to pay an additional $4,400 for goods and services since President Trump took office. This toll is exacted from virtually every part of everyday life.

In Donald Trump's America, when a person wakes up and starts their day, they now drink coffee that costs around $10 a pound, a 25-percent increase since the President launched senseless trade wars, launched without the support of the American people.

After they finish their coffee and drive to work or to drop their children off at school, they do so in a car that now costs more to fill up every time they stop at the pump. Each Granite State family has spent $596 more on gas, in fact, since President Trump launched his reckless, illegal war against Iran--a war he launched without a plan to win.

Now, let's say our typical American has a doctor's appointment that day. Assuming that they are able to afford health insurance, they will receive care covered by a plan which premiums rose as much as 50 percent under President Trump. Why? Because the President let Affordable Care Act insurance premiums surge.

And at the end of the day, the average Granite Stater returns to a house or an apartment that is also more expensive, as families in our State have so far spent $1,108 more on rent or mortgage payments since President Trump started his term--all because the President refuses to address our country's housing crisis.

And after my constituent gets home and goes to pick up her mail, she opens another electric bill. Electricity has gotten so expensive that people in New Hampshire have had to pay $194 more so far this year than last year because the President caused a worldwide energy crisis and canceled clean energy projects.

Next on the list, my constituent goes into the kitchen to make dinner, where--you guessed it--the ingredients cost more than they did before Trump took office. Granite Staters paid $310 more for groceries last year than they did the year before.

So what has been the cost of the Trump Presidency, a Presidency where food, healthcare, gas, rent, and more have all become more expensive? The costs can be summed up by the figures in this report, but it can also be put more simply. For many in our country, the cost has been nothing less than seeing their chance at the American dream fade before their very eyes.

A year and a half into his Presidency, my Republican colleagues are making excuse after excuse for the President's failure to address the American people's basic needs. They need to stop--stop trying to advance the fiction that the President cares about lowering costs or perhaps is trying to lower costs but is getting some bad counsel from his advisers. If the President actually wanted to help the American people, he would listen to them. He would hear that this economy isn't working for them and, for some, well, it is breaking them. If he cared, this man who was supposed to understand the economy, as well as the hopes and dreams of the American people, would acknowledge that he needs to take action to lower costs. And even if he doesn't care, if this President believed that, in America, Presidents are accountable to the American people, he would be working to make life more affordable.

But this President neither cares nor thinks he is accountable to anyone other than himself and perhaps his billionaire backers. Just consider, he has attacked and dismissed anyone who says that there is a problem at all. He has called inflation a ``hoax'' and dismissed the cost-of-living crisis as--his words--``made up.'' He says this despite the fact that virtually every American of every political perspective-- at least those who live outside the splendor of Mar-a-Lago--knows that American life has become more expensive under President Trump.

So when the American people say that their costs have gone up and the President dismisses inflation as a ``hoax,'' is he saying that American families are lying? Is he suggesting that they should not believe their own eyes, their own understanding of math, when they look at the numbers at the cash register or at the gas pump? Because it is one thing not to solve a problem for American families; it is quite another to essentially say that the American people are lying.

What have American families done, what have the people who gave the President the privilege of serving in the highest office in our country done to have their biggest challenge, their greatest anxiety and fear dismissed by the President as a ``hoax''?

Should we be surprised that a President who incited a mob to storm the Capitol and tried to overturn the voices and votes of the American people dismisses yet again what they have to say? Maybe the President would be more inclined to help the American people if they were a little less decent and a lot better connected. After all, this is President Trump's Washington, and we know well who this President is. He will save one of his corrupt campaign donors asking for a pardon, but he won't lift a finger to save American families a dime on their groceries.

And so I return to the President's promise. When he sought our country's highest office yet again, Donald Trump told the American people to put aside his corruption, his self-dealing, his poor character, his willingness to fan the flames of division and extremism, to forget the way he disrespects our veterans. He wanted us to even forget the attack on this Chamber, to forget the scars of the Capitol Police officers, forget all of this and more because he said he would bring down costs.

And now he is dismissive and contemptuous of anyone who asks him to make good on his pledge. He even undermines my Republican colleagues when they do try, in good faith, to lower costs. He actually threatened to block a bipartisan bill to bring down the cost of housing, a law that we were eventually able to pass.

Now, Donald Trump has made himself very, very clear. His Presidency will be defined not by lowering costs for families but by raising monuments to himself.

It doesn't have to be this way. The American people, right now, want an American dream that they can afford, a dream that doesn't belong just to a privileged few, a dream that is bigger than self-dealing, kickbacks, and self-enrichment schemes in the gilded rooms of Mar-a- Lago. The dreams of the American people aren't focused on golden luxury trappings. Their dreams are less gilded than all of that, but they are also far more noble.

Americans want their children to live better lives than they did; with quality, affordable healthcare that can help them rest easier at night; a decent education for their children; a place to build not a gilded ballroom but a home--a home in a country where we don't live fearing one another, divided over politics, but instead united as freedom-loving Americans who know that we are lucky to live in the greatest country on Earth, who love this country too much to ever hate our fellow Americans and who won't let the miracle of self-government die--not in the service of one man's ego, not for anything.

The American people want an America that is as good as this Nation's promise. They deserve a President whose word is as good as our people.

I yield the floor.