Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize George Castro, who is retiring from the Senate after nearly 40 years on Capitol Hill-- a truly incredible contribution to this institution. George first started with the Architect of the Capitol in January of 1985 and has been faithfully contributing to the Senate ever since.

Nowhere is this more true than on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where George has worked since November of 2003, almost 22 years ago. George's immense love for the work of the committee shone through in everything he did. Behind every successful committee hearing, markup, and event, there was George. He kept things running seamlessly, focusing on the details that were easy to forget, but certain to be noticed if missed. He did these things with a genuine and intentional kindness that is often in short supply, amassing a remarkable community of friends and colleagues along the way. Too cold in the hearing room? Emergency ice order for a retirement party? Incorrect name plate at a hearing? George could take care of it. He could count on his network to go out of their way to help him because he has spent a career going out of his way to help them. Staff can attest that when walking down the halls with George, he is often greeted by name from those who pass by--Senators, staff from across the Senate, the nurses from the health center, the sound engineers at the Senate Recording Studio, Capitol Police Officers--I could go on.

My staff and I were lucky enough to have George's steady hand to help show us the ropes when I took over as chair of the committee in 2023, and I know the other chairs he worked for must have felt the same. That includes eight other committee chairs in addition to myself, Republicans and Democrats: Senators Stevens, Cochran, Byrd, Inouye, Mikulski, Shelby, Leahy, and Collins.

In addition to his many other contributions, George has been known to regale committee staff with stories and lessons from some of the Senate's most pivotal moments in recent decades. He is also well known among his friends and colleagues for his love of travel and history and excellent taste in books, film, and the fine and performing arts. We will miss his many excellent recommendations along with his steady presence and positive attitude.

On behalf of all of the past Senate Appropriations Committee members, my colleagues, and staff who were lucky enough to work with George, I want to thank him for his immense contributions to the Appropriations Committee and the Senate. He will be greatly missed, but we wish him all the best for the adventures ahead.

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

Mr. President, over the past month, we have seen a wave of righteous outrage across the country in response to President Trump's completely lawless move to disappear hundreds of people to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador, without even the barest semblance of due process.

And as I join my colleagues in calling for the Trump administration to abide by the Supreme Court ruling and facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia--a man they said in court was sent to El Salvador by mistake--I have to emphasize that his case is one of many where Trump has completely shredded our norms and laws.

In addition to Garcia, Trump sent off some 200 people, including innocent people who were in our country legally, to a foreign prison without any due process whatsoever, and they did it all on the basis of some arrangement negotiated in secret and paid for with millions of taxpayer dollars.

What we do know is that many of these people were sent there without any criminal conviction. The administration actually admitted that. In their own court filing, the Trump administration acknowledged that many of these people have no criminal records in the United States, and yet all of these people have now been imprisoned in a foreign country with no end date in sight.

Unconstitutional doesn't even begin to cover that.

There are so many questions--basic questions--about this that we all should be demanding answers to. At the barest, smallest, slimmest minimum--and I mean as a starting point--the administration must release more details about this secret agreement where it is paying El Salvador with our taxpayer dollars to imprison people without a trial-- details like:

Who all is being imprisoned? How long is El Salvador holding these people with Trump's orders? How many people is El Salvador going to imprison under this agreement? What outside contact is possible for those people? And how do we learn their status and condition? Are they alive? Are they healthy? What are the details?

Most of the details we do have are from reporting, and news reports say the deal was only for El Salvador to take convicted criminals. So why did Trump send people with no criminal record?

And, importantly, where in the world is this money coming from? Does anyone here remember voting to pass a single dollar in appropriations to fund a torture prison in El Salvador? Because I sure don't, and the last I checked, Congress has the power of the purse.

Do you know what else we don't know? We still don't know the names of everyone they did this to. Think about that. We don't have their names. That information should be released immediately--today--because there are families who still have no confirmation where their loved ones are. And the only list we have right now was not even released by the administration. It was reported by the press. Some families only learned their son was gone, their husband was gone, their father was gone through photos of them being marched into a torture prison. This is the first, last, and only update we have had on just about all of those people.

We do not know if they are alive. We don't know if they are being treated decently. We don't even know if they have been moved. Even their lawyers can't reach them.

Here is what we do know, though: There are many names on the El Salvador list of people who were here legally who had no criminal record. That seems to be getting lost in the debate for some of my Republican colleagues. This is not about any one case or any one person. It is about a lawless system for the President to deny due process. And when you cut out due process, you put innocent people in harm's way.

I heard one of my Republican colleagues say last week:

I don't see any pattern here.

Well, I ask him now, and I ask everyone now, to pay attention to the full picture because, of course, you won't see a pattern if you just look at one case and you ignore the many, many others.

There is the case of Andry Hernandez Romero. He is a barber who came here legally. He has no criminal record.

There is the case of Arturo Suarez Trejo. He is a musician. He came here legally. He has no criminal record.

There is the case of Merwil Gutierrez, who--you guessed it--came here legally. No criminal record. In fact, he was apparently grabbed by mistake. One officer reportedly said: No, he is not the one. And another said: Take him away anyway.

Trump sent them all to a maximum security prison in El Salvador with no trial--disappeared. They have no contact with their lawyer, no contact with family. We do not know if they are alive, and they don't know if anyone is even advocating for them--how hopeless that must feel, how dark.

So is that enough of a pattern for my Republican colleagues? Do you still need more? Because there is also Jerce Reyes Barrios. He is a soccer player. He came here legally. Again, no criminal record.

There is Gustavo Aguilera, a food delivery driver. Legally here, no criminal record.

Or Anyelo Sarabia--here legally, no criminal record.

I mean, how many more before my colleagues can actually admit this is a pattern? How many people have to be disappeared with no due process before it becomes a problem?

Because, for me, one is too many, and the pattern isn't even over yet.

Trump was reportedly ready to disappear even more people to El Salvador before the Supreme Court put its foot down. In this latest round, the Trump administration was preparing to disappear a man who came here legally and had no record, except a traffic violation. Another was a young man accused of being a gang member because of a photo with a toy water gun. That is the level of so-called evidence that gets you locked away in a foreign torture prison under President Trump.

And I will keep saying it. Most of the people they disappeared have no criminal records, and many were even here legally.

They came here for a better life, and Trump disappeared them based on nothing more than tattoos that say ``mom'' and ``dad,'' or that celebrate soccer teams or a daughter's birth or autism awareness.

And I realize I keep hammering home that many of these people are not criminals and that many of these people came here legally. But I do want to remind my colleagues that this question is not whether someone who has vanished to El Salvador without a trace is good or bad. The question is whether everyone in this country, including American citizens, have the rights they were promised in our Constitution? At the end of the day, it is not about who these people are; it is about who we are--whether we are a country of due process or not, a country of laws or not.

Trump has said where he stands. He literally said: We don't have time to give them due process.

If the Trump administration thinks that someone is a criminal, if they are really bad and dangerous, prove it in court. Prove it. Just simply prove it. It shouldn't be hard. That is how this works. Everyone in this country understands that. You can't just say: Criminals don't get due process when due process is how you determine who is a criminal in the first place.

I mean, in the case of one person they sent to El Salvador, not only did the government's file against him show no criminal record, but it also got his name wrong several times and used two different identification numbers. Those are pretty major errors to make when you are locking someone away, the kind of errors that due process helps to avoid.

That is not some theory. We are seeing it happen in another case right now. There is a couple that Trump is saying is part of a gang. But instead of just disappearing them with no trial to speak of, the administration was forced to prove it--to prove it in court. And do you know what happened? The government failed. The judge found the government's claims completely and wholly unsubstantiated and ordered the couple to be released.

That just goes to show, if we ignore our laws, if we tear down the guardrails that saved that couple, it is not criminals who pay the price; it is innocent people, because due process protects them too.

Due process allows us to confirm whether people are lawfully present. Due process lets us confirm whether Trump is about to send them to a foreign prison. Due process lets us confirm whether people are guilty, instead of going off how they look or what tattoo they may have. And at the end of the day, due process means they get an actual determination of guilt or innocence, instead of getting disappeared with a question mark.

But no one here was told they are facing x years in a foreign prison. There is no end date in El Salvador because there was no sentence, because there was no trial. There was just Trump ignoring our laws, ignoring our courts, and sending people to gulags to rot and die and never be heard from again.

How can anyone ignore that outrageous breach of our laws, of our values?

And as a coequal branch of this government, I want to impress upon my colleagues: It is not just due process that is getting trampled here; it is basic checks and balances.

Trump is imprisoning these people under the Alien Enemies Act. He is using a war power. We are not at war. Everyone here should know that. After all, Congress--we--have to vote to declare war.

I remember every war vote we have taken in my time here in Congress, and I can tell you there has never been a vote on this so-called war Trump declared all on his own.

As if that weren't enough, earlier this month, the National Intelligence Council--the National Intelligence Council--determined that Venezuela is not directing an invasion by gangs. That directly undercut what Trump claimed when he announced his illegal end run around Congress.

Here is the simple question for everyone. There is no invasion. There is no

war. So why is Trump invoking a wartime authority?

But add on top of that that Trump has reached some secret, multimillion-dollar deal to pay El Salvador to imprison these people without a trial.

I am vice chair of the Appropriations Committee. I can tell you, we did not include a single cent, not one penny, for running torture prisons in El Salvador in our last funding bill.

Congress has the power of the purse, but Trump is picking our pockets to fund his own personal gulag.

And, by the way, while we talk about checks and balances, let's not forget how the Trump administration is arresting judges. His allies and advisers are attacking judges publicly and calling to impeach those who disagree with him.

And, of course, Trump is blatantly ignoring the courts. And worse than that, the White House is in open defiance of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court wrote: The administration must facilitate Mr. Garcia's release.

The White House wrote that he is never coming back.

The Supreme Court wrote: People being targeted under the Alien Enemies Act must have a reasonable opportunity to file for habeas corpus.

The Trump administration said: No. We will give them 12 hours.

Foreign policy is not an end run around the courts or the Constitution. The President cannot just be given unilateral authority to cut completely unethical deals with foreign nations.

What happens when a President negotiates in secret to have his political rivals detained abroad? Is that allowed? Can he argue the courts can't require him to call such a deal off? Or maybe he just denies it and says any agreements are state secrets. Does that work?

If President Trump said he would pay El Salvador $6 million to assassinate his rivals, I think we would all agree that that is blatantly unconstitutional. And if the court said he had to facilitate the reversal of that deal, and he said, ``Well, it is a sovereign nation; I can't stop them from assassinating anyone,'' I think we would all have a huge problem with that.

So do we want to say that is wrong now, or are we going to have to wait until he tries it?

What are we waiting for? We cannot just all stand by silently as the President pries open a Pandora's box that is altogether unprecedented and that poses a direct threat to our Republic. And let's cut through this BS where Trump and El Salvador are both trying to pretend there is no way to facilitate the return of people sent there wrongly.

Here is the thing: El Salvador has already sent back people that Trump tried to disappear. El Salvador immediately sent back a Nicaraguan individual, and they sent back women--yes, Trump tried to disappear women to their all-male torture prison in El Salvador. If anyone wants to try and pretend this was some careful vetting process, please explain that to me.

It is not like El Salvador can't send people back. They have already done that.

The administration should be making clear, one, these people were wrongly sent, and, two, that as with others wrongly sent, they need to be returned.

Though I want to keep in mind, of course, that ``wrongly sent'' is still kind of an understatement. The reality is, these people were completely denied due process. The reality is, President Trump is not just disappearing these people to El Salvador, he is disappearing our most basic constitutional rights, and he is doing it in plain sight, not just in El Salvador either, right here in America.

His immigration crackdown is upturning lives and overturning some of our most basic values like freedom of speech. We have people who are here legally who are being detained and threatened with deportation, not for any crime, not for any violence, but for speech, for protest, for things as simple, as fundamental, as writing an op-ed the administration disagreed with--in America, the land of the free and the land of free speech.

Is dissent the bar for deportation now? Is that what this country has come to? What next? How far does Trump's new standard apply? Can you get deported for saying we shouldn't invade Canada? Can you get detained for an op-ed saying Greenland is not going to be a State? Are you going to have legal status revoked for admitting Biden won the 2020 election? Because this seems outrageous, but it seems perfectly in line with Trump's new policy which amounts to ``disagree with the President, your rights are gone.'' That is fundamentally un-American.

And beyond people who are being targeted for protest, there are thousands of students in this country that Trump is trying to push out over minor issues: fishing citations, jaywalking, speeding tickets, even charges that were dismissed. So far, some 1,800 foreign students are having their visas revoked with little to no explanation, to say nothing of due process. And that includes students in Washington State, my home State, at U-Dub, Gonzaga, Shoreline Community College where I once worked, my alma mater, WSU, and more. It is not clear whether these students have done anything wrong, and it is not clear, in some cases, what exactly they are supposed to do next because when the administration can't revoke visas, it has been trying to remove students' records, something courts have already ruled against.

One of the judges really put it best. I want to read this and quote it to you:

I've got two experienced immigration lawyers on behalf of a

client who is months away from graduation, who has done

nothing wrong, who has been terminated from a system that you

all keep telling me has no effect on his immigration status,

although that clearly is BS. And now, his two very

experienced lawyers can't even tell him whether or not he's

here legally because the court can't tell him whether or not

he's here legally, because the government's counsel can't

tell him if he's here legally.

The point seems to be, if we can't deport you, we can scare and confuse you. And to add even more confusion, DOJ announced they were reversing course on some of this only to then say they are still working on a plan to push out all these students.

By the way, we are only still scratching the surface of just how inhumane Trump's immigration crackdown has become. Trump is slashing funds to ensure 26,000 migrant kids have legal assistance, meaning more 4-year-olds are being marched in front of immigration judges expected to make their own legal case with a plushy toy.

Trump is also trying to mass cancel protected status for people who came here who were fleeing harsh conditions and dictators. Trump is sending Christian refugees and women back to live under the Taliban where they will face near-certain persecution.

Trump is sending ICE officials to elementary schools where they tried to gain access by lying about having permission from parents to speak with their kids. ICE officials are arresting people with maximum violence and lawlessness, showing up without judicial warrants, since the Trump administration says it is fine to storm into some someone's house without one; showing up in masks, grabbing people off the streets without any badge or identification to distinguish them from a kidnapper; whisking people away in unmarked cars and even smashing windshields.

Back in my home State of Washington, I heard from folks who saw that firsthand.

Last month, ICE aggressively detained Lelo, a farmworker in my State. And it appears he may have even been targeted because of his advocacy for better working conditions for his fellow farmworkers. They are still denying him bond despite no criminal charges.

I spoke with his wife last week who watched in horror as they arrested her husband shortly after he dropped her off at work. She told me through tears about how officers broke his window and pushed him against the car and how Lelo wants to be free so he can take care of his brothers and sisters and work so they can study. He wants to continue doing his work with the community and with the union. And they are working right now to try to get bond, something I strongly support.

This is not someone with a dangerous record. It is someone with a record of hard work and trying to make his community better.

Skagit County is known for its agricultural industry. That industry does not survive without the immigrant farmworkers who help power that local economy, period. More than that, we

are talking about many families who have been here for decades. They are part of our community. They are not just the people who feed this country, these are people who work hard. They followed the law. They should not be terrorized as if they were violent criminals.

Last week, I met with farmworkers there who told me there have been days they have been afraid to go to work because an unmarked vehicle was seen in their neighborhood. They are absolutely terrified of being grabbed off the street by ICE and locked up with no semblance of due process regardless of their legal status.

And this situation is not unique to Skagit County or even to my State. It is happening across the country. Let's not forget, Trump is trying to deport a cancer researcher to Russia where she fears retaliation for protesting the war in Ukraine. Sending her away would both put her in danger and completely upend groundbreaking cancer research. Her colleagues say her role is irreplaceable.

But it is not just cancer research. Trump also deported a little girl--a U.S. citizen--who was on her way to get cancer treatment. She was with her mother, an undocumented immigrant who was forced to choose being separated from her 10-year-old daughter or being sent away together. What an unthinkable choice to force on a mother. What an unthinkable thing to do to a child, a citizen--a citizen--who is fighting cancer.

And Trump has done that twice. That is right--twice. He has deported a mother along with a kid who is fighting cancer--a kid, by the way, who is an American citizen.

He is doing that without giving these parents any meaningful time to talk to a lawyer or a spouse or to figure out what is best for that child. We know that because Trump deported another U.S. citizen last week. That is right, another one. Trump deported a 2-year-old, an American citizen. They refused to tell this kid's father where his wife and kid were being held. They refused to let him talk to his wife for more than a minute. They even forced him to hang up the phone when he tried to give his wife their lawyer's number. And then, as the judge put it, they seem to have ``deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.''

Now we are hearing about a family in Oklahoma--U.S. citizens who recently moved in who had their home raided by ICE. A mom and her daughters were forced out of their house in the rain in underwear. ICE agents seized their phones, their laptops, even their life savings, and didn't leave so much as a number they could call to get their stuff back. That happened to U.S. citizens who did nothing but move into a new house.

These horror stories underscore something important--Trump's cruel war on immigrants is hurting American citizens too. U.S. citizens are having their spouses ripped away. Even servicemembers are seeing their families targeted. They are having their parents ripped away. They are having their lives turned upside down.

Let's not forget, U.S. citizens are even being detained by this administration. We have several instances now where American citizens have been caught up in Trump's immigration crackdown. American citizens have been detained and wrongly locked up, even after someone showed them their birth certificates--even for days.

Let's keep in mind, if you are a citizen who is mistakenly detained and you are being denied due process and you can't reach someone to show them your birth certificate, how are you supposed to get released? What if you are put on the next plane for El Salvador before you get a chance to set the record straight?

Let's not pretend that is farfetched, not when citizens have already been mistakenly detained, not when the government has already admitted it sent some people to El Salvador by mistake, not when Trump has already disappeared some people who were here legally and many people who had no criminal record with no due process and not when Trump has already said he wants to send U.S. citizens to El Salvador prisons. He was caught on mic telling the President of El Salvador he needs to build more jails, telling him the ``homegrowns'' are next.

What happens when you get sent there, and you can't contact a lawyer? These are serious questions. What happens? Because if there is nothing we can do for the people there now, what precedent does that set for the people that are sent there next?

Mr. President, I have been speaking for a while and posed a lot of questions. I hope my colleagues think about this carefully. I am going to wrap it up, but I want to end with just one more. Where will Republicans draw the line because we are well past the bounds of law, and we are well past the bounds of basic humanity.

So I hope more of my colleagues will join me saying enough is enough and demanding transparency, accountability, and justice from the Trump administration.

That starts with some very basic things. First, accurate up-to-date information on the names of people who are being detained and then deported from ICE facilities across the country, including, by the way, the Northwest ICE Detention Center in Tacoma, so their loved ones and community members can at least know where they are.

And we need a clear list of every person who was disappeared to El Salvador, along with what evidence, if any, the government has as well as the full terms of whatever agreement the Trump administration has negotiated with El Salvador's dictator.

But it doesn't stop there. We need to see clear, good-faith efforts to abide by court orders and to bring back everyone wrongfully, unjustly sent to a foreign prison. We need to have lines of communication so these people can talk to their lawyers or talk to their loved ones and let us know they are OK. And we need due process with evidence, with judges, and a meaningful opportunity for people to present a defense.

Let's be clear, we are not saying everyone is innocent. We are saying no more than what the Constitution says, no more than what the courts have said time and again: Everyone in the United States of America gets due process.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. President, when it comes to new tax breaks for billionaires, Republicans are going to work around the clock and stay through the night. But when it comes to stopping Trump's trade war for good, when it comes to stopping a tax increase aimed squarely at working families, when it comes to stopping the complete uncertainty that is chipping away at confidence in our economy, most Republicans can't be bothered, never mind that Trump is now pushing us into a recession and sending the markets whipsawing back and forth every time he tweets.

Trump may be retreating now from some of his most outlandish tariffs, but make no mistake, his trade war is far from over. First of all, he is still taxing goods from every country, across the board, at 10 percent, at least. That means higher prices and serious pain for families and small businesses across our country; not to mention, he is only escalating his boneheaded trade war with China with 145 percent tariffs.

There is no question we are in fierce competition with China. I chaired a committee hearing focused on this. We need to be competing to win. But that is not what Trump is doing.

Do my Republican colleagues understand it is not setting America up for success to launch an all-out trade war with the second largest economy in the world on a whim?

While people might be temporarily relieved by this so-called pause on the even higher tariffs, the fact of the matter is that Trump is only delaying them. The threat of even larger taxes, which American families simply cannot afford, is still like a timebomb, set to blow up our economy in 90 days. If Congress does not defuse that economic bomb, there is a real threat that it will blow up balance sheets for small businesses and farms, college savings accounts for our students, and your retirement savings, along with a lot more.

I have to emphasize the uncertainty and the constant, by-the-hour reversal of Federal policy. That alone is already causing massive harm.

How on Earth are you supposed to build your business if your costs skyrocket on a tweet?

How are you supposed to plan for retirement when the President is sending your 401(k) on a roller-coaster ride every time he is in a bad mood?

How are we ever going to rebuild trust--trust--with our trading partners across the world when the message the United States is sending right now is that our trade relationships are built on sand, and there is no logic to the tariffs the United States will impose?

How are they supposed to feel good about negotiating with a country where one man can totally burn down the economy and Congress will not lift a finger to stop him?

Instead of building stronger trade agreements, Trump is pushing our partners away and pushing them toward striking deals with China and our other adversaries.

Mark my words, this chaotic chapter is not over, as much as Republicans want to pretend otherwise. I have been hearing from small businesses that are in an absolute panic because of Trump's tariff threats.

Car dealerships are seeing sales plummet because Trump is sending prices higher. Restaurants are trying to stock up on any goods they can because their ingredients are about to get more expensive. Our growers are bracing for rising operating costs and retaliatory tariffs, and that will drive up prices at our grocery stores.

Ten percent, across-the-board tariffs are still bad enough to ruin families' finances.

While Republicans are showing with their own actions that they couldn't

care more about shuffling trillions--and, yes, that is ``t,'' trillions--at billionaires, Trump has said, in his own words--in his words--that he ``couldn't care less'' about the pain his tariffs are already causing for Americans.

I am not kidding. He actually said that about automobile tariffs.

This is what happens when you only have billionaires in charge because, of course, Trump doesn't care if the car prices go up by a couple thousand dollars. Of course, Elon Musk doesn't care if your groceries are getting more expensive--at the same time Republicans are cutting nutrition programs, by the way. Of course, the richest people in the world don't care if your nest egg is crushed or your small business shutters or your house gets foreclosed on or your kid can't go to college. Billionaires are going to be fine. After all, they are still getting a tax cut.

But I wasn't sent here to fight for billionaires. Actually, none of us were. We are here to fight for families back home, and they are already starting to get crushed by Trump's tariffs. And they are bracing for impact if Trump doubles down in 90 days. Or who knows, maybe Trump changes his mind again tomorrow. It is anyone's guess at this point, which is, by the way, the problem here.

Another thing, if this is about American manufacturing, tell us: Why are plants and new investments being canceled? Why has Trump been freezing and outright canceling grants that we passed to support chips manufacturing or clean energy, and more, killing American jobs?

Let's keep in mind, these tariffs affect building and construction too. Trump is actually making it more expensive to build those factories in America.

And don't forget, President Trump is still promising more tariffs. He said this week--this week--he wants to put tariffs on medicine.

I have got to tell you, one thing I have never heard--not in a single meeting, not once in my entire career as a Senator--is someone saying: Gee, I really wish my prescriptions were more expensive.

Drug costs are out of control. Families are already skipping meals or rationing doses. There are real stakes here, there is real damage already happening in this country because of Trump's new taxes and this ongoing chaos. We here cannot ignore this harm, especially when the threat is still there.

When you are putting out a fire, you don't say: Oh, great, it is smaller; I am done. You keep going until the fire is put out.

This fire--this fire--is still raging, and if we don't act here, folks back home are the ones who are going to get burned. And before too long, in 90 days, we could see even more price increases come roaring back, because, let's be real, Trump has no exit strategy. That much is already painfully clear.

It was clear when he announced tariffs that were calculated using ridiculous math. It was clear when he repeatedly doubled down on these threats against our allies. And it was clearer than ever when he backtracked on the most absurd tax hikes.

This does not have the hallmarks of a grand strategy, and it is all the more reason why Congress--us--needs to step in and put this mess to an end.

Trump's trade war is all pain and no plan. We could be passing legislation right here to reject this chaos.

Here is what everyone--my colleagues, my constituents, the markets around the world--all need to understand: This chaos will not be over for good unless we here in Congress vote to end it, because whatever Trump tweets today, he can reverse tomorrow. Whatever deal he may strike one minute, he may rip up the next. We know this about him. He proves it at every opportunity.

We here in Congress, we are the off-ramp if Republicans decide to be. We are the check on Presidential power. We are the kill switch for Trump's trade war.

And, by the way, we are about to be out of town for 2 weeks. I cannot understand why any Republican would want to leave this business unfinished, want to leave this economic timebomb ticking, want to hand over our constitutionally granted power to impose tariffs.

But I can tell you, for the next 2 weeks, I am going to be going across my home State of Washington raising this alarm. I am going to be meeting with families, small businesses--people who are paying the cost of Trump's new tax increase and who are going to see their world turned upside down if we do not take action to stop this from getting worse.

And when we get back here in 2 weeks, you can bet your bottom dollar, I will lift those stories up as high as I can. I will call for action as loud as I can. I am going to keep a bright and burning spotlight on all of the chaos Trump has caused, and I will keep the pressure on all of our colleagues. I will not let Republicans off the hook on this.

We can put an end to this. The costs are just going to be adding up. The carnage is going to continue to pile higher.

How long do you want to wait? My vote--not one more second.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, Mayor Royce Pollard, a dedicated public servant and champion for Vancouver, WA, passed away on February 24, 2025.

Before his time in local government, Mayor Pollard led a distinguished career in the U.S. Army that included two tours during the Vietnam war. During his nearly 27 years in the military, he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel and numerous awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star for Valor, Purple Heart, Expert Infantryman's Badge, and Combat Infantryman's Badge during his time in Vietnam. His final post was at the Vancouver Barracks, where he retired as commander in 1988. His dedication to public service was immediately on display as he joined the Vancouver City Council the following year, beginning a 21-year career serving the citizens of the city of Vancouver.

Mayor Pollard served on the city council for 7 years and then as mayor for 14 years. During his tenure, Mayor Pollard revitalized Vancouver's downtown core, transforming it into a vibrant center of community and commerce. The revived Esther Short Park and the beautiful waterfront development stand as enduring symbols of his bold leadership and love of community. He also oversaw the annexation of the Vancouver Mall, the creation of the Hilton Hotel and Convention Center project, and the historic Cascade Park annexation.

Mayor Pollard was a proud champion of ``America's Vancouver,'' a move to make the city distinct from Portland, OR, just across the river. He was so committed to the cause that when he smashed two Portland-themed mugs sold in Vancouver at a coffee shop, newspapers around the Pacific Northwest ran the story. In Washington, DC, he was known to talk to people unfamiliar with his city and tout its many attributes. Even after his tenure as mayor, he continued to help the community grow and thrive by serving on 22 different city boards.

He was a strong and vocal advocate for civic duty, serving one another, and honoring those who serve their communities. His contributions have left a lasting impact on the city, cementing its place as a vibrant and forward-thinking community.

My heart goes out to the mayor's family, friends, and all who had the honor of knowing and working alongside him. I was proud to work with him on behalf of his community, and he will be missed. His life's work will be felt by generations to come.

In honor of Royce's life and legacy, I respectfully submit this statement to the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize and commend the distinguished public service of King County executive Dow Constantine, who concludes 16 years of exemplary leadership at the helm of King County government.

Since first taking office in 2009, Executive Constantine has dedicated himself to the advancement of King County and the well-being of its more than 2 million residents. Over the course of four terms, he has consistently demonstrated a profound commitment to public service, principled leadership, and effective governance.

Under his tenure, King County emerged as a national leader in environmental sustainability, public health innovation, and equity- focused policymaking. Executive Constantine spearheaded ambitious initiatives to combat climate change, expand regional transit, preserve open space, and reform the

criminal legal system. His leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly noteworthy--marked by decisive, science-driven action that helped protect lives and support vulnerable populations during an unprecedented public health crisis.

Executive Constantine also led efforts to strengthen behavioral health services, invest in affordable housing, and promote inclusive economic growth. His ability to bring together stakeholders across sectors and jurisdictions has left a lasting impact not only on King County, but on the broader Puget Sound region. Throughout his 16 years in office, Executive Constantine upheld the highest standards of public service, always placing the needs of his constituents at the center of his work. His forward-thinking approach and unwavering dedication have left King County stronger, more resilient, and better prepared for the future. As he concludes his service as county executive, I extend my deepest gratitude to Dow Constantine for his many years of outstanding leadership and his tireless efforts on behalf of the people of Washington State. I wish him continued success as the new CEO of Sound Transit.

Will the Senator yield for a question?

I thank the Senator from New Jersey. Thank you for your kind words. I would just say the country is so grateful for what you are doing right now because so many people are so frightened, worried, scared, and angry about what is happening to the basic values of this country that so many people have just thought would be there; that their kids would be able to go to school and get an education and not have to worry.

The Department of Education was going to be gone, and there was no watchdog anymore, somebody to help or that the research at NIH was going to be dismantled. Perhaps they had a family member who was in the middle of a--some kind of scientific experiment that is now being dismantled. What happens to them?

I hear from people on so many topics, seniors who are waiting on hold for hours and then getting hung up on because there is nobody to answer the phone anymore. These are basic values that we have as a country that we care for other human beings, and we are there as a country for them.

You are showing that fight today and inspiring so many people. I will ask you a question in a minute, but I wanted to personally thank you for what you are doing today. It is so important. You are the voice of so many people today, and I so appreciate it.

I want to change the dynamic a little bit. I wanted to come today-- you have talked about the impact in so many areas of our country. But I wanted to come and ask about something really personal to me. That is the impact of our veterans today.

The Senator may not know this, but when I came to the Senate many years ago, I asked to be on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I was the first woman ever to ask to be on the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

The reason for me was very personal. As you may know, my dad was a World War II veteran, and my family relied on his VA care when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but I also--when I was in college during the Vietnam war--many of my friends and colleagues were on the streets demonstrating, and my heart was out to them.

But I was thinking about those men and women my age who were going over to Vietnam and coming back injured in many different ways. So I actually did my college internship--I asked to be at the Seattle VA. I went to the Seattle VA during the Vietnam war and served on what was the psychiatric ward at the time.

I sat and worked with young men and women who were my age, college age, who had been sent there and came back with severe mental health impacts.

Today we call that PTSD, but at the time, we didn't know it.

I was looking at these men and women who volunteered to go over or sometimes their number came up at the time and came home, and it really impacted the rest of their lives.

I learned firsthand what it means when somebody says: I will go for my country to fight for all of you. So the America you have been talking about--here for you when you get home. Our promise to each and every one of them was if you serve your country in the military, we will take care of you when you get home.

That is a promise I hold near and dear to my heart, which is why I asked to be on the Veterans' Affairs Committee when I first came here. I will tell you, I have seen the impact time and time again. I go home, and I would hold townhalls when I was new here, and there would be a lot of veterans who would come and talk to me and tell me what is going on, what needed to be fixed, but always at that time, I share with my colleagues, women never said anything.

There were a few always in the back of the room. It wasn't until the regular meeting was over and they would come up quietly to me and say: I need to tell you what is happening to woman veterans. I need to share with you sexual assault. I need to share with you that there are no facilities. It is a men-only kind of place. There are no OB/GYNs. There is nobody to do mammographies, and I often don't feel comfortable sitting in that waiting room with a whole lot of people after I have had the experiences that I have had, and there is no place for women to go. So we have worked really hard to make sure the VA works for women.

We worked really hard to make sure the VA addresses the issues of today, the PACT Act that we worked so hard to make sure that men and women who were victims of toxic exposure overseas got the services they need. I could speak for 2 hours here about all the things we have done.

But then I see what this administration is doing to those men and women whom we asked as a country to serve overseas or here at home in service of all of us and the promises we have made them. I think: What are they doing? They are undermining the very value all of us are giving to Americans who serve above and beyond.

So when I hear of 2,000 layoffs a few weeks ago, I go: Wow. Where is that coming from? I know because I am getting the phone calls like I am sure you are from a VA researcher who has been taken off the job and fired, unexplained, told he wasn't doing a good enough job somehow, doing research on basic things like prosthetics or doing basic research on PTSD or doing basic research on the kinds of things that our men and women who served overseas are subjected to and need to come home and have specialized services and resources that they need.

Or I hear from veterans who can't get the services that they have asked for. So now when we are hearing this administration is about to cut 80,000--you didn't hear me wrong--80,000 more people from the VA, a vast majority themselves are veterans, I want to ask the Senator: How does that hit you? How do you feel about that?

If the Senator would just yield for one additional question.

The Senator is right. And so many veterans are afraid right now, and I had a veteran tell me that he was one of those people who got the letter, ``you haven't performed well.'' He worked for the National Park Service, actually. And he said: I have been saving lives; I have been cleaning trails; I have been making sure the national parks are safe for all of you.

And then he said to me: I am a veteran. I served in the war, and I served my country there because I wanted to serve my country and my fellow Americans, and I came home and worked for the National Park Service to do the same.

And now as a veteran, my country is not there for me. And I would just say to my colleague and to everyone who is listening, these men and women that we make a promise to, that we say we will be there for you when you come home, that does not mean slamming a door in their face.

It doesn't mean that you have to wait for hours to get the services that you earned. It doesn't mean that you will be mistreated. It means that we will honor you. And I would thank the Senator for his response and just say to him again, do you think we are treating men and women in this country as great Americans by the actions that are being taken by this administration?

Mr. President, I have been unequivocal in saying: In this country, we use our voices and our votes--not violence--to advocate for change. I have said it many times. I will say it many times more. And I say it today.

But you are sorely mistaken if you think I am going to sit here feet away from our Capitol Police officers and let the Senate say we stand by the richest men on the planet before saying we stand by the men and women who keep us safe every single day.

Where is the solidarity for our officers here? And where, by the way, is the plaque that Congress passed into law honoring their sacrifice on January 6?

Do I have to march down to Speaker Johnson's office, put it up on my own? You can hang it on my door. You just bring up the plaque; I will go get the nails and do it myself because I am not going to let anyone ever erase this history, and I am not going to let them paper it over with outrage on behalf of the richest man in the world.

I have no problem condemning violence. I will do that any day of the week. I condemn attacks on our car owners and salespeople. I condemn destroying other people's personal property. This is not a new position for me. But you will have to excuse me if I don't take some Republicans seriously when they make this big show about law and order at the same time they are letting this President stab law enforcement in the back. I am not going to let Republicans get by selling a charade not weeks after they voted to freeze funding levels for law enforcement in a bill--

Mr. President, I ask for 3 additional minutes.

I am not going to let some Republicans get by selling a charade not weeks after they voted to freeze funding levels for law enforcement in a bill where House Republicans slashed DC's budget for police officers; not months after Trump tried to halt COPS grants and many Republicans

didn't breathe a word about it; not when Trump is still in the middle of firing just about as many Federal law enforcement workers as he can get away with; and certainly not when some of my Republican colleagues are still ignoring how our lawless President continues to champion the very people who attacked our Capitol Police.

Just this week, mere days ago, President Trump speculated about compensating people who committed crimes on January 6, about rewarding their violence with taxpayer dollars. Where is that outrage? Where is the condemnation? What are some of you waiting for?

Don't you try for a single second to say: Oh, he is not talking about the violent ones. You all know better. We know better. Remember when you tried to say that about pardons? Remember how that worked out? Trump pardoned people who violently attacked police. They are back on the streets--except for the ones who already committed new crimes.

I don't know how my colleagues keep forgetting what happened on January 6. I don't know how on Earth it is not burned into their memories. But President Trump is talking about people who attacked this building, our offices, our staff, our democracy. He is talking about people who smashed windows in that we walk by every day, people who brought bats and weapons to the halls where we meet our constituents, people who beat the Capitol Police who keep us safe every day, the Capitol Police who are standing guard even now, who sit right outside this Chamber.

These are violent criminals, and President Trump is talking about them like heroes. He wants us to write them a check. Over my dead body, Mr. President. And I am going to say it again and again.

Unlike some of my Republican colleagues, I will say the same for the people who burn Teslas and for the people who smash windows here at the Capitol.

I am tired of watching this. I know our constituents are. We need to demand that Speaker Johnson hang that plaque that he--

It is not too much to ask, and I hope this body recognizes that violence is violence, and we should condemn the attacks on January 6.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, right now, we have a couple of billionaires running our country straight into the ground and who seem to have skipped American history because President Trump and Elon Musk don't seem to care much about our Constitution, including the part that says quite clearly:

The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes,

Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for

the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.

It continues:

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in

Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.

Well, their lack of interest in that section of the Constitution doesn't make it any less real at all. You don't have to take my word for it; it is right down the street at the National Archives. You can go read it yourself. I would invite our billionaire ``co-Presidents'' to go take a look. Stand in line with the schoolkids who are on trips. Read up on the separation of powers. You can even explain to the students there why you are gutting the Department of Education while you are at it.

Just in case Trump and Musk struggle as much with reading comprehension as history, let me translate for you what the Constitution says. Congress--that is us, everyone elected here--has the power of the purse. Presidents don't write laws; they execute them. That has been true for every spending bill this body has ever passed, including the House Republicans' yearlong CR.

The basic fact that Congress has the power of the purse is something Republicans and Democrats agree on, and it

won't change no matter what Trump or Russ Vought or Elon Musk claims. Their legal theories are plain outlandish, and so are their facts. If you listen to them, they argue that Presidents have been impounding funds routinely. That is wrong. The opposite is true. Presidents have traditionally followed the law and followed the legal directives in spending bills.

When Nixon tried to block just a fraction of the amount of funding Trump is now blocking, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act on a truly overwhelming bipartisan basis. In fact, it cleared this Senate unanimously.

So while the Constitution may be the first word on Congress's power of the purse, this foundational principle has been affirmed time and again by the courts and by Congress. The law affirms what we have long known--Presidents cannot pick and choose which parts of the spending laws to follow--and it lays out a clear procedure for the President to propose to Congress either delaying or rescinding funding.

The Impoundment Control Act is still the law of the land. The Constitution is still the foundation of this democracy. Congress still has the power of the purse, and for some of the House Republicans who seem to have forgotten, that power is a critical part of how all of us--how we fight for our constituents.

As lawmakers, we allocate funding to solve problems, to make lives better, to make our country safer with things like new bridges to safely get to work or with affordable healthcare or childcare, with clean drinking water, with a strong national defense, with personnel who keep planes flying safely overhead and keep toxins out of our food supply, and so much more.

When Congress passes legislation to make all of those priorities real and the President signs it into law, it needs to be followed. That is how it works in this democracy.

You don't like the law, come to win the votes in Congress and change it. But I am here today on the floor because we all know too well this President is not doing that. He and the richest man in the world are defying our laws. They are hurting our constituents, and they are seeking to enrich themselves in that process.

For over 2 months now, President Trump has been illegally choking off huge chunks of funding. We are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars--holding up investments in everything from new roads and bridges to cheaper energy, to stronger national security.

Back in my home State of Washington, the reports keep rolling in about how President Trump is causing havoc by illegally blocking funds.

Last week, I heard from a lumber company that is struggling to cover a loan, given its Federal grant for solar power has now been frozen for months.

Earlier this week, my office heard about a terminated Spokane project focused on environmental restoration, stormwater management, and millions of dollars being canceled for Tribal public health efforts in my State alone.

I have no doubt the fallout will continue next week because Trump keeps freezing more funding, ripping up more contracts, and ignoring our laws. It has to end.

All of us--every one of us--wants a better working, more efficient government that delivers for people. But what Trump and Musk are doing has nothing to do with efficiency or with helping people. They are breaking the law and ripping the rug out from underneath families and American businesses, all while working overtime to pass more tax breaks for billionaires like themselves. This lawlessness has to end.

I am hopeful, in this Chamber, we get back to regular order and pass actual bipartisan bills, full-year bills. We cannot let what happened with House Republicans' awful CR happen ever again. We have got to ensure that our constituents--our constituents, each and every one of us--have their voices heard by getting a full-year spending bill reflecting current needs and getting it across the finish line. And those bills need to be bipartisan. That is the bare minimum, and it is not too much to ask.

I have worked with Republicans for years--for years--on bipartisan spending bills. During my time as Appropriations chair, I worked with Senator Collins from the other side of the aisle and our colleagues on the committee on both sides of the aisle to hammer out strong, bipartisan bills 2 years in a row--bills that passed out of our committee in overwhelming bipartisan votes, many of them unanimously. So I know well it is absolutely possible to work together, and it is worthwhile.

Is it easy? Of course not. But you look at the bills we wrote together, and you look at the disaster of a bill that House Republicans wrote on their own, and the difference is night and day.

I am not just talking about the difference in huge, painful cuts from the House Republican bill. I am also talking about the huge incompetence House Republicans displayed.

They wrote a bill that slashed DC's own budget by $1 billion for no reason. The Senate has now passed a bill to fix the inexcusable cut to DC's own funds--their own funds. But if the House does not act quickly now to pass the Senate bill and fix that mistake, House Republicans will force DC to fire teachers, to fire police officers, and more, by the way, without saving taxpayers a dime.

That is just one--one--of the many glaring issues with the House Republicans' partisan CR, which I spoke about at length when I cast my vote against it. And I stand proudly by that vote today.

Republicans should not write a bill without me and expect me just to vote for it. That is not how this ever works. We should not accept a false choice of accepting House Republicans' poison pills or facing a shutdown; otherwise, that poison is only going to get more bitter each time.

The choice we have to talk about instead is this: Will we work together in a bipartisan way to fund the government and invest in the places that we represent or will House Republicans cut us out, go on their own, and cause a shutdown?

We have to start looking ahead to fiscal year 2026 and working on those bipartisan funding bills. I am focused on making sure that what happened earlier this month absolutely does not happen again because let me be absolutely clear: If Republicans draft another funding bill in September with zero Democratic input and that bill fails to pass the Senate because Democrats do not vote for it, that is on Republicans. That is Republicans forcing a shutdown. Period.

I represent nearly 8 million people in the State of Washington. I am not offering up my vote in exchange for nothing--and, actually, in the case of House Republicans' CR, worse than nothing, given how it will now be used against Democrats.

So I am absolutely not going to stop making this point. Democrats should not offer up our votes in exchange for exactly nothing. I will be making that argument loud and clear for everyone to hear.

We need to be focused on negotiating bipartisan bills that give our communities strong investments instead of devastating cuts. We need to ensure that our constituents have a voice in this process.

Colleagues, understand this: Passing full-year, bipartisan spending bills, that is my top priority--those spending bills that carry the full authority of Congress on how we spend taxpayer dollars, that carry forward the priorities our constituents tell us about. That is my top priority. That is the most important guardrail we can place on an administration that looks to punish people they disagree with and strip funding from priorities like Army Corps dam repairs or public transportation projects or from public schools and universities.

As we write those bills, we need transparency. We need to understand the reality on the ground of what this administration and DOGE are actually doing. Who is calling the shots over there? What programs are functional at this point? Where do we have enough staff to even carry out the mission of specific Agencies or to faithfully follow congressional intent?

We need a hearing with Elon Musk and whoever else is running DOGE. We need hearings with Department heads. Whatever form it takes, we need answers on what has been going on; we need an end to the lawlessness that is happening; and we need transparency that is sorely lacking.

I don't know when that became controversial. Isn't DOGE supposed to be

all about accountability? Isn't it supposed to be all about transparency?

So let's get to it. Let's show the American people exactly what Trump is doing. What is the problem with that?

After all, it is not like it is meant to be a secret. Project 2025 was a public playbook, and it is clear they are following it to the letter.

Before he returned as OMB Director, Russ Vought made clear he wanted to ignore our laws and ``Impound, Baby, Impound!'' That is a direct quote from the general counsel, by the way. He said it, ``Impound, Baby, Impound!''

I even asked him about it directly: Will you follow our laws or just toss them out in the dumpster? And he wouldn't give us a straight yes. He wouldn't, why? Because he already laid out his plans in black and white. His plan: Break the law, block funds that Congress passed, dare the courts to stop him. And, shocker, the guy who made it clear he is willing to go break laws and block funding is breaking laws, and he is blocking funding.

President Trump and Musk have made their intentions just as clear, not just ignoring our laws but ignoring court orders to uphold our laws and attacking our judges and our judicial system every time they don't get their way.

Just this week, we saw new, blatantly illegal acts from the Trump administration. First, OMB removed a website that provides transparency by displaying how it directs Agencies to apportion--or spend--Federal funding. That website is not optional. It is in the statute. And OMB was complying with a requirement that was passed by us, by Congress.

This is a cut-and-dry case. OMB must publish the Agency's legally binding budget decisions. We passed that language on a bipartisan basis because our constituents deserve transparency, and they deserve accountability for how their money is being spent.

But the only thing transparent about this administration is how transparently illegal their actions are because the same day they illegally shut down and shut the American people out of seeing what they are doing, they also blocked funding that House Republicans continued in their own CR and that the President Trump himself actually just signed into law.

Trump wants to illegally cherry-pick what gets funding that we passed and what gets left in the dust. Well, for one thing, that is straight up against the law--open-and-shut case; for another, it fundamentally erodes our democracy, the trust that people and businesses and local and State governments across the country place in the Federal Government, and, of course, our ability to negotiate bipartisan deals here in Congress. And let's not lose sight of the fact that it is bad for our country, and it is bad for our constituents.

There is a reason we passed the emergency funds. But President Trump is choking off critical investments to combat the flow of fentanyl. He is slashing support for U.S. national security initiatives. He is weakening the competitiveness of U.S. business. He is setting back next-generation weather forecasting and more.

That still is not all because the very next day, we learned he wants to illegally freeze tens of millions of dollars in title X funding. That is a program with a long bipartisan history that helps women get cancer screenings, get birth control, pregnancy tests, prevent and treat STIs.

Last time, President Trump tried to do that through rulemaking, but now that he is throwing the law out the window entirely, he thinks he can do it with the stroke of a pen.

I have to underscore, these are just the most recent examples. Everything I just talked about happened just this week. This is the latest in a long trail of devastation they have left behind in this ongoing parade of lawbreaking because, as I mentioned, President Trump is still--is still--blocking hundreds of billions of dollars in investments we secured for our constituents.

President Trump and Musk illegally shuttered USAID. They are illegally gutting the Department of Education. They are trying to dramatically slash medical research funding with restrictions that are in direct defiance of bipartisan language that I actually worked to negotiate with my Republican colleagues.

I could go on all day describing the damage caused by these moves and the many other funds that are now illegally being blocked, but I think the pattern is clear. They said they were going to cut funding, regardless of the consequences, regardless of the laws, regardless of the Constitution, and that is exactly what they are doing.

We here in Congress can't bury our heads in the sand while Trump, Musk, and Vought try to snatch away our power--our power, Democrats and Republicans--of the purse.

I will continue to use every tool I have as a Senator. I will use my voice. I will use my vote and more to stop this lawlessness, to stop the cuts that hurt my constituents, and to write and pass bills that actually help people.

So I really hope our Republican colleagues will work with us to craft bipartisan funding bills and to conduct basic oversight to provide accountability because it absolutely matters that we not just pass strong bipartisan funding laws but that the laws we pass are actually followed, that our constituents--every one of our constituents-- actually have a say in how their tax dollars are spent, and that Congress maintains the power of the purse. And I will keep continuing to press all of my colleagues to stand with me on this.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to complete my remarks before the vote.

Madam President, I have made no secret of my opposition to this bill. For weeks, I have been warning about the real dangers of a yearlong CR like the one that has come before us from the House Republicans. But before I talk about those dangers and why I will be voting no on cloture and on final passage, I want my colleagues to hear what I have to say, but I do hope that they will join me in voting no.

I want to talk for a moment about how we did get here because I fear some Members of the Republican leadership may need a history lesson. The fact of the matter is, the only reason we are staring down a shutdown deadline halfway into this fiscal year is that the House Republicans decided to kick the can down the road with a major punt and because they have repeatedly walked away from the table. This is just a historical record. We were all here for it. We saw what happened. Perhaps it is worth ticking through once more because I will admit it can get easy to lose track of all that has happened over the last few months

and just how many times House Republicans have made a deal just to break it in recent years. So I want to give a refresher. It has been a while since my time as a preschool teacher, but I guess school is back in session because I am not going to let anyone get away with ignoring how Republicans forced us to the edge of a shutdown today.

Remember, last year, after a bruising fiscal year 2024 process in which House Republicans made one ridiculous demand after the next and caused one delay after the other, as Appropriations chair, I worked hard alongside my colleagues, including Senator Collins, who is here today, within our committee to write and pass serious bipartisan spending bills for this current fiscal year. It was no easy feat. We had fewer resources at our disposal to make use of, and we had even more challenges to address, but we managed to work together--Senator Collins and I and our committee members--and we cleared all but one of our bills overwhelmingly in committee, and many of those bills cleared on unanimous votes.

Then, come November, after the election, I was pushing very hard to get our funding bills done and wrapped up by the end of the year. My Democratic colleagues and even many of my Republican colleagues wanted to get that done, but Speaker Johnson and Trump chose to kick the can down the road. They chose to. Trump reportedly wanted to make sure his fingerprints were on our spending bills for this fiscal year. The Speaker not only wanted to, of course, please Trump, but he was worried about how a messy funding fight might complicate his path to becoming Speaker again. So the decision was made, and Speaker Johnson punted from December to March.

Then we negotiated a bipartisan CR to fund the government through March 14, today. Along with that, we passed disaster relief, and we extended critical laws. We reached a bipartisan-bicameral deal. Then House Republicans walked away and blew that deal up at the last minute. Why? I will tell you--because the richest man in the world sent a bunch of completely inaccurate tweets, and instead of saying, ``Do you know what? Actually, Elon, you have no clue what you are talking about. These are programs that help my constituents,'' House Republicans said, ``Let's put this guy in charge.'' They killed that bipartisan agreement, rolled out an altogether different bill not long thereafter and punted on government funding.

That is what happened, and that is essentially what they have been doing ever since--cheering and clapping as Trump and Elon got basic facts wrong, broke laws, blocked funding that our communities needed, dismantled entire Agencies, fired veterans, shuttered our Social Security offices, and broke government to enrich themselves.

While Trump and Republican leadership were fixating on whether they would pass one bill or two for their plan to gut healthcare for kids and to pass more tax cuts for billionaires, a fast approaching deadline was on its way to us, the one that is here now.

For the next several months, I have remained at the table, ready to negotiate funding bills. I and my Democratic counterpart in the House, Rosa DeLauro, never left the table--not once. We made offer after offer as did our Republican counterparts. My top priority has been and continues to be doing what we do, what we do every year--every year-- which is passing full-year funding bills with the detailed directives that we include in our spending laws every year. I have wanted to make sure we continue to provide those and make sure that our constituents' voices are heard--that they are heard in Federal funding--which, I have to say, this CR fails to do.

Instead of working with us in good faith to fund the government in a bipartisan way, Speaker Johnson and Republican leadership walked away and started working on a Republican funding bill without an ounce--not an ounce--of Democratic input. I remained at the table. My counterparts on Appropriations and I continued to talk, to keep the ball rolling. By the end of last week, for all intents and purposes, we had an agreement on topline funding, but the call had already been made. Johnson was in on it. Trump was in on it. Russ Vought was in on it. Johnson decided: Instead of talking with Democrats, it would be easier to have Trump get on the phone and scream and bully House Republicans into submission. He figured, if outright intimidation from Trump was enough to convince every Republican to vote for a budget resolution that will cut Medicaid for seniors and kids, then it might also be enough for them to pass a Republican CR, especially if Trump threatened dissenters with political retribution, which, of course, he did. That is the bill they rolled out on Saturday and passed earlier this week.

Now, as I have laid out in depth, the yearlong CR that House Republicans sent our way hands a blank check to Elon Musk and Donald Trump to decide how our constituents' taxpayer dollars get spent, all while cutting the funding working people count on each and every day. It is anything but a ``clean CR.'' What Republicans are pushing here is not a continuing resolution. In this case, ``CR'' stands for ``complete resignation'' because what Republicans are doing here is ceding more discretion to two billionaires to decide what does and does not get funded in their States. It is a power grab CR.

Not only that, it does make serious cuts to domestic funding. It leaves our working families in the dust. We are talking about a nearly 50-percent cut to lifesaving medical research and to conditions affecting our servicemembers. It is a giant shortfall in funding for the NIH. It is a massive cut in funding for Army Corps projects and is $15 billion less for our domestic priorities. This bill will force Social Security to cut staff and close offices and make it harder for our seniors to get the benefits they have spent their careers paying into the system to earn. It creates a devastating shortfall that risks tens of thousands of Americans losing their housing. So this bill causes real pain for communities across the country.

Let me be clear: This bill empowers Trump and Musk to pick winners and losers. I guarantee you they will not only go after Democrats. Inexplicably, House Republicans are saying: Give Trump all this power or we will shut down government.

Well, let's be very clear: That is and always has been a false choice. The reality is, there were other options House Republicans could have chosen, but they chose--they chose--to pull out of bipartisan negotiations and send a deeply partisan bill here to the Senate today. Democrats did not have an ounce of input into writing this bill, and now House Republicans expect us to support it? That makes zero sense.

Let me be clear: In my time in Congress, never ever has one party written partisan, full-year appropriations bills for all of government and expected the other party to go along without any input.

To my colleagues here who want to pass individual appropriations bills in a timely manner for the next fiscal year, how are Democrats supposed to trust that those will be good-faith negotiations after we did the hard work of negotiating overwhelmingly bipartisan appropriations bills last year only for us to see this, today, from the Republicans in the House and only for Republicans to now say, ``Swallow this partisan House Republican CR or it will be Democrats who are shutting down the government''? That is a false choice and one we cannot accept going forward.

When I cast my vote today, I am representing nearly 8 million people in Washington State, and in this democracy, their voices count for something. So you had better believe I am not handing over my vote in exchange for nothing. The choice is not a government shutdown or passing a bill to write a blank check to Elon Musk. That is not how this works. On Monday, I rolled out a clean 4-week extension to prevent a shutdown and to keep government funded while it gives us the time to hammer out a bipartisan agreement. We could still pass that right here, right now. If any Member has any suggestions on what they want to see in this CR, I am all ears. House Republicans may have already left town, but I am pretty sure they know how to get on a plane. That is their job--show up and vote.

The bottom line is, this bill will mean more pain and chaos for our country. I cannot support it.

Please let's remember, Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. If you refuse to put forward an offer that includes any Democratic input, you don't get Democratic

votes. That is on Republicans. If you don't get any input from Democrats, it is a Republican vote. A shutdown is on Republicans.

The American people rightly understand that Republicans have pushed this country towards a shutdown. They do understand that Donald Trump has created a massive economic uncertainty and is putting us on track for a Republican recession with his indiscriminate layoffs, his illegal funding freeze, his incoherent trade war, and now by threatening a Republican shutdown.

Democrats did not write this bill. We did not have any input, but if we had, we sure wouldn't have handed over more of our power to two billionaires. You can bet we would not have cut our domestic investments by billions. Democrats did not write this bill, but if we did, we would have protected our public schools. Democrats did not write this bill, but if we did, we would have put our veterans first, and you can bet we would not have prevented the District of Columbia from spending its own taxpayer dollars and be forced to lay off police and teachers. Democrats did not have any say on this bill, but if we did, we would have protected our public lands and your healthcare and lifesaving cancer research.

So I hope my Democratic and, yes, my Republican colleagues as well will join me in voting no on this bill and swiftly passing a 4-week extension so we can hammer out a better bipartisan solution.

I am voting no because my constituents should have a say in how their tax dollars are spent. I am voting no because Congress--Congress, each one of us, not Elon Musk--should decide which schools or which hospitals get funding. I am voting no, and I hope my colleagues will join me.

Before I close, I want to say to my constituents who are frightened and scared: I understand your fears. Some days, I share them. But your voice matters. Speaking out matters. You elected me to be your voice, and you better believe I will keep fighting for you. So shoulders up. Keep the faith. We stand strong, but we do not stand down. We are going to keep fighting for the America we love.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, the Senator's amendment would indiscriminately cut $16 billion from State and USAID, including lifesaving assistance Secretary Rubio said he wants to maintain for the purchase of food from American farmers, programs to counter the PRC influence, and efforts to ensure American businesses are more competitive overseas.

This amendment would cut funding for the USAID inspector general by 83 percent, making any waste, fraud, or abuse hard to uncover.

And it would gut global health programs like Trump, Rubio, and Musk say they allegedly want to conserve. Not even House Republicans went this far.

This amendment would undermine American workers, American businesses, and our national security. I urge a ``no'' vote.

Vote on Amendment No. 1266

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, let me be perfectly clear for my colleagues: Democrats want to immediately pass a clean 4-week CR. No one wants a shutdown. We should get this done immediately.

Right now, we should be hard at work negotiating bipartisan funding bills that help folks back home in all of our States and make sure that our constituents--not Trump and Musk--have the biggest say in how their taxpayer dollars are spent.

That is what I have been focused on for months now. In fact, I actually wanted to get our funding bills done all the way back in December, but Republican leadership in the House wanted to kick the can down the road to March. Well, we spent these past few months working hard, getting close to a deal. And we should see that work through, especially when the alternative bill is a bill that will seriously undermine the ability for all of us--all of us--to use our power to fight for our communities. I hope my Senate colleagues would agree that power is worth protecting.

Unfortunately, Speaker Johnson has made clear he is content to sit on the sidelines and actually even cheer while two billionaires fire veterans; choke off resources to rebuild roads and bridges; cancel research on cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and vaccine hesitancy; dismantle the Social Security Administration; and spark a trade war that is raising prices and driving us toward a recession.

But there is still time for us here to choose a different path, a bipartisan path, that gives our constituents--our constituents, each and every one of us--a voice in this process.

Right now, instead of working with Democrats to fund the government, invest in the middle class, protect Congress's power of the purse, and put out some of these fires, House Republicans are rolling over for the billionaire arsonists by rolling out a slush fund-filled, yearlong continuing resolution that empowers Trump and Musk to pick winners and losers with your taxpayer dollars.

House Republicans didn't just walk away from Democrats at the negotiating table. They are trying to give up Congress's seat at the table, all together, with a partisan bill that writes Trump and Musk a blank check, shortchanges families and America's future, devastates our Nation's Capital, and painfully slashes critical domestic priorities like lifesaving medical research, construction of VA hospitals, and so much more.

House Republicans didn't merely refuse to address the lawlessness we have seen from Trump and Musk. They would actually empower it with this bill because the House Republicans' bill fails to include the typical, detailed spending directives--the basic guardrails--that Congress provides each year in our funding bills. In other words, instead of writing a bill that gives our communities what they need, they wrote a bill that turns many of our accounts into slush funds and gives the final say over what gets funding to two billionaires who don't know the first thing about the needs of our working families. So that is problem No. 1 with this CR--and it was a completely avoidable one.

House Republicans could have worked with us to include the standard bipartisan spending directives that are included every single year. But House Republican leadership decided to throw in the towel on the hard work of negotiating and on the hard work of governing and making sure their constituents' voices are reflected in our funding bills. Tearing down those guardrails was a choice they made, and it is a dangerous one.

We have already seen how far President Trump and Elon Musk and Russ Vought are willing to twist and outright break our laws to suit their will. But House Republicans are setting them up to make everything so far look like child's play, because this slush fund CR surrenders more power over Federal funding to the very people who are already abusing the power they have to steal from our constituents.

This bill is a green light for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to redirect funding to their own pet projects; to force States and communities to abide by their directives; and slash, burn, and zero out programs that our families count on.

They could use the flexibilities being granted to them to override our constituents' priorities. Clean energy investments could become a payday for fossil fuels. Money meant to stop fentanyl and opioids could fuel private prison operators and Trump's mass deportations.

This bill will let them pick which Army Corps, which transit, which military construction projects move ahead and which grind to a halt.

And when it comes to programs that rural communities rely on, which do you think will get funded? Housing? Utilities? Small business support? Well, do you know what? It would all depend on who Trump wants to punish or extort.

When it comes to medical research, are we going to spend precious research dollars curing Alzheimer's disease? Are we going to help the Fred Hutch Center in Washington State fight cancer? Are we going to work to develop a universal flu vaccine? Are we going to support maternal and women's health research? Congress would usually have a say. But this CR tells RFK, Jr., exactly what Trump promised: ``Go wild on healthcare.'' You have got a free pass from House Republicans to commandeer hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and set them on fire, relitigating disproven theories about autism and sowing distrust about vaccines amid a measles outbreak that is killing children.

Or if Trump wants to rip away resources from our public K through 12 schools and leverage Federal dollars to make them rewrite history, this CR could help them do that--to say nothing of the broad power he would have to cut off funding to schools like our HBCUs or eliminate funding that thousands of colleges and universities rely on to provide financial aid to students.

When it comes to the FAA, House Republicans gave up on writing detailed instructions for how the budget must be spent in favor of just letting Trump shovel tax dollars at Elon Musk's Starlink.

When it comes to our Tribes, they would let Trump manipulate the formulas that dictate how much money our Tribes get for everything from housing to road maintenance to law enforcement.

Our public lands, those are now President Trump's personal prerogative, as he will have under this CR near absolute discretion over which Land and Water Conservation Fund acquisitions and which public lands deferred maintenance projects get funding.

That is a tremendous amount of power to give to a President who has shown he is completely willing to abuse his existing authority.

For the record, the Federal funding for many of the programs I have just

mentioned makes up massive percentages of many of our State's budgets.

It takes no imagination--none--to consider how Trump would use this new authority to threaten and bully States across the country. You do what he says, or he blows up your entire State budget.

We all know full well how the President is looking to pick fights with our States and with our Governors, and this bill allows for him to use the full force of the government to try and win those fights.

But that is far from the only problem with this bill because this bill also seriously shortchanges our families, our small businesses, our country's competitiveness, and our security. In fact, it makes major cuts to domestic spending.

Nearly 2 years ago, after bruising negotiations between House Republicans and the President, a law was passed that set spending levels for fiscal year 2024 and fiscal year 2025. I didn't care for those levels, not by a long shot. But, nonetheless, there was an agreement and a starting point for us. But this bill now from the House Republicans reneges entirely on that agreement. It cuts nondefense funding by $15 billion relative to that agreement, and it even cuts defense spending by nearly $3 billion relative to the FRA level for 2025.

Those aren't just numbers on a page. Those are real investments that our constituents are being robbed of in this bill.

Despite what House Republicans would like you to believe, as a longtime appropriator, I can tell you, this is not a clean CR. A clean CR would not slash funding for Army Corps construction by 44 percent. That means halting progress on major hydropower projects, dredging for ports in red and blue States, and more.

This CR is not clean. It would cut by nearly 50 percent funding for medical research, funding for medical research into treatments and cures for dozens of diseases and conditions specifically affecting our servicemembers and their families. It would create an utterly massive hole in the NIH budget, reducing funding for lifesaving cancer research and the discovery of cures for diseases by more than a quarter of a billion dollars. That is what this CR does.

Or a clean CR wouldn't do what this bill does to cut VA construction or nuclear arms controls or election security.

Let's not forget, this bill forces rural development programs to absorb a $34 million effective cut and decides who suffers. And it effectively endorses the Trump administration's plans for significant staffing reductions and, worse, customer service at Social Security.

The only increase for Social Security in this bill is to go after fraud and further Elon Musk's lies--his lies--about Social Security. It doesn't provide one additional dime to improve customer service-- something our constituents asked for. It doesn't reduce how long it takes to process benefit applications or to address the average, by the way, 1\1/2\ hour wait now to talk to someone on the phone. And that, by the way, is if you are the lucky 40 percent of the people who get through at all.

The House CR will mean that Musk and Trump are going to continue to fire workers and shutter offices. And it will be seniors and people with disabilities and their family members looking to Social Security in a moment of need who will pay the price.

Let's not ignore the massive shortfall in funding for new NOAA satellites or the serious risk of setting back weather predictions that every part of our economy hinges on.

Then, of course, there is the $700 million shortfall in this CR at HUD--at Housing and Urban Development--which means 32,000 fewer families getting help to keep a roof over their head.

Then there is this inexplicable fact that this CR actually blocks the District of Columbia from spending its own money for the fiscal year we are already 6 months into. That change, by the way, won't save the Federal Government a penny, but it will force DC to lay off police officers and teachers halfway through the year.

I could spend hours right here on the floor talking about what we lose out on, what our constituents lose out on with this CR and what is at risk with this flat funding and the major cuts.

When House Republicans refuse to write serious funding bills that strengthen our investments, they are putting people in danger--in danger--by undermining food safety, rail safety, workplace safety, and public health. They are doing nothing to help our families afford groceries or heating and cooling or get high-quality healthcare. There is nothing to fight fentanyl and opioids, build roads and bridges, and clean up our waters. There is nothing to improve access to healthcare for our rural areas, or uphold our responsibility to our Tribes, or advance cutting-edge tech, and so much more.

I would just note, we have never funded the Department of Defense through a yearlong CR. Never. What we are talking about here is irresponsible on multiple levels. It is irresponsible in the cuts that it makes to things like medical research, VA hospital construction, and so many other investments in our communities.

It is irresponsible in the glaring problems it ignores, like the recent natural disaster, or China's aggression abroad.

And it is irresponsible in the additional power that it gives the President at the expense of Congress and at the expense of the people we all represent.

I don't come here with rose-colored glasses. It is not that I thought this process would ever be easy--certainly not while the President lets the richest man in the world break our government--but I do continue to believe that it is our responsibility, as lawmakers, to ensure that our constituents' voices are heard and that Congress asserts its power.

It shocks me that any one of us here would even consider trading our power to help people in exchange for an empty promise. It shocks me that any one of us would be so eager to help an administration that is so dangerously willing to extort people, even lawmakers, to its own end.

Trump and Musk have made it painfully clear they want the exact power that this type of CR would give them. They want every Member of Congress, every Governor and mayor, every CEO, every Head Start program director to come groveling before them to get their funding turned back on.

That is not how this should work. That is not how this should work in America. They want you to come hat in hand and maybe--maybe--they won't fire as many veterans in their State. If you ask Elon really nicely and you also don't ask too many questions about his billions of dollars in conflicts of interest, maybe he won't kill the lifesaving research happening in your State; maybe he won't choke off the funding to the hospital your constituents need; maybe he won't pull the plug on those critical dam repairs the Army Corps was working on in your State. What sort of a deal is that, and what do they think is going to happen next?

Perhaps it is because I am one of the few preschool teachers here in the Congress, but I don't think enough of my colleagues have read ``If You Give a Mouse a Cookie'' because I have to think the lesson would be pretty darn relevant to what happens if you give a billionaire a slush fund--they just keep taking more.

And that is exactly what this bill does. It takes Federal funding and the money and the programs meant to help our constituents and gift wraps it for Trump and Musk to pick winners and losers, whether that means doling out stacks of cash to their billionaire buddies in their own company or whether that means punishing political enemies by cutting off money to blue States or blue cities.

And, look, just because you are a Republican and maybe you think you have an in with Elon's DOGE squad, don't think that means your constituents are safe because when your constituents are on the line, don't be surprised when Trump's rage at some mayor or Governor who puts your State's interests ahead of the President's ego wins out over any sense of obligation to thank you for giving him all this power in the first place, or when Elon Musk--the richest man in the world--stops making lame social media posts for long enough to hear you out. Don't be surprised when Musk values another billion dollars for one of his companies over the workers in your State he is firing left and right or the programs he is eliminating.

Look, my colleagues, this is not how it should be. Our constituents-- our constituents--elected us to be their voice in Congress, not their voice on the phone with Elon Musk, but that is what House Republicans want to reduce us to.

My message here today to all my colleagues is that it doesn't have to be this way. Despite what Trump and Musk would have you believe, the choice is not simply between writing them a blank check or shutting down the government. Anyone who tells you that is flat wrong. We--we-- have agency here. We have the power of the purse. We just need the common sense to use it. The path forward is not complicated. It is not unconventional. It is simple. We pass the short-term CR that I introduced the other day; we finish negotiating our bipartisan funding bills. By the way, that is not some impossible dream. We have done it before. In fact, we do it every year, even when it is incredibly hard. We were actually incredibly close before Republican leaders in the House left the negotiating room.

But we still have time to defuse this and to get back to the serious work writing bills that actually fund the programs our families rely on and actually make sure those funds get to where we--we as elected Members of Congress representing our constituents, our taxpaying constituents at home--where we intend them to go. We all agree Congress has the power of the purse, don't we? I am pretty sure that is a bipartisan principle. So we here in Congress should be able to find a bipartisan way to say that.

The true focus for me is transparency and accountability. No one has really explained to me why transparency is now a redline. How has that suddenly been too much to ask? I thought DOGE was all about transparency. I thought the whole idea was to hold government accountable. I thought we wanted to stop waste and fraud and abuse, not empower it and dismantle bipartisan guardrails.

Well, I just want to work that basic principle--accountability--into our bill, and I am open to different ideas on how we do that. I always have been.

By the way, while we are at it, it would seem like a pretty basic step in transparency and accountability for Elon Musk to come before a congressional hearing. So when are we going to work that out because I think at the barest minimum, it should be before we pass the CR that gives more power to him, not after.

So I strongly oppose the CR the House sent over. I hope my colleagues do the same. Defend your constituents. Defend your constituents, your taxpaying constituents, by protecting veterans, by defending cancer research, by the other investments and making sure that the infrastructure projects actually are built in your State. Defend your power as a Senator. Vote down this partisan bill that turns the government into a piggy bank for billionaires.

Let's immediately pass a short-term CR to prevent a government shutdown and finish writing those bills that keep our government working for the American people and to make sure our constituents have a voice in this process. I introduced a short-term CR to do just that. Democrats stand ready to work with Republicans to immediately get them done.

We are at a real turning point for how things will go. Isn't it worth taking a bit more time, working together a bit longer, and doing everything we can to keep us on a bipartisan path and to make sure we-- we, each one of us--protect our power of the purse, our power to be a voice for the people back home? Especially when we are so close. Especially when I think we all know that it is going to lead to a much better outcome for our constituents that we represent, for the people who sent us here to fight for them, who trust us to work together, as we have in the past, to make their lives better--even when the work is hard.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, if House Republicans don't think they need us when writing a bill, why should they expect us to support that bill, especially when it comes to taking funding away from our families who depend on it and hurting our communities and giving away Congress's power over key funding decisions?

Instead of working with Democrats to invest in working people all across our country and make sure our constituents have their voices heard in

government funding, Speaker Johnson abandoned talks and rolled out a bill that includes major cuts. It cuts nondefense discretionary funding by $15 billion in total in 2025 and hands a blank check to Trump and Elon Musk to pick winners and losers and steal from our constituents.

Make no mistake, the entire bill the House is voting on today is House Republicans' own doing, and it is a dumpster fire, so I am here to sound the alarm about that fire before it spreads. But, first, I need everyone to understand: The choice is absolutely not dumpster fire or shutdown. I should know. I introduced another option yesterday. It is a short-term CR that would give us the time to finish doing our job and negotiate bipartisan, full-year bills. There is no reason we cannot do that, and there is every reason that every single one of us should prefer actual bills that we write to help people over the bill that just empowers two billionaires who are running our government into the ground and our economy into a recession.

I really want to make sure all of my colleagues understand how bad this bill is. So if anyone thinks this bill from House Republicans is going to avoid chaos or avoid pain for our country, listen up because it is only going to add to the chaos.

This is not a ``clean CR,'' as some Republicans claim. It cuts programs our communities rely on, and that includes a major 44-percent cut to Army Corps projects that help mitigate against floods and hurricanes and much else.

It cuts medical research into diseases and conditions affecting servicemembers and their families by more than $1 billion. That is over 40 percent.

It leaves a massive $280 million shortfall in NIH's budget, and that is a big cut to research that saves lives.

It leaves a shortfall for housing programs. We are talking about 32,000 fewer vouchers. And that is just scratching the surface.

It also completely lacks the basic guardrails we include in all of our funding bills, on a bipartisan basis, each and every year, to make sure that our States and our communities are taken care of and not just subject to the whims of the Trump administration or any administration to pick winners and losers.

House Republicans are not trying to responsibly fund the government; they are trying to turn it into a slush fund for Trump and Musk to wield as they see fit so that they can shift their focus entirely to tax cuts for billionaires.

Right now, we--Congress--have the power of the purse. We have that power to fight for our States, to fight for our families, to bring Federal dollars back home and build bridges and feed families and care for veterans and fight fentanyl--whatever our communities tell us they need.

We should not cede that power with this bill. That is really worth sitting with for a minute.

We all chose to be here, to be here in Congress. We chose to take on this role so we can advocate for causes and communities that we care about and work in a bipartisan manner to reach compromise, to make sure that our causes and our communities get the support they need.

House Republicans' full-year CR would instead pass the buck to Elon Musk and unelected political appointees to decide who gets funded and who doesn't. Is that not why each and every one of us was actually elected, to fight for our States and to fight for our communities as the people who know them best?

I certainly know that is true for me. I have worked for years with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make sure that people back home who trusted us when we said we would fight for them always know Congress has their back.

So really think about that before you vote to make your voice mean less for the rest of this fiscal year because it is terrifying to think of what unelected political appointees would do.

We have already gotten an alarming preview of how Trump will threaten to cut off States and cities that might disagree with him, and Elon will totally work the government to benefit his companies and hurt his competitors.

I have to say, our bipartisan appropriations process is not always easy, but it is a heck of a lot better than handing over our decision making to this or to any administration. Voting against this bill is about standing for communities and families who actually rely on the funding and for our ability--every one of us--to be a voice for our constituents in Congress because what is going to happen when, perhaps, medical research funding gets sucked away from cancer and Alzheimer's all because a scientist worked somewhere previously and said that vaccines are safe and all of a sudden the funding is gone?

What happens when you can't get a bridge replaced because the political appointees at DOT don't like the policies your mayors advocated for?

What happens when they reduce staffing at national parks in your backyard because your Governor won't deny climate change?

The bipartisan directives we provide--we, Congress, provides--each year with our funding bills help guard against that kind of thing for any administration. And all of that is missing from this disastrous slush fund CR.

Through bipartisan compromise, we make sure our communities have a voice at the table, and our taxpayer dollars have a return on their taxes. We should reject this bill. We should pass a short-term CR to avoid a shutdown, and then we should do our job and work on full-year spending bills like we were sent here to do.

I yield the floor.