Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, last week, President Trump was asked to assess the state of the American economy. He said:

Very happy.

This is one of the rare moments where I can understand the President's thinking. In his eyes--and in the eyes of his billionaire friends--the economy has never been better.

In the first year of his second term, President Trump added $1.4 billion to his personal wealth through cryptocurrency ventures and licensing deals with individuals tied to foreign governments. He has made more money in office than any other President in the history of the United States.

And for his billionaire friends, the returns from the past year have been equally impressive. Elon Musk helped gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau right before it began to supervise his new digital payment platform.

Oil billionaires like the Koch brothers have seen decades of climate regulation overturned after their multimillion-dollar donations to the 2024 Trump campaign.

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, at least 88 of some of the largest corporations--including Tesla, Coinbase, and Palantir--made more than $105 billion in 2025.

How much did they pay in Federal income tax? Nothing. Zero dollars because of the Republicans' ``One Big Beautiful Budget Bill.''

Collectively, billionaires added $1.5 trillion to their wealth in 2025 alone, a 22-percent increase in 1 year. They really would be happy. It is no wonder the President is so bullish about the economy when everyone he golfs with is raking in record profits.

But if he asks any of the millions of working Americans what they think about the economy, I bet he will get a different answer. Most Americans don't feel like they are in the ``golden age of economic opportunity,'' in the words of the President. Instead, they feel like no matter how many hours they put in to provide for their family, the odds are stacked against them.

Ask a young couple trying to buy their first home if they feel the President has delivered on a housing affordability agenda. Ask a small business owner struggling under the combined weight of Trump's tariff taxes and his cuts to healthcare if they feel like they are benefiting from this so-called pro-growth agenda. Ask anyone who isn't part of the wealthy elite that President Trump surrounds himself with, and they will tell you they feel abandoned by the President, who promised to lower prices for families ``on day one.''

His war with Iran, reckless tariffs against our trading partners, and cuts and chaos across the Federal Government have damaged the economy and pushed many families to the breaking point.

In March, the Consumer Price Index--the leading measure of inflation--rose to 3.3 percent after the President's Iran war, which spiked oil prices and increased uncertainty for business owners.

One in 10 people nationwide who were on the Affordable Care Act last year were forced to drop their health insurance altogether after the President and Republicans in Congress cut Medicaid and ACA by hundreds of billions of dollars.

The price of groceries, childcare, rent, utility bills, and many other basic necessities keep going up, and the President and Republicans in Congress have not done nearly enough to help Americans make ends meet.

What has the President proposed when 82 percent of Americans say housing affordability is a concern? He has proposed cuts--billions of dollars of cuts--in housing and homelessness assistance.

What have Trump and congressional Republicans done for 6 in 10 Americans who are worried about being able to afford groceries? They enacted the largest SNAP cuts in history--the food program for those in low-income categories.

When it comes to working families, the administration has little desire to help them. Instead, the President is distracted with election conspiracy theories and anti-immigrant hatred.

When discussing legislation that would tackle rising housing costs, President Trump reportedly told Speaker Johnson that ``no one gives a [bleep] about housing'' and pushed Johnson to focus on disenfranchising voters.

That is not to say Republicans in Congress are doing more than the President to address the cost of living. Sadly, they are equally distracted by President Trump's current and changing priorities. This week in the Senate, instead of voting on legislation to lower costs, Senate Republicans chose to focus their efforts on a party-line package, a package of legislation that would give ICE and CBP up to $140 billion to continue the administration's reckless, cruel, and deadly mass deportation campaign.

They already provided a $170 billion slush fund for border and interior enforcement last June. They insist it is not nearly enough.

Imagine the potential if they put their energy into making America more affordable instead of this agenda.

The American people consistently say the economy is one of the most important issues our country faces. What does it say about Congress-- about our government--when we fail to pass any bill at all that meaningfully addresses these concerns?

America has lost faith in a President who is more focused on his own bottom line than enriching his country and Republican leadership that would rather deport hard-working families than help them afford the basics. Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. They are responsible for the chaos we face, and Americans are increasingly wondering, What have Republicans done to help their families?

My colleagues will need to find a better answer to that question than the current agenda of the Republican Congress or Americans will make their dissatisfaction known in November and usher in the beginning of the end of President Trump's last term in office.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine), and the

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, that is exactly the point. I support the Graham amendment. The reason I do is that under current law, undocumented immigrants who are convicted of rape, murder, or the sexual abuse of a minor are subject to mandatory detention and deportation. What we object to is what is happening on the streets of Minneapolis and Chicago. Fewer than 14 percent of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by ICE and the CBP had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses.

I support the existing law. I support the Graham amendment.

Vote on Amendment No. 5281

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

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

Mr. President, remember the rallies? President Trump would stand up at the rallies and say: We are going to get rid of the ``worst of the worst'' criminals who managed to sneak into the United States in violation of our immigration laws--the rapists, the murderers, the terrorists, the criminally insane, those who are exploiting our children. That was his goal, stated over and over again.

But let's look at the record. Earlier this month, in the midst of President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, members of my staff traveled to Southwest Texas to conduct oversight of ICE's Dilley family detention facility. ICE allowed my staff 2 hours--just 2 hours--for the entire visit and notified them of the limitation when they were en route to the facility.

What is ICE and this administration trying to conceal?

My staff's visit uncovered serious issues. Let me tell you some of their findings.

If the Dilley detention facility sounds familiar, that is because that is where ICE held 5-year-old Liam Ramos, the boy in the blue bunny hat and the Spiderman backpack, whose image symbolizes this administration's inhumane detention agenda as part of their gross deportation effort.

After public outcry and a Federal court order, 5-year-old Liam was released after 10 days, but that is not the outcome for many children being held at the Dilley ICE facility.

Hayam El Gamal and her five children--ranging in age from 5 to 18-- have been held for nearly a year. That is believed to be the longest anyone has been detained during Trump's second term.

Hayam's husband faces serious State charges for a violent attack in Boulder, CO, last June. There is no question that he should face the full weight of the law. But the FBI and an immigration judge found Hayam and her children engaged in no wrongdoing and had no prior knowledge of their father's horrific actions. Should they be punished for his crime too?

Just yesterday, a magistrate judge recommended the family's habeas petition be granted. The judge found the family had been detained in violation of their due process rights and recommended they be released after being held for nearly 1 year.

The judge ruled:

[T]he government has engaged in procedural maneuvers aimed

at thwarting the possibility of [El Gamal family's]

discretionary release from the moment they were taken into

custody.

If, despite the judge's recommendations, the Department of Homeland Security still objects to the release of an innocent woman and her five children, we know exactly why that is the case. It is not because they present any danger to the community or a flight risk. It is because they are immigrants--Arab Muslim immigrants at that.

Earlier this year, through their attorney, the El Gamal family submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee letters and drawings describing their life inside the Dilley detention facility in Texas.

In one letter, their 9-year-old child wrote:

We have been here for 9 months. I really miss playing with

my toys and my watch. Please get us out of here.

In another, the 16-year-old wrote:

I have seen, with my own eyes, food that has mold in it. I

even saw food with actual worms.

These are children in a facility run under Federal contract, paid for by you and me, the American taxpayers.

The mother has experienced despair and a recent medical emergency. Only 1 hour after my staff left the facilities, this mother was rushed to the emergency room in pain. The doctor recommended she receive an ultrasound. ICE denied it. Hayam has a history of cancer. She was denied a recommended diagnostic procedure. ICE is allowing this medical neglect, even when so many people are dying in immigration detention.

The El Gamal family's case is an extreme one, but, unfortunately, their experiences in detention are not uncommon, as there are widespread reports of inhumane conditions at ICE facilities across the country.

Earlier this month, the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association published a 22-year study of deaths in ICE custody. Its finding: The death rate in fiscal year 2026 is the highest in the entire study period--higher than any year on record, higher even than during the COVID outbreak.

And this year alone, 17 people have already died in immigration detention. They are people who died in American custody, many of them from treatable conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and infections.

This is happening inside a detention system that congressional Republicans injected with $45 billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and now the Republicans want to use the partisan budget reconciliation process to pour even more money into this system. It is a system where about 90 percent of detention beds are run by private corporations for profit--not care standards but profits--and they hit record highs last year.

In February, I sent a letter to Secretary Kristi Noem, sounding the alarm on the dramatic increase in deaths in ICE detention. While she was shown the door--and thank goodness for that--problems at these facilities and at ICE persist.

The El Gamal family has been at Dilley for nearly a year. Hayam is a mother. Her youngest children are 5-year-old twins. They have done nothing wrong. It is time for the Federal Government to heed the recommendations of the magistrate judge and release them.

As the partial government shutdown of DHS continues, House Republicans refuse to even consider the bipartisan Senate-passed bill to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP. Democrats will not fund cruelty without accountability. We will continue to demand the reforms ICE and CBP require, including the end of roving patrols, requiring a judicial warrant to enter someone's home and conduct searches, a uniform code of conduct to restore trust--one similar to those followed by police departments in every corner of this country--and clear identification and the removal of masks to improve accountability.

As they prepare to turn to the partisan budget reconciliation process to fund ICE, Republicans in Congress have a choice: Demand accountability for every dollar we give this Agency or keep signing checks to a slush fund while people are detained by ICE.

Remember what the President said? We are going after the ``worst of the worst''--the terrorists, rapists, murderers, the criminally insane, those who are exploiting our children.

Does it sound like this family, which has been waiting in detention for 1 year with no charges, fits into that category? Of course not.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) is necessarily absent.

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

Mr. President, when Kash Patel was confirmed as head of the FBI, I said that he had neither the experience, the judgment, nor the temperament for the job. Fourteen months later, Director Patel has confirmed my worst fears about his integrity and competency.

Director Patel has spent his tenure at the FBI weaponizing the world's preeminent investigative Agency to serve the political interests of one person--Donald Trump. Patel has fired dozens of career law enforcement agents simply because they were assigned to work on investigations related to President Trump's and his allies' misconduct. These firings have deprived the FBI of decades of experience at a time when our Nation is facing growing threats not only at home but overseas.

Director Patel has timed these politicized purges to shield himself from allegations of misconduct. After his embarrassing actions at the Olympics and whistleblower disclosures to my office describing how his misuse of FBI aircraft has negatively impacted high-profile criminal investigations, Director Patel tried to save face by firing even more people at the FBI who worked on President Trump's mishandling of classified documents.

Several of the fired agents at the FBI were part of a global counterintelligence squad whose responsibilities included investigating espionage and cyber threats from Iran. Just days before the war began, Director Patel deliberately undermined the FBI's ability to counter Iranian threats--all to distract from his own failings and mismanagement as Director.

An article recently published in The Atlantic revealed that Director Patel's behavior has been even more erratic and irresponsible than previously reported. Current and former FBI officials are worried that Director Patel has become a national security risk due to his chronic absenteeism and his personal lifestyle. Those at FBI headquarters and field offices often find the Director absent at critical moments, delaying time-sensitive decisions on important investigations that require his approval.

These accusations would be concerning for any government official, but for one of the people principally responsible for keeping America safe, they are downright disqualifying. Director Patel should be replaced immediately. Our country's safety is too important to be left in the hands of an unqualified and undependable individual who is loyal only to the President and not to the people of this Nation.

Mr. President, section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, is a valuable, important national security tool

for collecting foreign intelligence. The problem is that the government is also using section 702 as a backdoor for warrantless spying on Americans here at home.

FISA section 702 allows the intelligence community to collect the communications of foreigners who are overseas without a warrant. The justification for bypassing the Constitution's warrant requirement is that foreigners overseas are not protected by the Fourth Amendment. American citizens certainly are. But the government isn't just collecting the communications of foreigners; they are also collecting millions, if not billions, of communications of innocent Americans in touch with those foreigners as well. Our government then searches those private emails, phone calls, and text messages of Americans without a warrant. Congress has repeatedly failed to fix this end run around the Constitution's protection.

Unsurprisingly, without court approval for such searches, the independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and the FISA Court have documented shocking abuses of section 702 by our government. The intelligence community has used this authority to spy on American businesses, American religious leaders, political parties, campaign donors, journalists, and protesters across the political spectrum. And this was all before we had an administration which was expressly intent on targeting its political enemies.

In April 2024, Congress enacted the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which reauthorized section 702 for 2 years with reforms that were meant to rein in past abuses. However, these reforms failed to prohibit warrantless searches of Americans' communications collected under section 702. In fact, warrantless searches of Americans increased in 2025, with the FBI alone conducting more than 7,000 warrantless searches on Americans last year.

Just as troubling is the increase in so-called sensitive queries by the FBI under Kash Patel's leadership. These are warrantless searches of section 702 data that target religious leaders or organizations, politicians or political organizations, or journalists. In 2025, the FBI conducted over three times as many sensitive queries as in 2024.

These statistics are troubling enough, but with the Trump administration closing oversight offices, firing compliance staff, dismantling the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and failing to testify, the full scope of their abuses remains unknown.

The administration is also keeping the latest FISA Court ruling on section 702 secret from the American people. The administration acknowledged that the court found ``deficiencies'' with how the government is conducting 702 searches. Yet it hasn't released the court's opinion or the details of these ``deficiencies'' to the American people.

Meanwhile, POLITICO reports that Stephen Miller--the architect of President Trump's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Chicago, and beyond--is the White House's chief advocate for extending section 702.

Miller reportedly views section 702 as ``critical to a variety of homeland security missions.'' Why does Stephen Miller view section 702--a statute designed to collect foreign surveillance and intelligence--as critical to homeland security inside the United States? Well, in 2024, Congress quietly expanded section 702 to allow it to be used for immigration vetting.

How is the President exploiting this expansion of section 702 to carry out his mass deportation campaign? We don't know because the administration refuses to testify about the use of this authority.

Congress should not give Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and Kash Patel unchecked power to spy on Americans.

Last week, the House rightly rejected on a bipartisan basis attempts to renew section 702 without safeguards. Congress instead enacted a 10- day extension so it could reach an agreement on reform needed to protect our constitutional rights.

As in the past, some may argue that that is not enough time to enact reform before section 702 expires, but section 702 surveillance operates under yearlong certifications approved by the FISA Court. Even if 702 were to expire today, the law makes it clear that surveillance may continue under the current certification until March of 2027. There is no emergency excusing Congress from getting this right.

Congress should reform section 702 to protect Americans' constitutional rights and prevent further abuses. Senator Mike Lee of Utah--a conservative Republican--and I have proposed the bipartisan SAFE Act to do just that. Our bill includes a warrant requirement for conducting searches of U.S. persons' communications collected under section 702. This safeguard ensures that a judge, not the executive branch of government, approves the search.

There are exceptions for emergencies and other legitimate security needs to ensure that we can protect security and liberty at the same time. If the government has a legitimate basis for the search, they can make that case to the judge. If they do not, then they should not be rifling through private communications of Americans.

For too long, Congress has renewed section 702 without this basic protection from arbitrary government searches. Enough is enough. Congress should reauthorize 702 with sensible reforms to protect Americans from threats to their security and to their basic constitutional rights.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, today, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Andrew Bray Davis to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. I am deeply concerned Mr. Davis will not be able to put aside his partisan advocacy if he is confirmed to the bench.

Mr. Davis has repeatedly argued that the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act, FCA--a law that Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has championed for many years--violates the Constitution.

Whistleblowers who bring qui tam actions play an important role in holding accountable those who defraud the Federal Government. Of $6.8 billion in FCA settlements and judgments last year, qui tam actions comprised $5.3 billion in recoveries.

I am also troubled by Mr. Davis' refusal to disavow his controversial college writings. As just one example, he defended racist commentary from conservative pundit and former Republican official Bill Bennett, who said, ``I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.''

Mr. Davis defended this statement as ``essentially accurate.'' I recognize that nominees often write things in college that no longer reflect their views today. However, when I asked Mr. Davis whether he still believed that Mr. Bennett's statement was ``essentially accurate,'' Mr. Davis refused to answer.

Mr. Davis' failure to disavow his article is unacceptable. How can people of color have faith that Mr. Davis will treat them fairly in his courtroom if he is confirmed?

I urge my colleagues to oppose this nomination.

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman) and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, the Hebrew phrase ``l'dor v'dor'' means ``from generation to generation,'' and it is an important principle in the Jewish faith. This phrase describes the passage of beliefs, values, and traditions from parent to child, mentor to student. ``L'dor v'dor'' is a message of Jewish resilience, a testament to their continued spirit in the face of centuries of oppression. My friend Samuel R. Harris was the living embodiment of this maxim.

As one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust, Sam dedicated his life to telling his story of growing up in Nazi-occupied Poland. Sam played an indispensable part in expanding Holocaust education in Illinois, where he helped create the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. In doing so, Sam inspired thousands of people to stand up against hate, injustice, and oppression. Sam was a powerful force for good, and it is with deep sadness that I share the news of his passing.

Sam was born in Deblin, Poland, in 1935, as the youngest of seven children to an Orthodox Jewish family. His childhood before the war was filled with happiness and joy, but it would last only 4 short years before the Nazis invaded Poland in September 1939. Deblin was one of the locations where the Polish Air Force trained, which meant that it was a target for the Luftwaffe, who blanketed the city with bombs at the start of their invasion. Soon after, the Nazis arrived in Sam's town, where they terrorized and beat Jewish families. They evicted Sam's family from their home and forced them to live in one of the Nazi-created ghettos, designed to starve the Jewish population who inhabited them.

Sam lived in the ghetto until 1942, when the Nazis escalated their genocide campaign and began to round up families to be taken to extermination camps. As Sam walked with his parents toward the cattle car, his father pushed him out of the line so that Sam could escape execution. Sam ran and hid with his two sisters Rosa and Sara. Rosa, the oldest of the three, was forced to work in a labor camp outside of Deblin, and she smuggled Sam and Sara with her, as they were too young to survive on their own. Sam never saw his parents or his other siblings again; they were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp and murdered.

Sam and his two surviving siblings remained in Nazi concentration camps for nearly 3 years, where they were subject to daily abuse and torment. In January 1945, they were liberated by Russian soldiers, and soon after, Sam fled to Austria, then to America, arriving in Northbrook, IL, in 1947. When Sam arrived at his new home, he handed his adopted mother his suitcases and told her that he ``never wanted to see his luggage again.'' Sam had hoped to leave his experience and trauma under Nazi occupation behind. As he went through high school and college, he never spoke about his childhood in Poland. Sam would go on to graduate from Grinnell College and build a successful career in the insurance industry. He met the love of his life Janice--``Dede''--and had two children Julie and David.

Sam had built a life for himself in America, but he could not leave his past behind. In the 1970s, the United States witnessed a resurgence in anti-semitism, with the neo-Nazi marches in Skokie, IL, and Sam was increasingly encouraged by his family, friends, and other survivors to speak out about what he witnessed in Poland. Upon the insistence of Ernest Michel, Auschwitz survivor and Nuremberg Trials reporter, Sam became involved with the Illinois Holocaust Foundation. As Sam began to share his story, he took on a greater role in Holocaust education advocacy in Illinois. Sam pushed Illinois to become the first State in the Nation to make Holocaust education mandatory in public schools, which it did in 1990. He authored a memoir about his experience and went on to teach thousands of students about what he went through as a Jewish person suffering under Nazi occupation.

Sam's most enduring accomplishment lies in the creation of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, which opened its doors in 2009. Sam fought tirelessly for its construction, organizing donation drives, public interest, and governmental support. Before the creation of the new museum, the largest Holocaust education center in Illinois was barely equipped to handle 30,000 visitors in 1 year. Thanks to Sam, more than 100,000 students now visit Skokie every year to learn about the Holocaust and the importance of tolerance. The museum itself, while currently closed for renovations, is designed to contain a dark side, depicting Hitler's rise and the Nazi plans for the final solution, and a bright side, describing the joint resistance to Nazi fascism by Jewish and non-Jewish people alike.

In a way, the museum's format mirrors Sam's life. His childhood was filled with unimaginable pain and heartache, yet he never lost his faith in humanity. In his book, Sam wrote that ``everyone has both good and bad [in them]. I choose to look at the good.'' Sam embodied this sentiment every day. He was filled with love for the people around him, and he spent his time on Earth committed to the idea that through education and learning we might bring out more of the good in people. In 2014, Sam won the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, one of America's most eminent awards, in honor of his resilience and his advocacy. Despite Sam's numerous awards and accomplishments, he maintained that the best thing to ever happen to him was his wife Dede. Loretta and I send our deepest condolences to Dede, Julie, and Sam's grandchildren Jessica and Jeremy.

Sam wrote at the end of his memoir that ``good will prevail in the long run.'' Through sharing his story, his faith, and his unyielding optimism, Sam brought us closer to that reality. From generation to generation, Sam taught us the lessons of his past so that we may create a better future. May his memory be a blessing.