Floor Statements

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Kim), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the Senator from California (Mr. Schiff), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, you heard the speeches. We all did. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, speaking to cheering crowds at rallies, he would say, inevitably: Murderers, rapists, terrorists, the criminally insane, sexual predators that came into this country illegally, we are going to remove them.

He made that promise over and over again. Well, in Chicago, IL, we have seen what those words have led to.

For almost 3 months, Chicago, in my home State of Illinois, has been under attack by President Trump since he launched what he calls Operation Midway Blitz.

During that time, chaos and terror have reigned supreme. This operation isn't just targeting the ``worst of the worst''--the rapists, the murderers, the terrorists, the criminally insane. That is what he promised. But American citizens--legal residents of the United States-- and immigrants who have built their lives and raised their families here and pose no threat to public safety have been the actual targets.

A court forced the administration to come clean on this: Just how many of these dangerous, worst-of-the-worst criminals are you arresting, deporting in the process of Operation Midway Blitz?

The administration finally released their numbers. Six hundred people have been arrested under Operation Midway Blitz: 600 terrorists, rapists, murderers, criminally insane--except that is not the truth at all.

During Operation Midway Blitz, 16 people out of the 600 actually had a criminal history that poses a high risk to public safety--3 percent, less than 3 percent of all of those arrested. What about the rest?

These violent raids by ICE agents aren't just targeting adults; they are targeting families. I want to tell you the story.

Two weeks ago, Raphael Veraza and his 1-year-old daughter Arianna-- both citizens of the United States--were enjoying a shopping day at Sam's Club. The little girl is barely 1 year old. Who would have thought that a simple father-daughter trip to Sam's would turn into a trauma that these two people will never ever forget? But the Verazas became a target for ICE for obvious reasons: He was shopping while being Hispanic. Enough said.

Listen to what happened to this dad and his daughter because of Operation Midway Blitz of this administration. Mr. Veraza and his family said they were in their car when they heard a helicopter and cars honking. With the uptick in raids in the Chicago area, Mr. Veraza knew those sounds signaled that ICE agents were nearby. To keep his family safe, he decided to leave.

Unfortunately, before this American citizen and his 1-year-old daughter could drive away, a masked agent--masked agent--pointed a pepper spray gun through the family's open car window and fired the weapon at close range. The pepper spray hit Mr. Veraza in the face, and his daughter also breathed it in.

Because of this violent, unprovoked action from ICE agents, both Arianna and Raphael were briefly hospitalized. He told reporters after the incidents happened:

My daughter was trying to open her eyes . . . She was

struggling to breathe.

Does this incident seem like a Federal immigration agent setting out to make America safer? Does this man look like a rapist, a murderer, a terrorist, criminally insane, worst of the worst? What was his crime? Being an American citizen shopping at a local Sam's Club? His only crime was he appeared to be Hispanic.

Pepper-spraying a 1-year-old little girl and her father during a shopping trip is shameful and outrageous. If it happened to any of us on my side of the aisle or the other side of the aisle and you heard about this family, your heart would go out to them.

This man was doing nothing wrong. Yet he was treated like a common criminal because he is Hispanic.

President Trump is turning Federal immigration officers into his own secret, masked police force. I see it every day in the city of Chicago as reported. He is violating the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution to all of us, including the right to due process and the rule of law.

Let me be clear. The President and his administration's actions are not about politics, nor about public safety. It is time for all of us in Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to put politics aside, speak up, and condemn this growing threat to our democracy. If it happened in your hometown, you would be outraged, and you should be. It is happening in Chicago almost every day.

Healthcare

Mr. President, on a separate topic, America is facing a healthcare crisis that is unnecessary, and it is happening under this President's watch. Congressional Republicans spent the summer slashing more than $1 trillion from the Medicaid Program. This will threaten healthcare for 11 million people and jeopardize rural hospitals all across America. Smalltown hospitals--many of them will not survive.

Despite the President's promises, prescription drugs are still unaffordable, and Big Pharma continues to rip off American patients. And now, in just 6 short weeks, more than 20 million Americans will see their health insurance premiums double or even triple.

Imagine, if you will, when you take a look at what you paid last month for health insurance, that it is going to double on January 1 or worse. Tens of millions of Americans are terrified to look at their premium notices because Republicans have refused to extend the enhanced premium tax credits that made insurance affordable. In red States and blue States, for families, small business owners, farmers, and Americans nearing retirement, the peace of mind that health coverage brings will soon be out of reach.

With these tax credits set to expire, 4 million people will lose their insurance because their premiums will become unaffordable. They will be one sickness, one accident, one diagnosis away from absolute financial ruin or worse. Housing, utility, and grocery prices have gone through the roof already. Who can also afford to see their healthcare costs for their family double or triple? But President Trump and his billionaire buddies are out of touch. They don't have a clue what it is like to live paycheck to check and what the loss of health insurance means to a family.

As U.S. Senators, we can change that. We have the power to prevent these dramatic premium increases and avoid a healthcare catastrophe, but to use that power requires both courage and compromise.

As part of the agreement to reopen the government, which I voted for, the Republican leader promised to put a bill on the floor--one chosen by the Senate Democratic side--to extend the enhanced premium tax credits. So shortly after Thanksgiving, after we have enjoyed the holiday with our families, Senators will come back to Washington and make a fateful choice for American families across the Nation: Will we sit idly by while millions of Americans lose their healthcare coverage, or do we sit down, Republicans and Democrats, and solve this problem?

Why were you sent here to the Senate? Each Senator has their own explanation. I believe I was sent here to make life better for the people who live in my State and this Nation.

Can we find common ground? Can we reach an agreement? Can we do something that really makes a difference in the lives of our constituents? If we do it, they will be absolutely mystified that what they believe to be an incompetent Congress could rise to the occasion. The answer to this question is going to be closely watched by millions of Americans.

With each monthly premium payment or skipped doctor's visit, patients will be reminded of what we here decided to do.

Wouldn't it be amazing to end this year and start a new one by doing the right thing for these people who are victims of legislative decisions?

I was on the floor of this Senate 15 years ago--it was one of the most important votes I cast, to create the Affordable Care Act. Do you remember what life was like before the Affordable Care Act? I can tell you a few highlights.

If you had a preexisting condition or even a hint of such a condition, you either couldn't get insurance or it was limited in its coverage to a ridiculous level. You also had a situation where most health insurance policies never covered mental health or addiction.

I remember what happened on the floor of the Senate when we debated this issue. Why wouldn't it be covered? Why wouldn't we take mental illness as an illness and not a curse and something that could be treatable?

Well, two Senators stood up and argued to do that. One of them was Paul Wellstone--he used to sit right back there--from Minnesota. He was a character. I loved him. We all did. He was a college professor who took a beat-up, old schoolbus and got elected to the Senate from Minnesota.

A member of his family had a mental illness, and Paul Wellstone argued that we ought to do everything we can to help them and, first and foremost, make sure basic health insurance policies must cover mental health and addiction.

He had an unlikely ally who used to sit in that seat there to my right--Pete Domenici from New Mexico. He had been in the Senate for quite a few years, a Republican Senator, highly respected. He was one of the leaders in the Senate and had a child born with a mental illness.

He teamed up with Wellstone. What an odd couple politically. They got it done, so that you couldn't buy a health insurance policy in this country that didn't cover mental illness and addiction.

They didn't know at the time--none of us did--that we were going to face an opioid crisis and that addiction problems would not be confined to poor minorities but would touch many families who thought they were well beyond the reach of that scourge.

That provision was guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act. The insurance companies did not want to include it in their policies. We forced them to do it. Now to walk away from that kind of protection is unthinkable.

There was also a provision which was basically practical. We said: If you have a family health insurance plan that covers your children, it will cover them until they reach the age of 26.

Why would we want to extend to age 26? Because during that period of time, your son or daughter will be finishing college, looking for their first job, maybe struggling to make student loan payments and trying to get off on their own, and we would give them a helping hand by allowing them to stay on mom and dad's health insurance plan. It is very simple, it is very logical, and it works. Are we going to give that away as part of the war against the Affordable Care Act? I certainly hope not.

We can make the Affordable Care Act better, that is for sure. There are things we can do to reduce the cost of healthcare in America. One of them is pretty obvious.

Ever turn on the television recently and not see an ad by a pharmaceutical company? I doubt it. Almost every minute, night and day, they are running ads trying to entice Americans to ask for expensive prescription drugs. It is one of the main drivers in the cost of healthcare going up in America.

How many countries allow the pharmaceutical companies to advertise on television like we do in the United States? Only one other country in the world allows that--New Zealand. New Zealand.

Why do pharmaceutical companies want to do that? They want to entice you to ask your doctor to prescribe a drug that may help you. It has reached a point where Americans across the board cannot only pronounce but can spell Xarelto. We have heard it so often, over and over again. To ask a doctor for that drug is not uncommon because it has been suggested to you three times a day, every day, for months.

The American Medical Association and others say this is wasteful. People should be prescribed drugs they actually need rather than those that just might help them in remote circumstances. Little things like that can make a difference.

Senator Chuck Grassley and I introduced a bill to stop direct consumer advertising on television. It actually passed the Senate a couple years ago. Let's go back and make this part of the future of healthcare in America after--after--we have restored the tax credits that families desperately need immediate help on.

There is no excuse. We are going to have a new year coming soon, just a few weeks away. Families look forward to it and the opportunity. Give them a better life for millions of Americans by giving them help with tax credits to pay for their health insurance premiums. That is the reality of where we are.

I am committed to this cause because I know that it really makes a difference. As I said before on the floor, at one point in my life, as a young father with a little daughter who had a medical issue, I had no health insurance. I felt helpless. I don't want that feeling to be spread across America because of our lack of ability to reach a compromise. We can and we must. Rising premiums affect constituents in my State, and they affect those in Texas, South Dakota, Louisiana, Florida, Kansas, and Wyoming.

I believe the basic elements of an agreement are achievable. If Republicans are serious about preventing catastrophic premium increases, let's get together and get it done as soon as we return from Thanksgiving. We don't need to hold healthcare hostage and add extreme issues on its conditions to passing. We shouldn't undermine a deal to meet political goals.

Let's do something right for the families of America. They will be just amazed that we did, as they should be.

Global issues, such as proposals by Senator Sanders of Vermont-- Medicare for All as an option to health insurance--are worth a debate. Proposals by Senator Cassidy of Louisiana to privatize health insurance are worth a debate, there is no question about it. Let us make that the second item on the agenda after--after--we provide tax credits to help families pay for these health insurance premiums.

We can't upend the entire healthcare system in America by January 1 of next year. Let's get the highest priority done right away before Christmas. We have an opportunity. We have a responsibility to help Americans afford their healthcare, and that starts with a bipartisan vote in the Senate.

I hope my Republican colleagues will not waste this opportunity, nor should the Democrats waste it either. We need to make a real and positive difference for the people in this country who are counting on us.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) 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, 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.

I announce that the Senator from Massachussetts (Mr. Markey) and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.

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

Mr. President, if you put me on the spot and ask me how many times I have flown from O'Hare to Washington during the course of my congressional career, I couldn't guess. I am going to take a wild guess and say 2,000--2,000 flights in and out of O'Hare.

This morning, I had a press conference there, and it was important for those who count on that great airfield to know what I learned. I met with the air traffic controllers. Turns out that O'Hare, at this point, is the busiest airport in the world if you combine both passenger and cargo air traffic. It is also the case that, for more than 10 years, they have been understaffed when it comes to air traffic control. They don't have enough air traffic controllers. They have been working 6 days a week, 10-hour days, for at least 10 years and in the foreseeable future.

They are concerned about it. I am as well. They are doing their job and doing a great job in the process, but they are under pressure unlike anything most of us can imagine. They literally have the lives of ourselves and our families in their hands when they are directing air traffic around O'Hare.

Recently, when we had a government shutdown, there was a question raised as to whether or not we were going to reduce the number of air flights in America as a result of it. It was not an unreasonable suggestion because, when you consider that we need 14,000 air traffic controllers nationwide, and we have around 10,000, we already start off with a problem. Fortunately, the reduction in air service only lasted a brief period of time.

I met with those air traffic controllers today and told them that I voted to reopen the government, thinking of them and thinking of the recipients of the SNAP benefits and food stamp benefits across America.

But that isn't enough to be concerned about it. We need to do something on a bipartisan basis to solve this problem. We need more air traffic controllers. There are ways to do this, and I want to pursue those. We also need the very best in technology and equipment when it comes to the work that they do, and that can be improved. There seems to be a bipartisan feeling now that we should do something. Let's seize this moment and seize this opportunity and move forward in making sure that we have the safest and most modern air traffic control in the world.

I thank the men and women who continue to do their jobs so well at O'Hare and across the United States, but they have a burden that most of us don't even appreciate in their 6-day weeks and 10-hour days.

Operation Midway Blitz

Mr. President, on a separate topic now, for nearly 3 months, the city of Chicago has lived under the shadow of President Trump's Operation Midway Blitz, a cruel campaign that has swept up innocent American citizens, legal residents, and immigrants who pose no threat to public safety.

The Trump administration justifies this campaign by saying they are targeting ``the worst of the worst.'' Oh, you heard him give the speech over and over again. We are going after those illegal immigrants in this country who are rapists, terrorists, murderers, criminally insane--``the worst of the worst,'' as he says over and over again.

But the situation on the ground, the reality of the situation, paints a dramatically different picture. As part of these immigration raids, agents, ICE agents, and others have baselessly rounded up and disappeared people on the streets and in homes across the city, almost all of whom had no prior warrants or criminal history.

Terrorists? That is not the case at all.

I want to speak to you about one of the incidents that I ran across when I went back home last week. Two weeks ago, a viral video showed agents, Federal agents, storming through the doors of Rayito de Sol daycare and preschool center in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago. These ICE agents, in their camouflage uniforms and with masks on their faces, were dragging out a teacher while she screamed and cried: ``I have papers,'' in Spanish. That teacher's name is Diana Santillana, but her students--little girls and boys between the ages of 6 months and 6 years--know her as Miss Diana.

According to school officials, Diana had an authorization to work, and agents did not present a warrant when they entered the building.

This is the ``Meet the Teacher'' file for Miss Diana that is posted in the classroom of Rayito de Sol. This was the woman that the ICE agents went into the school and daycare center and arrested. The flyer describes Diana's love of early education and working with kids because ``it is one of the most rewarding experiences,'' in her words, and she likes to ``nurture and leave a mark on young ones.''

Does this look like one of the rapists, murderers, terrorists, criminally insane that President Trump has reminded us of over and over again? Of course not.

Thankfully, Miss Diana was released from detention after a judge ruled her mandatory detention was illegal.

They swooped her up out of this daycare center. She disappeared, and no one could find her, not family and friends--no one could find her. And then she turned up in a facility, I believe, in Indiana, and they released her from there.

What was this all about? Well, I will tell you what it was all about. It was about the reign of terror which Operation Midway Blitz is visiting on the city of Chicago.

Following her release, Diana said:

I love our community and the children I teach, and I can't

wait to see them again.

Does that sound like a terrorist rant?

I know they can't wait to see her. They love Miss Diana.

This incident has rattled this community in Chicago, especially the kids who attend Rayito de Sol who range in age from, as I mentioned, 6 months to 6 years.

This past week, I visited with the parents of some of these students, about 12 of them. They, of course, expressed concerns for her because they love her. Miss Diana is well-loved by all of these kids. They also worried about the impact of this incident on their kids--the questions and the nightmares that followed as these little ones were forced to see and hear the administration's brutality in full view.

In an interview later after the incident took place, one of the parents, Tara, said the families were ``traumatized.'' The ``children were crying.'' And the scene was one none ``of us have ever witnessed before and will ever forget.''

It is outrageous that children are exposed to this, but the Trump administration basically doesn't give a damn. There used to be a time when ICE didn't cross certain lines. DHS had policies against enforcement at schools and churches for this very reason--not anymore. They have got to go after ``terrorists'' like Miss Diane so they have to break all of the rules that have been established.

President Trump has touted Operation Midway Blitz as a resounding success. These raids aren't targeted. The administration is sweeping up people off streets while they are dropping off their kids at school or heading to work for simply looking Hispanic--good enough to be arrested and deported.

Don't take my word for it. Listen to what U.S. District Court judge Jeffrey Cummings said. In a lawsuit challenging warrantless immigration arrests in Illinois, Judge Cummings read from a summary he and his law clerks compiled of more than 150 pending immigration cases in which arrestees challenged their deportation. The judge said the circumstances of the arrests show that Operation Midway Blitz is not targeting hardened criminals, not targeting the worst of the worst. In that case, the Trump administration provided a list of more than 600 individuals detained during Midway Blitz. By their own data--their own data--just 16 of the 1,600 detainees have any criminal history that poses a high risk to public safety.

Do you know what percentage that is? Less than 3 percent. Terrorists, rapists, murderers, criminally insane--less than 3 percent have any criminal background.

All of this confirms what we have been saying for months. What is happening in Chicago with Midway Blitz is a political theater to spread fear, not reduce crime.

Oh, they struck fear in the hearts of the kids at this daycare center. They may never forget what they saw that day when the agents came in, in their camouflage and their masks, and whisked this poor woman out to deport her and started off by sending her to Indiana and then releasing her.

It made no sense whatsoever. This is political theater at its worst. Chicago deserves better. America deserves better.

Reports indicate Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino is leaving the city of Chicago. Let me tell you, he couldn't leave too soon from my conclusion. However, we expect immigration raids to continue in the city.

And Mr. Bovino has already taken his administration's brutal tactics that they have been practicing in Chicago to Charlotte, NC. In just one weekend, DHS agents raided a church and arrested at least one U.S. citizen simply because he looked Hispanic.

And in Mr. Bovino's own words, ``It wouldn't surprise me to see us in a city near you.''

So I ask my colleagues, especially my Republican friends who value liberty and freedom as much as I do: What is stopping this government from deploying tear gas in your home city? What is stopping them from pointing guns at your constituents? What does

arresting your fellow neighbors without cause mean to you in the future?

It is a legitimate question. Don't look the other way out of personal or political loyalty to this President. Look straight in the eyes of the people you represent and tell them you stand for the Constitution and the well-worn history of this country where we have tried to push back on tyrants. It is on all of us to call out these abuses of power and this trampling of civil liberties.

How can we say to Miss Diana, ``We are sorry''? We can say it by ending Midway Blitz as fast as possible and by reassuring the families there that we want to have a safe nation without the expense of our basic liberties.

I yield the floor.

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

[Rollcall Vote No. 619 Leg.]

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

Mr. President, after a record government shutdown of 41 days and 14 rollcalls failing to reopen it, the situation was clear. Donald Trump and the Senate Republican leadership were unwilling to do anything to reduce skyrocketing health insurance premiums, a terrible problem facing some 24 million American families.

The shutdown of the government stopped paychecks for thousands of Federal workers, causing real hardship for their families, including our overworked and understaffed air traffic controllers and many other critical members of the Federal workforce.

Food pantries in my State and across the Nation were overwhelmed when President Trump stopped SNAP food payments to 42 million Americans, one-third of whom were children. Food pantries were being overwhelmed as well by unemployed workers who had been laid off or furloughed because of the government shutdown.

So a group of Senators sat down to try to find a bipartisan resolution. After lengthy negotiations, an agreement was reached with the Republican Senate leader John Thune.

We will agree to reopen the government until January 30, 2026. During that time, we will pass three bipartisan appropriations bills that will fully fund SNAP, WIC, and all the veterans programs and finish our work on the remaining spending bills for this fiscal year.

The agreement would also reverse the Trump administration's mass firings during the shutdown and prevent future ones through January 30. We credit Senator Kaine of Virginia for this provision.

Leader Thune has also promised the Democrats an opportunity before mid-December to present a Democratic bill on the floor with proposals to change the law and protect American families from dramatic healthcare premium increases. It is my fervent hope that this ends up being a bipartisan effort. It would be such an achievement of the Senate to finally return to that status.

I have served in the Senate for 29 years, and I have never seen that kind of offer from a Senate majority. During the historic rollcall last night, I walked across the aisle and met with Senator John Thune, the Republican leader. I told him that I was counting on him to keep his word on this agreement. He assured me he would.

The fate of this effort depends on both the Senate and the House of Representatives. After a 7-week absence, Speaker Johnson needs to call his Members back and join us in the hard work that lies ahead.

Many of my friends are unhappy. They think we should have kept our government closed indefinitely to protest the policies of the Trump administration. I share their opinions of this administration but cannot accept a strategy which wages political battle at the expense of my neighbors' paychecks or the food for their children.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I have one word for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and on my side of the aisle--one word: enough.

It is time for us to get down to the business of agreeing on some basic things. I think we can.

The first thing we need to do is to agree to reopen the Government of the United States of America. I believe we should do it before the sun sets today at 5:02 p.m. and 39 seconds.

The second thing we should agree on is to protect the families who are facing outrageous increases in health insurance premiums across the United States. If we cannot address the Affordable Care Act and make dramatic changes, we need to legislate for that to happen. And that rarely ever happens around here, but it should. That should be part of our agreement.

The third thing is that we need to support a bipartisan appropriations process to fund our government. We are lucky; we have two leaders on the Appropriations Committee--one a Republican, Susan Collins, and another a Democrat, Patty Murray--who are competent and able to achieve that goal. It is time for us to get rid of the never- ending continuing resolutions and actually appropriate money for purposes that the public sent us here to honor.

The fourth thing is that we need to collectively apologize and pay in full all Federal employees and contractors as soon as possible. It is an embarrassment to come to work each day and realize that these wonderful people who are working with us--doing their job and doing it well and professionally--are not being paid.

Finally, we need to pass legislation to guarantee that this, the longest shutdown in U.S. history, is the last time Congress ever should be showing political resolve at the expense of food on the table for hungry children.

It is time for us to act. Enough.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, election night, this past Tuesday, should have been a wake-up call for many of my colleagues in the Senate. Americans lined up at the ballot box to demand the Trump administration start addressing America's affordability crisis. These voters want to go to the grocery store or a doctor's office without breaking the bank.

But the President I am not sure is even listening. Despite President Trump's promise to bring prices down on day one of his administration, Americans have been paying more for their groceries, electricity, and rent throughout this first year of his second term. And in 2026, they will be paying far more when it comes to healthcare.

You see, President Trump said on the campaign trail that he had ``concepts of a plan''--``concepts of a plan''--to make healthcare affordable. His real plan--and the Republicans' plan that they have been following for the past year--unfortunately, is going to mean Americans pay dramatically more for their healthcare.

In July, congressional Republicans passed--you remember the name--the Big Beautiful Bill, President Trump's budget bill. It cut Medicaid by $1 trillion, and it is going to result in more than 10 million people losing their health insurance.

Those cuts were not enough. As they unilaterally wrote and passed the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, congressional Republicans also refused to extend the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits. What is an enhanced tax credit? It means that you receive help from the government to pay your premiums for health insurance. These tax credits help more than 21 million people in America afford healthcare, and President Trump and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are choosing to let these credits expire at the end of this year.

Last week, people in my State of Illinois started receiving letters informing them of what is in store if we don't do something about this Republican action. They are going to find out through the mail what is going to happen to next year's health insurance premiums. They won't like it. And for those in my State who access healthcare through the ACA, these letters inform them their premiums will increase by an average of 80 percent, or an additional $2,500 per year--2,500 bucks, folks. How is that on the family budget? I know what it is; it is a killer for a lot of people.

For many others, those premium increases will be even higher, doubling and tripling what people are actually paying today. Folks don't realize this. They will soon, when they receive these letters. That is what they are in for.

What does it mean for many families in my State? Devastation.

I want to read some of the messages I have been receiving from constituents across Illinois, now that they see what happens to their hospitalization premiums because of this Republican action.

Todd is in Petersburg, IL, which is a small town in the middle of the State. He wrote to my office, and he said:

In 2025, I had a good plan, which was around $560 a month

[for health insurance]. Sadly, my option now [has] a monthly

premium of almost $1,400.

That is almost triple what he is paying now.

Scot, from Glen Ellyn, a suburb of Chicago, wrote:

My daughter just received her 2026 premium notice. Without

any . . . help, her [costs] will increase from $232 [a month]

to $788.

That is triple what she is currently paying.

Phyllis, from DuPage County, wrote:

I lost my job and have been on ACA [Marketplace] plans.

Last year my plan with dental and vision cost me $162 [a

month]. This year, without a subsidy, [prices are] going up

to $1,136.

From $162 to $1,136 a month.

[With] a higher deductible, more co-pays, and no vision,

nor dental [coverage].

She concluded:

This amount [they are asking for my health insurance] is

more than my [monthly] mortgage. It's not affordable living

in this country anymore.

If Republicans don't come to the negotiating table, Scot's daughter will see a $6,600 premium increase, Todd will face a premium increase of $10,000-plus, and Phyllis will pay $12,000 more for her healthcare. What family can handle that?

These are real stories from real families, real results of action that has been taken in the Senate. People are going to pay thousands of dollars more for their health insurance, and some will drop it. The director of insurance in Illinois estimates that 30 to 40 percent of the half a million people who are under the Affordable Care Act in Illinois will drop their coverage.

Will they get sick in the future? Sure, they will. Will they show up at the hospital even if they have no insurance? Of course, they will. Will the hospital treat them? Yes. Who will pay for that treatment? All the rest of us, because of this Republican action eliminating this tax credit.

So what has President Trump been doing as my constituents receive these awful notices? In the last month, he launched a $40 billion bailout for Argentina--$40 billion. We didn't vote for $40 billion; he just announced it.

He started construction on a grand new ballroom for his billionaire buddies at the White House, insisting it won't cost the taxpayers any money at all. And he bought two new private jets for Kristi Noem, the Secretary at DHS. And last week, he threw himself a lavish ``Great Gatsby''-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago.

The voters are fed up, and they showed it last Tuesday. As the President lives like a King, Americans are rejecting Republicans who show more interest in fawning over the President than lowering the cost of living.

There will be more election Tuesdays like this one if President Trump and congressional Republicans continue to refuse to sit down with Democrats and find a way out of this shutdown. We should be meeting today to open this government. We need to address this health insurance problem. It affects every district. In fact, it affects red States, those who President Trump carried, more than blue States. It is a national problem created by the Republicans, and it needs to be fixed by them. They have got to join us in this effort.

There is no reason we can't find a deal to stop millions of Americans from paying double or triple in health insurance premiums because the American people deserve so much more than mere concepts of a plan when it comes to healthcare.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Kaine for S.J. Res. 90, and I ask unanimous consent to be added as a cosponsor.

Mr. President, we are here debating a central Constitution precept, and I am glad. Throughout my career in the House and Senate, I have tried to be consistent on this issue and respect the Constitution and its wisdom.

I am going to say six words I very rarely, if ever, have said in my entire career in Congress: I agree with Senator Rand Paul. I believe what he has said on the floor today is in fact the way I feel about what this section of the Constitution means.

In one of the previous debates with the War Powers Resolution, War Powers Act being debated on the floor, Senator Kaine reminded us of that historic moment when the Founding Fathers decided to write this Constitution, which we have all sworn to uphold and defend. And leading that Constitutional Convention, of course, was the greatest general then and still in the history of the United States: George Washington.

Despite the fact that he was in the room and leading the conversation about what Constitution would govern this country, article I, section 8 put in a provision that basically said, when it comes to a future war, even if you are President, General Washington, that Congress would have the power to decide whether we go to war. Senator Kaine made that point in an earlier debate, and I thought it was well worth repeating.

Let me say a word about Venezuela. In 2018, I had the opportunity to visit Venezuela--a once prosperous, albeit imperfect democracy, suffering terrible economic and political decline under the disgraceful and failed leadership of Nicolas Maduro.

I told then-President Maduro that if he rigged any upcoming elections, Venezuelans would be even more isolated and endure further unnecessary suffering. He went ahead with a sham election anyway, leading to even more cruelty and the exodus of literally millions of Venezuelans, some to the United States.

Last July, Venezuela held another Presidential election, during which the regime, the Maduro regime, arbitrarily blocked opposition candidates from the ballot and tried to undermine the preelectoral process. Nonetheless, more than 10 million Venezuelans showed up to vote, and results meticulously documented by credible election monitors showed a sweeping victory for opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez. Maduro and his criminal enablers again refused to respect the rules and shamelessly refused to swear in legitimately chosen President Gonzalez.

So let me make it clear: Nicolas Maduro is an illegitimate leader guilty of turning Venezuela into a failed state, one that has caused terrible suffering and misery for the people who live there. This is not the question at hand. As I have long said, it is long overdue that the result of last year's elections be respected in Venezuela.

But let me be clear on a position I have also held for a long time regardless of who has been in the White

House. Only Congress, under the Constitution, has the power to declare war. Article I, section 8 is clear on this issue--and for good reason. Only the people's elected representatives should have the awesome power to send our sons and daughters into armed conflict.

I remember thinking about this in personal terms during the era of the Vietnam war when I was a college student, thinking about the fact that there had not been any formal declaration of war in Vietnam, and yet over 40,000 of my brothers and sisters gave their lives in that conflict.

Our Founding Fathers were wise in this regard and well aware of human history in which Kings and unelected leaders sent their people into war for personal gain without any public consent.

Congress overwhelmingly reaffirmed this key constitutional provision when it passed the War Powers Act in 1973 over the veto of then- President Richard Nixon.

Under the law, the President has the authority to approve military attacks as a response to an imminent threat or with the expressed authorization of Congress. I do not believe these conditions have been met in this situation.

We in Congress have already ceded too much of our constitutional authority on appropriations and other key items to the President. This body must not do so regarding matters of war.

I think about the idea of a war breaking out between the United States and Venezuela. Certainly picking off unarmed boats in the ocean is an easy task for our great military. But let's keep in mind that we live in a world where there is asymmetric power. What am I talking about? Take a look at what the drones--many of them pretty cheap pieces of equipment--have wrought in countries like Ukraine in the midst of their war. What would turn out to be a mass of force by the United States sent down in the Caribbean--there is sure to be a show of force, maybe subject to attack even by Venezuela, poorly armed country that it is.

So I would say that if we are thinking clearly about this, we would think long and hard before we engaged in any conflict with Venezuela. That is what article I, section 8 is about. The American people, before being asked to give any sons and daughters and risk their lives in a war, have to have a voice in the process, and they do that through Members of Congress and through our Constitution. That is what Senator Kaine of Virginia reminds us of today. That is why I will support S.J. Res. 90.

I yield the floor.