Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, a few weeks ago, the Catholic cardinal and archbishop of Washington, DC, gave a homily on the occasion of the annual celebration to honor and support immigrants. He made special note of what is currently happening across America, what he called an unprecedented assault upon millions of immigrant men and women and families in our midst.

He said:

This campaign [by this administration against immigrants]

relies on fear and terror at its core, for the government

knows that it cannot succeed in its efforts except by

bringing new dimensions of fear and terror to our nation's

history and life. ``Its goal is simple,'' the cardinal said,

``to rob undocumented immigrants of any real peace in

their lives so that in misery they will `self-deport.' ''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this homily be printed in the Record in its entirety.

A few days ago, some Jewish rabbis in the Chicagoland area sent a letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times on the same immigration crisis. They wrote:

On behalf of Jewish clergy serving communities across

Chicago and Illinois, we write in opposition to the

escalating campaign of fear and repression carried out by

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in our city and

suburbs.

In recent weeks--

These rabbis wrote--

ICE has disappeared people, used tear gas in residential

neighborhoods and shot at least two residents with live

rounds, one fatally.

At Broadview, agents fired rubber bullets on demonstrators,

including clergy members. In South Shore, ICE and Border

Patrol staged an overnight raid on an apartment building,

dragging families from their beds, separating children from

parents and leaving them handcuffed outdoors for hours.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this letter to the editor from the Jewish rabbis in Chicago be printed in its entirety in the Record.

Mr. President, I make a point now, since the arrival of the military from President Trump into the Chicago area, to go home each weekend and visit the neighborhoods that are under assault from the ICE agents.

I did that last weekend. I visited a suburb of Chicago known as Elgin, IL. People have heard of it, I am sure. It is the sixth largest city in our State.

The mayor, Dave Kaptain, is a true bipartisan man. It is no surprise that he has been mayor for almost 12 years. He is a good mayor and a good person. We met in his office and talked about what is going on.

Elgin was one of the first targets of President Trump and ICE. They sent in the agents in the early morning hours,

along with Secretary Noem of the Department of Homeland Security. They broke down a door to a home, raided it by removing the family and accusing one of the occupants of being undocumented. There was no allegation made that these people were dangerous criminals, nor was there any question that they are the ``worst of the worst,'' in Donald Trump's words.

Do you remember how many times he gave speeches at his rallies talking about these people who are now being disappeared by ICE? Remember how he referred to them--rapists, murderers, terrorists, sexual predators, criminally insane?

It turns out that of all of the people who were arrested, detained, and disappeared by ICE, 70 percent of those have no criminal record whatsoever.

So what is actually happening? The cardinal from the District of Columbia and the Jewish rabbis know, and we all know. It is a reign of terror--a reign of terror from this administration--not to make America safer but to make sure that people who weren't born here leave.

But, unfortunately, if you are a student of history, you know that is the story of America: immigrants who came to this country seeking freedom and opportunity and making this a great nation. My family tells that story, and I am sure most of the people listening to my voice can tell the same story. But what is going on now is a reign of terror.

I went to a section of Chicago known as Little Village. Little Village is primarily Mexican American. It is a great community--miles and miles of shops and stores and restaurants.

When I visited with them on Friday, they were largely empty. One fellow at the grocery store told me 50 percent of the customers have disappeared. Why? Because they are afraid. They are afraid to leave their homes. For what? To be arrested, to be detained, to disappear.

Oftentimes, we are asked to try to find someone who has been detained and get little or no cooperation from the Federal Agencies. These are the tactics of dictators in faraway countries, not American due process, but that is the reality of what we are facing.

I asked the mayor of Elgin what he thought about the population--the Hispanic population--in his town.

He said: Senator, 50 percent of the people in my city of Elgin are Hispanic. Many of them are immigrants. They make for a great community. We just had a beautiful festival, with 10,000 people showing up. It has been a tradition in Elgin for a long time, and one we are proud of.

He made a point of telling me that they are changing the ordinances in Elgin so as to make those who are protected by DACA eligible to apply to be firefighters and policemen. The one for policemen has been on the books for a while. Now they have expanded it to firefighters, and they have a long line of people interested--immigrants who are prepared to risk their lives to keep their community safe.

That, I think, is a great story of a great town, and I am proud to represent them.

But we cannot be proud of the tactics that are being used by ICE and by the Department of Homeland Security. If you are going after serious criminals, ``the worst of the worst''--the litany that is often given by President Trump in his rallies--count me in. I will be part of that. But to terrorize people in their homes, to make them afraid to go to church, afraid to go to the market, afraid to go to a restaurant, is not what this country is about.

There is only one parallel in history that I can think of that has occurred in my lifetime, and that, of course, would be the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. It was a discriminatory policy in the midst of a war that took these people from their homes and their businesses and held them in camps scattered around the West of the United States.

We look back on that, years later, and say: That was a terrible mistake. That is not what America is all about.

I was a Member of the House of Representatives when the U.S. Government, under President Clinton, issued a formal apology to Japanese Americans for that policy.

Sadly, we are building up another occurrence in the United States with the actions of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, when it comes to Hispanic Americans. Profiling is part of the process, and it is a disgrace that it is. That is the reality of what we face in Chicago, and that is the reality of what they are going to face in other States to come.

It is time for not only the clergy to speak up but the people who care to speak up, who believe in human life and the value of it and who believe that people need to be treated with respect.

Russia

Mr. President, on an unrelated issue, over the weekend, we witnessed another brutal Russian onslaught against Ukraine--a scene brazenly repeated after overtures made to Russian President Putin to end the war.

I do not begrudge President Trump for trying to engage with Putin. I have met with my fair share of autocrats in my political career. But Putin is not serious about negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. He is not driven by real estate or personal financial motivations but by deep personal grievances and twisted readings of history and nostalgia for the Soviet Empire--so much so that Putin has been willing to slaughter thousands of innocent Ukrainians, kidnap children, and send more than a million Russians to become war casualties in pursuit of his myopia.

We should also be under no illusions that this is just a Russian assault on Ukraine. It is an assault against the United States' values, and it is an assault against NATO and its allies.

Last week, again, Russia entered NATO airspace--this time, in Lithuania. The move followed years of increasingly provocative Russian incursions. And Russian planes have entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone at least nine times this year.

I welcome President Trump's recent decision to tighten sanctions on Russia. He can and should take further steps to increase military and economic pressure on Putin, and we in Congress should finally pass sanctions legislation, which has 80 cosponsors from both political parties, and we should do it soon.

Healthcare

Mr. President, on an unrelated topic, today, my constituents in Illinois will begin to receive letters from health insurance companies outlining the prices for next year's health insurance premiums. For many Illinois families, these letters will inform them that their premium costs will double.

Do you want to know why we are in a government shutdown? It is because of that letter that is being sent around by insurance companies to residents of Illinois and many other States this week. They are going to learn, unfortunately, that the cost of their health insurance, in many instances, is going to double--$1,000 or more for each one of these recipients--all because congressional Republicans have chosen to allow the Affordable Care Act's enhanced tax credits to expire.

These credits have helped millions of people in every State, but the Republicans want to get rid of them. They want American families to have to pay more for health insurance.

Last week, I sent a letter to the health insurance companies in Illinois, asking them what it will mean to lose these tax credits. Major health insurers, like Blue Cross Blue Shield and United, told me that the expiration of these tax credits will be a disaster.

In Illinois, these tax credits lower premiums by an average of more than $500 a month--$6,000 a year. Families who are struggling to try to pay electric and utility bills, struggling to pay grocery expenses, now face up to $6,000 a year more for the same health insurance they enjoyed this year.

When Illinoisans go online at getcoveredillinois.gov, today, to check their health insurance premiums for next year, they are going to see two devastating things: First, nearly 400,000 Illinoisans will have to grapple with the reality that they may no longer receive the premium assistance they received this year. These losses could reach hundreds to thousands of dollars a month, depending on the family size. Second, they will see that, across our State, health insurance premiums are going up approximately 30 percent next year, fueled by these expiring tax credits and the ``Big Beautiful Trump Budget Bill.''

It is a double hit--loss of the enhanced tax credits and underlying costs skyrocketing--all because the Republicans in Congress refuse to sit down with us now--now--and fix this problem.

Listen to what Melanie from Elmhurst shared with me. She said:

I receive a $379 monthly tax credit . . . without the tax

credit [my insurance] is unaffordable, plain and simple.

She is not alone. She is 1 of 100,000 people in my State and more than 4 million nationwide who stand to lose their health coverage because of this Republican decision.

Democrats tried to address the expiration of these credits this year, but the Republicans have refused to cooperate. Now is the time to get it done for families. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, whether they vote or not, should have access to health insurance.

If you are looking for leadership from the White House, we have to hope that the President will return from his trip and take up this cause.

I hope that the House of Representatives will actually come to the Capitol for the first time in 4 or 5 weeks. Their presence is long overdue.

I yield the floor.

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

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

Mr. President, I am sure that those who are following the opening remarks of the Senate today can sense the frustration, bordering on anger, with the current situation, the current status quo. It is shared on both sides of the aisle.

I have had the good fortune of serving in the House of Representatives and the Senate, representing parts of Illinois and then the entire State, for a big part of my life. I have watched these institutions, the House and the Senate, face frustrating, disappointing, challenging situations. I have found that the rule of thumb is, basically, if reasonable people will sit down to the table and put the items on the table and say, ``Let's see if we can find common ground,'' it usually works. It could work here too. We could reopen this government by the end of the day. I believe it. It is going to be even more difficult because the House of Representatives is not in session. I believe it has now been 3 weeks--maybe even 4 weeks--that they have been out of session. They need to be here, doing their job, helping to work to find a solution to this frustrating situation.

What exactly is behind the shutdown of this Federal Government?

Let me tell you. It is a serious issue that affects virtually every American.

Do you have health insurance?

I do. Most of us do.

Is it expensive? Yes.

Do you still need it? God, yes.

Without it, it would be even worse. With one automobile accident, one broken bone, one serious diagnosis, you could wipe out the savings of most American families. That is the reality. So health insurance is critical. People need it.

Do you know what is going to happen soon? I am sorry to say we are going to see a dramatic increase in health insurance premiums.

There was a debate here several months ago on what the President called his big, beautiful budget. The big, beautiful budget did many things, but in addition to some spending decisions, it made the decision that we were going to give a tax break to the wealthiest people in America, people like Elon Musk. His tax break, if I remember correctly--I don't have it written down here--was $230,000 a year. I would say that is a lot of money for most Americans. Mr. Musk, though, is so rich--a multibillionaire--he probably wouldn't even notice it.

But the $230,000 tax break for the wealthiest Americans meant that other programs needed to be cut. One of the programs that President Trump and the Republicans in Congress decided to cut--one was Medicaid.

Medicaid is a pretty universal program that affects millions of Americans and the services that they receive from clinics, from hospitals, even living in nursing homes. Medicaid is an important part.

The Republicans, in order to provide the money for tax cuts for people like Elon Musk, needed to cut $1 trillion out of Medicaid over the next 10 years.

What does it mean in my State? Well, we worry. Will rural hospitals or inner-city hospitals survive if Medicaid is cut? Will the nursing home people be able to stay in the nursing homes? Those are important and critical questions.

The second part of the decision by the Republicans in the big, beautiful budget to provide a tax break for the wealthy was basically to eliminate the tax subsidy that is available for middle-income families under the Affordable Care Act.

What does that mean? Well, for some people, they are going to see the results in the mail in just a matter of days. The target date in Illinois, which I represent, is October 27. Watch for the mail then because on October 27, you will receive a notice about what is going to happen to your health insurance premiums January 1. They are going to go up an average of 114 percent. So take a look at what you are now paying for health insurance and anticipate that it is going to go up. How much? I am not sure, but it could easily double.

For a lot of families who are struggling to survive, that is going to become a difficult challenge. How are we going to pay this premium? These are the same families who come back from the grocery store every Saturday and Sunday and say: I can't believe what has happened to the price of beef. I can't believe what has happened to the price of produce.

Across the board, people see the cost of living going up. And now an essential service--health insurance premiums--we are going to see this dramatic increase.

It is this increase that is going to affect millions of Americans-- over 20 million Americans--that is at the heart of this decision about whether this government is going to reopen.

We have said to the Republicans that we believe the American families need a helping hand and need it now--not something we talk about later but now--so that we can do something to stop these premiums from going up dramatically.

You know what is going to happen. When the premiums go up, some families will say: No problem. Making plenty of money. Hate it, but we can pay it.

Other families are going to say: How in the world are we going to do this? We are going to have to get a health insurance policy which has more copays and deductibles that are paid by us for virtually everything. So we are going to pay through the course of next year for this increase in premiums anyway.

Some will walk away and say: I just can't afford it. Can't make ends meet. Can't pay utility bills. Electric bills are going up and other things that we face, and this health insurance premium too. We are just going to have to drop the insurance and hope for the best.

I am sorry for those people because it not only means that they are facing risks in life without the protection of health insurance--we know statistically that when you don't have health insurance or any basic health insurance, that you forgo treatment and examinations. That is not good, it is not healthy, and it doesn't lead to a good result.

Is that an important issue for your family? I bet it is. It is an important issue for every single family.

That is what is at the heart of this government shutdown--the need for Republicans and Democrats to sit at the table and say: How can we spare American families from this premium increase that they are going to face inevitably--millions are going to face--with bad consequences?

Can we do it? Of course, we can. People of good will can reach a conclusion that they are going to find a way to compromise and see this issue come to an end. We need to do it now--not next week, not the week following, but now. There is too much hardship going on with this government shutdown, and it should not continue.

So my appeal is to the President: Delay your trip overseas.

My appeal to the Republicans in the House: Come back home--I shouldn't say ``home''--come back to Washington. Leave your home, come back to Washington, and go to work with us on a bipartisan basis.

Is that what America wants? You bet it is. To address this issue of health insurance premiums--do it on a bipartisan basis, and end this government shutdown. We can do it today.

There is a lot of furniture in this Capitol--I have seen it over the years--and there are a lot of tables. There are many tables big enough for the leaders in Congress and the President to sit down and reach an agreement. That sitdown ought to happen sooner rather than later.

Illinois

Mr. President, on another issue unrelated, last Friday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to green-light the deployment of National Guard troops in my home State of Illinois after the lower courts had temporarily blocked the deployment. In her decision, District Court Judge April Perry said the Trump administration has produced ``no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion'' in Illinois. Rather, Judge Perry found that ``the unnecessary deployment of military troops, untrained for local policing, will escalate tensions and undermine the ordinary law enforcement activities of state and local entities.''

Three judges on the Seventh Circuit Appeals Court, including one appointed by President Bush and another appointed by President Trump, considered that decision by the lower court and agreed with Judge Perry. They found that ``the facts do not justify the President's actions in Illinois. . . . Political opposition is not rebellion.'' That panel is right.

Last Saturday, I was part of the No Kings demonstration. We estimate there were 100,000 people in Grant Park at the Petrillo band shell. It was nonviolent. It was orderly. Oh, they were loud once in a while, but no one was involved in any sort of rebellion. They were exercising their constitutional right to express their opinion about the policies of this government.

I have been honored to represent the great State of Illinois for over 40 years in the Senate and the House. And, yes, like every State, Illinois has its challenges, such as addressing crime. But for the last two decades, the murder rate in Illinois has been lower than murder rates in Republican-led States like Missouri, Louisiana, and Alabama. Violent crime is down dramatically in the city of Chicago.

We should work together to build on this success and reduce the crime rate even more. But the President's actions in sending in National Guard troops even from the State of Texas to Illinois is not about public safety; it is about politics. His unjustified and unlawful attempts to deploy troops to Chicago and other American cities are a threat to our basic democratic institutions.

The Supreme Court should reject the President's petition to use these troops in America. There is no emergency that justifies bypassing the regular appeals process and resolving this issue on the Court's shadow docket without the full public scrutiny this issue deserves.

Just last week, I received a heartbreaking message from one of my constituents, PO2 Jessica Wendlandt--a hard-working provider at Lake County Health Department in Waukegan, IL. In her letter, Officer Wendlandt mentioned that some of her patients have stopped showing up for their appointments because ICE officers are camping out in front of the facility.

Picture it, if you will: People, families, taking their children in for a doctor's appointment--afraid to go, leave their car, and walk the short distance to the clinic because ICE officials, in their combat uniforms and masks, in unmarked vehicles, were lurking outside the clinic.

She said in what she wrote to me:

My patients have not been able to come to their medical

appointments out of fear of being taken.

These raids are impacting the ability of medical providers to provide basic family treatment.

Jessica also mentioned that she was treating a mother at the health center when the mother ``received several phone calls and messages that ICE [agents] had raided the apartment buildings right behind the facility.'' The patient was so distraught and in tears that treatment could not be completed that day because she needed to rush home to her other children.

Imagine for a moment the fear that a mother must have felt receiving a call from her kids, scared and screaming that masked men are trying to break into their home. Is this America? Can you imagine the confusion and fear those children must have felt seeing those men at their door, wondering who they were and if they were there to help them or hurt them.

It is not just at health centers in Illinois; ICE is camping out in front of city halls, schools, churches, regularly

outside of Home Depot, where they detained a father who was the sole provider for his two children, including a daughter with stage IV cancer.

Do you remember what led us into this situation? You heard it over and over at President Trump's rallies. Rapists, terrorists, murderers, the criminally insane, sexual predators were coming across our border.

Let me tell you, I will sign up with the President. We don't want those people coming into this country. And if they commit a crime while they are here, they should be gone, period.

Now let's talk about the others, the 11 million who have been in America working jobs, raising families, going to church, paying their taxes. They are the ones they are targeting. Seventy percent of the people who have been stopped by ICE in the State of Illinois--70 percent of them have no criminal record whatsoever. They are not rapists and murderers and terrorists. They are people who overstayed a visa. And they may be American citizens. The ICE officers obviously don't distinguish any difference there.

When will my colleagues on the other side of the aisle decide that the cruelty and fear tactics of this administration must stop? This is America. When will they choose to put an end to the racial profiling which is going on and the detention of even American citizens, including veterans of children?

This is all supposed to be about violent crime? It is not. Enough. If this was actually about reducing crime, President Trump would not be slashing programs that actually help local law enforcement. This cruelty is all for show.

While Americans continue to pay inflated prices at the grocery store and face the prospect of skyrocketing healthcare premiums, this is what the President is focused on: tearing families apart and separating kids from their parents.

Our country is better than this. It is better than this cruelty and lawlessness. Now is the time for us to stand up for the rule of law and our Constitution.

President Trump's claims of ``invasions,'' ``rebellions,'' or ``emergencies'' to justify calling the military into American cities are shameless attempts to bypass our constitutional checks and balances.

It was the Republican Governor of Oklahoma who said last week that if Governor Pritzker of Illinois tried to send his National Guard troops to Oklahoma, the people of Oklahoma and that Governor, a Republican Governor, would resist it. But that is exactly what is happening in my home State of Illinois. This President, without invitation, is sending National Guard troops in from Texas.

The Supreme Court should stand up to this administration's attempt to cut both Congress and the courts out of decisions squarely given to them by the Constitution.

Political opposition, peaceful protests, and nonviolent civil disobedience are not rebellion; they are the bedrock of our democracy.

Local law enforcement officials have proven they are capable, in Illinois and most places, of handling any unlawful or unruly behavior.

Illinois State Attorney General Kwame Raoul explained to the court:

No protest activity in Illinois has rendered the president

unable to execute federal law.

If the Supreme Court enables President Trump to deploy troops to American cities over the objection of State officials before the courts rule on the legality of the actions, I fear it is going to cause lasting harm to America.

I ask my Republican colleagues: Are you really prepared in your home State for the next President after President Trump to send in troops to your State without permission, without the consent of your government? Are you ready for masked soldiers to grab your constituents from their homes?

My constituents elected me to represent them in this fight. I implore you to do right by your constituents and push back against the President's illegal power grab before your State is the next victim.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I strongly oppose the nomination of Stephen Chad Meredith to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Like several of President Trump's other judicial nominees, Mr. Meredith has a long history of taking extreme positions on women's reproductive rights.

As a Republican political appointee in Kentucky, he sought a functional ban on the most common second-trimester abortion procedure and attempted to shut down what was, at the time, the last remaining abortion clinic in the State.

And he insulted women everywhere when he argued, in court, that doctors should be required to provide certain information to female patients because these women ``don't understand'' their own medical needs.

In addition to his extreme record on reproductive rights, Mr. Meredith's involvement in pardoning a host of violent offenders--and his total lack of candor on this issue--is disqualifying.

Then-Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin pardoned hundreds of violent offenders during his last days in office. Mr. Meredith served as Governor Bevin's chief deputy general counsel during this time.

There is incontrovertible written evidence that Mr. Meredith worked on at

least some of these pardons. Yet, during his hearing, he swore to this committee, under oath, that he had no involvement.

He testified, ``I learned about the Governor's last minute controversial pardons in the media after we left office.'' He also testified that he didn't have anything to do with Governor Bevin's controversial pardons. This is demonstrably untrue.

In written questions, Mr. Meredith admitted that, at Governor Bevin's request, he had personally gone to a prison to inform two inmates, in person, that they had received pardons.

One of those inmates had committed vehicular homicide. The other had been convicted of sexually abusing his six-year-old stepdaughter.

Mr. Meredith has radical views far outside the mainstream and was not forthright with this Committee about his record. I cannot support his nomination.

I announce that the Senator from Virgina (Mr. Kaine), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) and the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Schatz) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, local papers are the lifeline of our communities. They inform citizens of not only what is going on in their city halls, but their wedding halls as well. These papers connect Americans and remind us that we are part of a community greater than ourselves. This was something that Bruce Sagan understood well, and for more than 70 years, he saved newspapers, theatres, and helped preserve Chicago's cultural vibrance. Bruce was the embodiment of an engaged citizen; he was someone who constantly strived to support his community, and it is with great sadness that I share the news of his passing.

Bruce was born in Summit, NJ, and at just 16 years old, he moved to Chicago to study at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park. While professors may have missed Bruce in the classroom, they could not miss him in the pages of the Chicago Maroon, UChicago's newspaper. Bruce was an avid writer and supporter of the Maroon, constantly working to ensure that the paper covered the important issues of the day.

On UChicago's campus, the issue of racial discrimination was dominating the discussion. A group of students were working to expose the medical school's practice of rejecting Black students, and while students lined the streets in protest, Bruce was busy behind a typewriter, working to publicize their efforts and shine a light on discrimination. His work at the Maroon in support of integration was an early sign of the values Bruce brought to journalism.

Bruce's passion for journalism couldn't be satisfied by a student paper, so he left college and the Chicago Maroon to go work for the City News Bureau. Known across Chicago as the ``reporter's boot camp,'' City News

was a consortium of newspapers that coordinated routine coverage. It was an incubator of journalistic talent that helped launch the careers of legendary Chicago journalists like Mike Royko and Seymour Hersh. At City News, Bruce was one of the overnight editors, working from midnight to 8 a.m., or as he described, ``the mafia assassination beat.''

But 2 years after he joined City News, Bruce received an offer that would change the course of his career. One of Illinois' oldest local papers, the Hyde Park Herald, was failing, and a group of concerned citizens asked Bruce if he would buy the Herald to keep it in circulation. While the prospect of buying and saving a paper was daunting, 24-year-old Bruce charged ahead and took out a $2,500 loan to purchase the Herald. Thanks to Bruce, the paper did not miss a single issue. This began Bruce's long career as an owner and manager of local papers. Soon after Bruce purchased the Hyde Park Herald, he acquired the Southtown Economist, which he grew into dozens of local newspapers spanning across the Chicago suburbs. Under Bruce's leadership, these papers reached hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans as Bruce modernized their printing processes and pushed them to take a moral stand on the issues.

What made Bruce so successful was that he recognized the civic value of newspapers. In a Time Magazine interview, Bruce once decried how it was harder for someone to know what is going on in their own city than to find out what Khrushchev is doing in Cuba. Bruce wanted to demystify what was happening in Illinois. He took on topics that impacted every part of civic life, ranging from the corruption of political machines of Springfield to the protection of Frank Lloyd Wright's famous Robie House. Anyone who worked at the Herald often would see Bruce's office light on late into the night, a symbol of his tireless work in support of his city.

But Bruce's commitment to public life in Chicago did not stop at the edge of the bullpen; he also was a passionate supporter of the arts. In 1965, Bruce bought the Harper Theatre to create an ``off-Broadway'' experience in Chicago. Bruce moved the Hyde Park Herald's offices to the second floor of the theater and renovated the space as a ``monument to urban renewal.'' For decades, the Harper Theatre supported local musicians, dancers, and actors as they honed their crafts and shared their talents with the city. The Harper Theater was also where Bruce saw the Joffrey Ballet for the first time as part of the first modern dance festival in the Midwest, which he organized. Three decades later, Bruce helped facilitate the Joffrey Ballet's move from New York to Chicago.

While mentioning all of Bruce's contributions to support and save Chicago's various cultural institutions would be difficult, his efforts did not go unnoticed. In 2022, then-President Biden awarded Bruce with the National Medal of Arts. Cheering that selection was David Axelrod, who got his start working as a cub reporter for Bruce. I can think of no one more deserving of this honor than Bruce, a man who spent seven decades fighting to strengthen the ties of community and the richness of cultural life in Chicago.

But Bruce did not work alone. His wife Bette Cerf Hill was Bruce's faithful partner as they both engaged in and supported every aspect of Chicago's art scene, from literature festivals to architectural centers. Loretta and I send our deepest condolences to Bette; their five children Paul, Alex, Catherine, Teresa, and Diana; their 12 grandchildren; and their 9 great-grandchildren.

Chicago will be forever grateful for all that Bruce has done to enrich our cultural heritage. While we will miss Bruce dearly, his legacy will continue to benefit our city for generations. Whether someone watches a play at the Steppenwolf Theatre or reads the latest article in the Hyde Park Herald, I hope they take a moment to remember Bruce.

Mr. President, my friend and colleague from Wyoming believes that he knows who was in the streets last Saturday. I don't know where he was, but I was in the streets of Chicago. We estimate over 100,000 people were there. Were they the Marxists? the radical left? the anti-police? the pro-criminal? No. They represent the families of the State of Illinois who believe that the situation with this government is unfair to them, and I agree.

Why is this government shut down? It is basically an issue that goes to the heart of why we occupy these chairs, why we run for these offices.

Are we listening to the people who send us to Washington? If we are listening, they are telling us that something is about to happen to them that they cannot manage and control. What is it? It is that health insurance policy costs are going to go up dramatically.

On January 1, those costs are going to go up an average of 114 percent. That means double--double--your health insurance premium. Now, some people are comfortable and well-off, and they can live with it, but others cannot. That is the bottom line.

When you look at what happened here--the passage of the big, beautiful Trump budget--it ended up eliminating a tax credit that was available for people in middle-income categories to pay for health insurance. We know that is going to happen.

In my State of Illinois, on October 27--just a few days from now-- everyone who is in the Affordable Care Act is going to receive notice of the increase in premiums--like I said, an increase of 114 percent. So if you are paying $1,000 a month for health insurance now, on January 1, it goes up to $2,000 a month. That is the kind of thing that people have to cope with. We want to save them from that. All we ask is that Congress do its job.

Listen to the people you represent back home who are going to tell you: You just added a burden on my home budget that we can't handle. Senator, do something to help.

That is not unreasonable. I have done this job for a few years. Many people come to us asking for help, just like this.

How many people across America are going to be affected by this increase in premiums--this dramatic increase in premiums? Some say 24 million people--24 million people.

We say, on the Democratic side of the aisle, we were sent here to fix it. Let's fix it. When we say that to the Republicans, they say: We would rather shut down the government.

Shut down the government? It was your vote that created this premium increase.

Can't you join us now, Democrats and Republicans, and fix it?

Of course we can, and we ought to do it as quickly as possible.

Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, but our government has been shut down for 21 days over this issue. We have taken show vote after show vote on the Republican-crafted plan to fund the government. All of them have failed.

There is an obvious way out of this. I have been in Congress for a few years, and I know how this problem is solved. It is when people of good will sit down at the same table. There are thousands of pieces of furniture in this Capitol Building and lots of tables and chairs. Why is it we can't sit down and do it?

One of the problems is that the House of Representatives has gone AWOL; it has gone on vacation. I believe this is the fourth week that they have stayed on vacation instead of coming to Washington to help solve this problem. How do you explain that? How do you explain men and women elected to the House of Representatives who face a looming deadline on the increase of health insurance who don't even show up for work?

I talked to a number of Democratic Congressmen this morning. They said that you can't explain it. Everyone on the committee has important work to do, but the Speaker of the House refuses to call them back.

As for the Republicans in the Senate, well, today is going to be a spectacular day for them, I guess. They have been invited to a meeting--maybe even a lunch--in the Rose Garden of the White House with the President. If one or two of them would break off of that lunch and sit down with one or two Democrats, maybe we could start the conversation to solve this problem--and it is a real problem.

In Illinois, a 60-year-old couple with an income of $82,000 a year can see their annual health insurance premiums increase by $17,000 a year--more than 254 percent. That is $1,400 more a month for health insurance starting on January 1. A family of four earning $64,000 could see their annual premium increase by $2,571 a year. That is a 226- percent increase.

We ought to be concerned about that; we ought to care about it a lot more than any political position. Ask any American if they can afford to pay double for their healthcare insurance, and most of them will tell you that they can't.

These looming premium spikes are causing Americans to panic. Don't take my word for it; listen to the people I represent.

Karissa wrote and said that she has chronic conditions and takes several medications every single day. Karissa gets cancer screenings several times a year for breast and GI cancer because she is at risk, but if Republicans allow the increased premium tax credits to expire, Karissa said that she ``won't be able to continue those [treatments].''

Think about that. What a choice to make--your money or your life. What is going to happen if she is not able to get screened for cancer? Karissa may

have been able to prevent a serious issue early on by that screening, but now she may not know until it has progressed and costs even more to treat, if it can be treated at all--all because of this political difference wherein Republicans in Congress say that her health insurance premiums, even though they are unaffordable, are not a worry to them.

Ingrid from Springfield wrote to me, and she said she is ``in distress'' because she is afraid she won't be able to afford her medical treatment next year. She has a disability. She is retired. She struggles to pay a mortgage, utilities, student loans, and other debts.

Ingrid is also fighting cancer right now and needs ongoing medical treatment. When she checked her health insurance premium for next year, her jaw dropped. Ingrid wrote that all the options were quite impossible for her. The cheapest option for her health insurance came with a $1,400 a month premium and a $14,000 deductible. Ingrid is worried that she may lose her home just to pay for basic coverage.

No American should be forced to choose between their home and healthcare, their money or their life, but if my Republican colleagues continue to ignore this issue, more Americans are going to be facing just that decision starting this next year.

If Republicans in Congress fail to extend the enhanced premium tax credit before the end of the year, premiums for 22 million Americans will more than double. If we do nothing, premiums for 22 million Americans will more than double, and more than 4 million Americans will become uninsured, including more than 100,000 people in Illinois.

What is it like to live without health insurance? I faced that at one point in my life. I never want to face it again. It is a horrible feeling.

This isn't rocket science. Republicans do not have 60 votes in the Senate to pass their partisan bill that fails to do anything to lower healthcare costs. They must work with Democrats to fund the government and to prevent Ingrid, Karissa, and millions of other Americans from losing their healthcare. We can do that today. Instead of a vacation for the House and a picnic for Senate Republicans, we should be sitting down to get to work.

Senator Thune and Speaker Johnson need to go not to the picnic table at the White House but come to the table to bargain and do it sooner rather than later. Instead, Senate Republicans are heading to the White House for lunch. I am sure it will be nice, but if a couple of them could peel off and actually sit down and bargain, that would be a much better day for America.

It is unfathomable that Speaker Johnson has chosen to give the House a 5-week vacation amid this crisis. House Republicans must return to Washington and go to work or they will have to explain to an increasingly large group of constituents why health insurance premiums have doubled under the Republican leadership in Congress.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, let me first thank Senator Blumenthal for bringing us together on the floor this afternoon and also Senator Schiff for his excellent statement on this issue, which is so timely and important.

I speak to this issue in the usual, personal position. My State, my home State of Illinois--the State that I am elected to represent in the Senate, a State that I love--is under siege by this administration. If you think I am exaggerating, imagine, if you will, for a moment a President who has decided to declare that your town, your State is somehow on his list to face punitive action by the delegation of military force. That is what is happening in Illinois. That is what is happening in Chicago.

This last Saturday, we had the No Kings rallies across the United States. Millions of Americans took the time to peacefully protest this administration's policies.

In Chicago, I cannot tell you the number of people in the crowd because no one is sure. I am sure it was over 100,000. My wife and I looked at that sea of people at the Petrillo band shell in Grant Park and thought, how many people could possibly be here? They were there, and they marched peacefully, nonviolently, to really use their constitutional rights to express themselves.

The President has designated Chicago as uninhabitable, unlivable, violent. It is just a fraud and a lie. It is not true. Does Chicago have its problems? You bet it does. So does a city in the State of California or Connecticut or even Utah. Each of our cities has its challenges. There will always be someone who will break the law and disappoint you. But to argue that the city is dangerous and needs to be occupied by National Guard troops from Illinois and the State of Texas is completely, completely wrong.

I recall that the President was right in one respect. Two weeks ago, there were people running through the streets of Chicago--53,000 of them, as a matter of fact, in the Chicago Marathon and thousands of others who came there to witness and cheer them on. It was a beautiful scene on a Sunday morning and afternoon in the city of Chicago, and it certainly didn't tell the story that President Trump and others are trying to tell about the city.

Just last week, President Trump called the Insurrection Act ``the strongest power a President has.'' President Trump is known for exaggerating, but this time, he wasn't. In his hands--the hands of a man who wants to be King, who nearly every day undermines checks and balances in the Constitution--the Insurrection Act as it stands today would serve as another tool for dangerous Executive overreach.

Since its enactment in the 1800s, Presidents of both parties have relied on the Insurrection Act selectively, and, as we have discovered over time, the law is dangerously outdated, vague, and vulnerable to abuse if wielded by a President who refuses to act in good faith.

President Trump talks frequently about the so-called enemy within in the United States. He has no qualms about spreading baseless lies about a rebellion or an emergency in American cities to justify his abuse of power. Whether it is unleashing Federal agents to detain people based on the color of their skin in Chicago or improperly deploying marines for civil law enforcement in Los Angeles, you see example after example.

The Founders of this Nation designed the Constitution to protect generations of Americans from abuses unfolding before our eyes today. To prevent Presidents from using the military as a weapon of tyranny, the Framers of the Constitution constrained the role of the military in civilian affairs, gave Congress control over when the military may be deployed, and barred the Federal Government from usurping State powers.

While the Insurrection Act gives the President greater authority to deploy the military within the United States, it was never meant to be used for the purpose President Trump is proposing.

Congress must act to update this law to ensure it can only be used to safeguard the Nation, and I want to commend Senator Blumenthal for taking steps with legislation he has introduced along those lines.

If you don't agree with me, listen to what Jack Goldsmith, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel under President Bush, wrote in the New York Times with Bob Bauer just this last Monday. He wrote:

The Insurrection Act was written for a different century

and a different conception of the presidency and presidential

self-restraint.

Listen to what experts at the libertarian think tank CATO said:

The sweeping language of the Act makes it a potentially

decisive and lethal tool in the hands of an authoritarian

chief executive.

Earlier this month, the Republican Governor of Oklahoma criticized the deployment of Texas Guard troops to Illinois as a violation of ``States' rights.'' He went on to say further--to rightly call out the hypocrisy of his own Republican Party. Imagine the outrage, this Governor of Oklahoma said, if Governor ``Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.''

I can imagine it, and you can too.

Republican Senators who are quiet about the President's misuse of his office and misuse of power would not be quiet if their own State and their own towns were at stake in this debate.

The reform bill my colleague from Connecticut has introduced preserves Presidential discretion to respond to genuine crisis while ensuring accountability and oversight and reducing the risk of abuse.

I don't exaggerate when I tell you that, having spent my life in government service, I am more worried now than I have ever been about the fate of this Republic. But I see the possibility

of the use of the Insurrection Act by this President. I worry that our democracy will struggle to survive.

I believe so dearly in this country that I have taken an oath willingly and happily to uphold its Constitution. I have turned to military leaders under President's Trump first term that I respected, like General Milley, and asked him basic questions such as: Given a choice, are you going to take your orders from the Commander in Chief or from the Constitution?

He said: Always the Constitution.

We have a lot at stake now in this national debate. It is about a lot more than who gets the morning headline and who wins the next election. What is at stake is the future of our democracy, and this Insurrection Act can be misused by this President in ways unimaginable. We have seen evidence of it already in my State of Illinois and the city of Chicago.

I thank the Senator from Connecticut for leading us in this conversation that must continue.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Judge Moe is another example of President Trump's focus on nominating jurists who rule in favor in big business and conservative special interests, instead of serving as a neutral arbiter on the bench.

In a case involving a Florida law that makes it harder for plaintiffs to prove the amount of damages in a personal injury or wrongful death action, Judge Moe ruled in favor of defendants who sought to apply this law retroactively, despite the clear language of the law stating otherwise.

Her explanation for why she ignored the clear language of the statute strains credulity.

Republicans also claimed that Biden nominees who did not pass the Kennedy bar exam were not fit to serve on the Federal bench.

When asked where the Privileges and Immunities Clause is in the Constitution, Judge Moe could not correctly answer the question, nor could she answer what the Privileges and Immunities Clause does. And when asked about the Privileges or Immunities Clause, she similarly could not recall which amendment it is in, nor could she explain what it does.

As I have said many times before, there cannot be one standard for Democrats and one for Republicans. While the Kennedy bar exam is daunting for many nominees, if failing to answer questions for Biden nominees is disqualifying, the same should be said for Trump nominees.

I will oppose Judge Moe's nomination. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth) is necessarily absent.