Floor Statements

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

Mr. President, last Friday, Senator Tammy Duckworth, my colleague from Illinois, and I went back home to Illinois, to Broadview, which is a suburb of the city of Chicago. It has become quite well known around the country because it is a detention facility for ICE. I have been there many times in the past.

Every Friday morning, two wonderful women, Sister Pat and Sister Joanne, used to go to the Broadview facility and pray a rosary and then go inside and say goodbye to the detainees who were being deported by plane that very morning. It was a peaceful and reassuring experience because so many people were praying for those folks who were going to see their lives turned upside down.

The people who ran the facility couldn't have been more cooperative. They had a lawful responsibility, but they did not object to my entering the Broadview facility in years gone by, saying goodbye to the detainees and a few words of encouragement with the nuns who would accompany me. It became kind of a ritual which we were very proud of.

How things have changed. How things have changed. Senator Duckworth and I were simply asking if we could go inside and see what the facility looked like. Reports are that there seem to be large groups of people moving through there. There are only two cells and one bathroom. Those are the sorts of things which are part of oversight for us--to look at facilities and make sure they are humane, consistent with our values. But, unfortunately, over and over again, ICE has refused to allow Senator Duckworth and myself access to their operations in Chicago. I don't understand why. If they thought these operations were compliant with the law and accomplishing something good for America, they would certainly want the people to see them--those who are responsible for funding their Agency. The opposite has been true.

It was 3 or 4 weeks ago that we went up to the Great Lakes naval training station north of Chicago because it had been disclosed that they were leasing a

building to ICE. Senator Duckworth and I went there because this is a critically important Department of Defense facility. Every sailor in the U.S. Navy goes through training at Great Lakes--every one of them-- and we are very proud of the good work that is done to train them to serve our Nation. We wanted to know what ICE was going to do if they came to Great Lakes naval training station, as they promised. We have a legitimate concern.

Every Thursday, 900 to 1,000 of these sailors go through a graduation ceremony, commencement ceremony, and their proud parents sit in bleachers with their cameras following the events of the day, which are historic for each family.

So we understand that with 900 to 1,000 graduates, families come from all over the United States to witness this moment in family history that will be talked about forever--the day their son or daughter graduated from Great Lakes. We were concerned if ICE is going to go through and check everybody who looks suspicious--the Kavanaugh test: Do they look like they are Hispanic? What impact is that going to have on Great Lakes, on the men and women who work there, on the young graduates of the training course? What impact would that have if someone from ICE decided to start asking for identification papers-- passports, driver's licenses--of those sitting in the bleachers? It is not beyond the realm of possibility. In fact, it is a real possibility because we are watching what ICE is doing in the city of Chicago. It is terrible. It is indefensible. It is embarrassing.

I don't know if the ICE agents who are responsible for this conduct have been well trained, whether they are veterans of the force, or whether they answer the ads that show up on Chicago television all the time that ``If you will sign up for ICE, we will give you a $50,000 check, a bonus, to sign up.'' I don't know who is signing up. I don't know how many are signing up. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security refused to disclose that to Congress or to the American people.

They say it is justified. It is justified, the tactics they are using--wearing masks, with no insignia on their person that shows that they work for any Federal Agency whatsoever. They justify this by saying that it is so dangerous in the city of Chicago--dangerous in the city of Chicago.

I thought about that this weekend. They say in criticism of Chicago that people are fleeing the forces of violence. Well, there was some fleeing going on in Chicago this weekend: 53,000 runners came for the Chicago Marathon.

We are told that it is so dangerous in the city of Chicago that this President has to send in National Guard volunteers from the State of Texas who have been federalized and controlled by the Federal Government. Fifty-three thousand runners and over half a million tourists. Dangerous city? Not what I see. Can we do better when it comes to reducing crime? You bet. Isn't that true for just about every city in America?

When it gets down to it, the danger is not in the streets in the city of Chicago; the danger is what is happening when troops are being sent in to stand on street corners with rifles.

I am a fan of the National Guard. Tammy Duckworth, who was with me, spent 24 years in the Guard before she was shot down in Iraq. She loves those Guard men and women, considers them her brothers and sisters. I am sorry they are being dragged into this political theater being created by President Trump.

The reality is, what the ICE agents are doing in the city of Chicago is nothing short of outrageous. Innocent people involved in peaceful, constitutional, legal conduct are being assaulted by these officers. We live in an age of cell phones and videos. This is not something that we are making up; it is on the news every night. The people of Chicago resent it, and they should, and I join them in that feeling.

Yes, follow the law, but to abuse people who are simply there to protest the presence of these ICE forces--that is guaranteed acceptable and legal by our Constitution. Article I of the Bill of Rights makes that very clear.

So we left water for the volunteers who were there and those who were participating.

We asked to go into the Broadview facility, and once again, we were turned down. We are doing our best to make sure we continue to keep an eye on what is happening.

Restaurants in Chicago feel that the ICE agents are making things worse, not better. They started putting notices on the windows and doors and entries to some restaurants that ICE agents are not welcome-- and for good reason. When ICE shows up, people know it. Word spreads quickly, and people flee and hide for fear of what is going to happen to them. That is the reality of the strategy in Chicago, and it is the strategy which has to come to an end and should very soon.

If these men and women who are representing our government and ICE are proud of what they are going to do, let's have full disclosure. Let's find out what they have done, how they are spending the billions of dollars we are sending their way, and why that money isn't being spent on law enforcement now. If you want to help reduce crime and violent crime and murder, work with the police and law enforcement. But, no, that is not what the administration wants to do. They want their own show. They want their own theater.

I have tried to visit these facilities many times. Once again, I was disappointed this last Friday, but that is not the end of my effort. As long as I am serving in this capacity, I will accept my constitutional responsibility to watch how the money is being spent.

On Saturday, I spoke to peaceful protesters who have been demonstrating at Broadview for weeks. I went to St. Eulalia Church, which is just on the outskirts of Chicago, near Broadview. Hundreds of people showed up at that church to begin a holy procession to the Broadview facility and to ask if they could be allowed to go in and, if not, if they could distribute communion among the demonstrators as well as the law enforcement who were there.

It was a peaceful demonstration, and I was proud to be a part of it. It was an effort to bring to light, publicly, what is going on and to make it clear that Chicago is not a dangerous city and that the presence of troops sent by this President and this administration was totally unnecessary. Protesters facing tear gas and pepper spray from DHS is not making America any safer or Chicago any safer.

Hundreds of people rallied outside the ICE facility in Broadview, peacefully protesting. Were some arrested? Yes. Last Friday, of the hundreds who went there, how many were arrested? Four--four. Does that seem like a situation where you want to call in the National Guard from Texas?

And to think that the President claims that using a Federal military force will improve the situation. The reality is that the opposite is true. While the Guard is in Illinois now, it could be in your State next. It could be your family taken from their homes and their beds in the middle of the night, in a violent raid, as happened on September 30 in the 2200 block of the South Shore.

While I will continue to do everything in my power to push back on the President's military intrusion into our cities, I implore my Republican colleagues to stop and reflect on what is happening; to reflect on the deployment of troops into States which are not asking for help at all and don't need it. This is an illegal, unconstitutional power grab by the President, who is determined to consolidate his power and stifle any dissent. It does not make America safer.

Remembering Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt

Mr. President, on a separate topic, the phrase ``cura personalis'' is the lodestar of Jesuit education. It means ``care of the whole person,'' and it emphasizes the need for teachers to cultivate not just a person's mind but their spirit as well. No one embodied this ethos better than Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, and it is with a heavy heart that I share the news of her passing.

For more than half a century, Sister Jean shared her faith with her community in Chicago. She was a teacher--a professor--at Mundelein College before it affiliated with Loyola University, where she became an academic advisor.

She was famous on the basketball scene. Basketball players might remember Sister Jean as the de facto chaplain and mascot of the Loyola

Ramblers of the city of Chicago. Her cheers were louder than anyone else's in the arena. She helped to lead the Ramblers to the Final Four in 2018.

She was a wonderful person, and it was my good fortune to get to know her. Students at Loyola remember her as the person who always kept her office door open, a symbol of her constant willingness to take care of students, the whole person. In her pregame prayers with the team, Sister Jean would ask for God's grace in one sentence and give coaching advice to individual players in the next. She was more than a loyal fan and a coach. She was Loyola's spiritual captain.

I had the great fortune of working with former President Biden to obtain a Presidential proclamation to honor Sister Jean and the thousands of lives that she touched.

In thinking of her passing, I am reminded of Job 14:7. This passage speaks of the tree that was cut down and reminds us that it may, one day, grow again.

While Sister Jean is no longer with us, her legacy of kindness and grace will continue to push others to serve just as she did for her entire life. Her tender branch will sprout once more, embodied in those who choose faith, service, and love. Sister Jean will be dearly missed.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Illinois Senator Duckworth for inviting me to join her on the floor to discuss what is happening in our State.

Before I do, I want to make sure it is well known for those who follow this debate to explain how she became my Senate colleague.

There was a day some 20 years ago when I was given two tickets to the Presidential State of the Union Address, and my staff had asked me if there was any particular guest I would like to invite. I said: No, why don't you call out to Walter Reed military hospital and see if there is an Illinois veteran who can come and join us. They told me, shortly after that, that they had found someone who was coming.

I didn't know that person. Her name was Tammy Duckworth. She was in full dress uniform when she came into my office, merely a few weeks since her helicopter had been shot down over in Iraq, and she had gone through some terrible surgeries and was recovering. But she came into my office with a large smile on her face and her husband Brian pushing her wheelchair.

That was how we met. She was my guest at the State of the Union Address.

We became friends. I became an ombudsman for Walter Reed. She had soldiers calling me from all over the United States asking for help. I didn't regret it one bit. I was honored to do it.

So I worked up the courage to ask her if she would consider running for Congress, and she said to me: I would have to talk it over with Brian.

I thought, I have got a live one here. She sounds like she is interested, which she was.

Her first try for office was not successful for Congress, but she later became head of the Veterans' Administration for the State of Illinois and then ran successfully to serve with me as a Member of the House. When there was a vacancy available for the U.S. Senate seat, I not only encouraged her but endorsed her and did everything I could to help. I am honored to have her as my colleague.

She is an extraordinary person, has more bravery than any 10 people I know, and she has shown her devotion for this country by serving in the Guard for over 20 years--23 years?--23 years in the Guard.

So when it comes to issues involving the Guard, there is no better expert that has ever served in the U.S. Senate. Illinois is lucky; America is lucky to have Tammy Duckworth, and I am lucky to be able to join her today.

We are proud of our heritage in the State of Illinois. We call it the ``Land of Lincoln,'' and I recall an incident that is worth repeating.

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Edwardsville, IL. That is downstate near St. Louis. In this speech, he asked:

What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and

independence?

Lincoln emphasized that it was not America's army or the power of our weapons. The founder of the Republican Party Abraham Lincoln said:

[It is] the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty

as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.

This is what is responsible for the maintenance of our freedoms. How the Republican Party has changed from those early days.

Yesterday, President Trump deployed 500 National Guard troops to our State of Illinois. The President ignored the pleas from elected officials across Illinois that these deployments were unnecessary and unwanted and a dangerous escalation of a situation the President himself has created.

Leaders of the chamber of commerce and businesses in our State held a press conference and begged the President: Don't send in the troops. You are sitting here peddling a message which is not true. It is not unsafe in Illinois. People there are proud to be part of that State. We know we are not perfect. Like every other place, we can be

better and safer. But the use of Guard troops from Illinois or even from Texas is totally unnecessary and creates unwanted pressure.

That message was clear from the business leaders in my State, but President Donald Trump didn't care what they had to say. He wanted to deploy our Nation's military to Illinois to spread fear and sow chaos. And in both those efforts, sad to say, he succeeded.

The President has no legal basis for deploying Federal troops to Illinois against the wishes of the Illinois Governor. There is no rebellion or insurrection happening in our State. Americans have the right, under the First Amendment, to protest this administration's cruel and misguided immigration policy. There is no room for violence whatsoever in this exchange of information and points of view, but it is part of our constitutional guarantee.

There is no argument, as some of my colleagues claimed during our Judiciary Committee markup meeting this morning, that this is anything like the civil rights-era abuses of the National Guard by multiple Presidents to enforce desegregation laws when segregationist Governors in the South were defying Federal law and court orders.

President Dwight David Eisenhower, a general himself, federalized the Arkansas National Guard after the Governor outright refused to comply with the law and was preventing the Little Rock Nine from entering the previously all-White Central High School, following the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.

There is no argument and no evidence whatsoever that the Governor of Illinois is disobeying any Federal law or court order. There is no historical analogy between the situation in the 1960s and the situation in Illinois today.

In fact, the current administration has sued Illinois to attempt to commandeer State law and force Illinois to implement this administration's immigration policies. Courts have repeatedly found that Illinois does not have a responsibility to implement Federal immigration laws.

There is no statute or provision in the Constitution that allows the President to use the National Guard as props in his political theater or to suppress constitutionally protected dissent against his inhumane immigration crackdown.

In addition, the Trump administration has recklessly surged hundreds of Federal law enforcement officers who are employing increasingly aggressive tactics against immigrants and their families and those suspected of being immigrants. They have said quite boldly: We are looking for people who look like this, subject to jurisdiction.

They have pulled FBI, DEA, and ATF agents from their assignments to carry out the President's immigration agenda, taking them away from the mission to combat crimes like terrorism, gun violence, human trafficking, and drug smuggling.

How does this make America safer?

We all know the litany that Donald Trump has repeated over and over again at political rallies and meetings since he was reelected as President. He is trying to stop murderers, rapists, terrorists, criminally insane people, and sexual predators from coming into this country.

Look what is happening with this mass deportation effort that he has authored. Over 70 percent of those who have been detained by ICE so far--over 70 percent--have no criminal record whatsoever, none whosoever.

This is not about stopping crime. This is about going after immigrants. If the Trump administration truly wanted to help my city of Chicago and our State of Illinois, it wouldn't defy Illinois-elected leaders; it would work with us. It would restore the millions of dollars that it suspended in crime prevention and public safety grants.

How can this President say with a straight face that he wants to reduce crime in our State and cut back the very programs law enforcement counts on to train and be prepared and effective in the field when reducing crime? He has chosen to put boots and guns on the street and call in the military from Texas.

At the end of the day, these deployments are about President Trump and Stephen Miller's personal agenda to send troops primarily into blue cities and to deport immigrants without any criminal history at the expense of national security and public safety.

Nearly a quarter of all FBI agents--a quarter of them, one out of four--are now focused on immigration. How can this possibly make America safer? The tactics that are being used by ICE and others in support of the President's mission are outrageous.

On Tuesday, September 30, there was a raid in the middle of the night on an apartment house in South Shore in the city of Chicago. Three hundred ICE agents flew in Black Hawk helicopters and rappelled down to the roof of an apartment building. It was a scene made for the movies. That is exactly what it was.

They ransacked apartments that people were living in, crashed down their doors and pulled them out of bed and lined them up on the street. They bound the children with ties--plastic ties or handcuffs--and they decided to make it all a movie production for television and video.

It was supposedly to stop drug activities by gangs. No evidence whatsoever has been produced of that. It was a horrible scene. I am sure these children will never forget as long as they live being pulled out of bed in the middle of the night and watching their parents being interrogated, arrested, and detained.

That is the idea of this administration in enforcing the law. It just goes too far. Steve Miller, the President's domestic adviser, is the architect of this travesty. For any of you who may not think these deployments may not affect you, it is just Illinois' problem, you are wrong.

The very act undermines our Constitution and belief in liberty above all. As President Lincoln warned us in that same speech, ``Destroy this spirit [of liberty] and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors.''

While the Guard is in Illinois now, it could be in your State next; it could be your family taken from their homes and their beds in the middle of the night in an indiscriminate raid.

Does it sound preposterous? The 2,200 South Shore apartment building people can tell you it is not preposterous. It is actually what happened--have tear gas and guns pointed at you for speaking out.

Congress must act and speak out against this increasingly authoritarian administration. We are a coequal branch of government, and it is time we act like one. I implore my Republican colleagues--and I know they are loyal to President Trump--I implore them to join Senator Duckworth and me and describe these deployments for what they are; they are an illegal, immoral power grab by a President determined to consolidate his power and stifle any dissents.

If we here in this Senate Chamber, fortunate enough to represent the people in this country, will not stand up, then who will?

Once again, I want to thank my colleague Senator Duckworth for calling us down to the Senate floor to raise this issue. She and I are hoping, if the Senate schedule allows, we will be able to get back to Illinois this weekend and then have an opportunity to learn even more about this grave situation.

In the meantime, I ask people involved to show courage, to understand that the odds are against them, and the people who are trying to harass them are well-armed and can be very serious with what they do. But America's values will prevail over this President and this situation, and my State of Illinois will return to a situation where it is not being invaded by the Guard of other States.

Incidentally, I will close by saying this: I have no animus against members of the Guard, either in Illinois or in Texas. They are good men and women who put their hands in the air and swore an oath to our Constitution to serve our country. They are in a situation where they are being used, unfortunately, for a bad situation with this President, but we need them, and I continue to look forward to working with them in the future.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, today the Senate will vote to confirm Jennifer Lee Mascott, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Ms. Mascott is a nominee who was selected for her loyalty to President Trump and her extreme view on expansive Presidential power, which she has advocated for many years.

At a Federalist Society event in 2018, she agreed with John Eastman, President Trump's disgraced and disbarred lawyer, in stating that any independence of independent Agencies is ``too much.'' And just days before she joined the White House Counsel's Office, she stated that the Supreme Court should overrule Humphrey's Executor, the landmark 90-year precedent establishing the constitutionality of laws protecting the heads of independent Agencies from being fired. She claimed that ``the President needs to be able to . . . get rid of folks who don't follow his instructions'' at independent Agencies.

If Ms. Mascott's arguments carry the day, President Trump will be free to continue his holy war against bipartisan independent Agencies entrusted with protecting the rights and safety of Americans like the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. If he succeeds, something as important as consumer protection will be based on the whims of the political party in power, not the valued expertise of subject matter experts.

Just last year, Ms. Mascott told this committee that the Supreme Court's outrageous decision granting sweeping immunity to President Trump was ``modest.''

I am also troubled by Ms. Mascott's selection process for this Delaware seat. Nominees are required to provide details about how they were selected, but Ms. Mascott failed to provide the dates when she was interviewed by the White House Counsel's Office. Notably, the Delaware Senators suggested to the White House several well-qualified conservative jurists who had strong ties to the Delaware legal community. Ms. Mascott was selected although she has never lived in Delaware nor any State in the Third Circuit; she is not licensed to practice in Delaware; and she was only admitted to the Third Circuit this May.

For all these reasons, I urge my colleagues to oppose her nomination.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I came to the floor a few minutes after Senator Thune, the Republican leader, spoke, and I missed part of his statement, but I think I heard most of it. I listened carefully to the statement by the Senator from Wyoming.

Let me say at the outset that I consider them both to be friends. We disagree on many things politically, but over the years, I have come to work with both of them and look forward to doing that again someday.

I was disappointed in both of their statements because of what was not said. How can you talk about the government shutdown without ever mentioning healthcare costs to American families? How can you do that? I mean, it is a situation where we understand, I hope, that the Democrats are not in this position for any reason other than to stop the dramatic increase in healthcare premiums that American families will face unless we do something and do it now.

In State after State, the notices are going out that the cost of health insurance for working families in America is going to go up dramatically--in some cases, more than 100 percent. That is going to be hurtful to many. They will have to look for different health insurance plans that they can afford, which means more money out of pocket, or they are going to drop their health insurance coverage altogether.

How can the Republican leader stand before us and even refuse to acknowledge that that is the issue that drives this government shutdown?

The Republicans are insisting on their approach to the budget because they don't want to see American families protected when it comes to these

health insurance increases. And the increases are already being announced. Ten States so far have announced them.

October 27 is the magic date, if you will, for the announcement in my State of Illinois. I know what is going to happen. I am going to hear from hundreds, if not thousands, of families across my State that increasing the cost for families is creating a hardship they never anticipated.

We believe on the Democratic side that this is the time to act, now, to move together to stop these increases from taking place because these increases were part of the big beautiful Republican budget--the Trump budget, voted for by every Republican Senator and no Democratic Senators; the Trump budget, which, of course, he signed into law. That is what is leading to these increases, because the Affordable Care Act insurance plans are no longer going to enjoy a subsidy, a tax credit, to help families pay the premiums, and that is why the cost is going to go up so dramatically.

We can change it. We can do it, but we have to do it quickly. We ought to move on it this week.

I wish the House of Representatives were in session. They haven't shown up for 2 weeks. Speaker Johnson happens to believe that being AWOL is the right thing for his Republican Members. I don't think it is the right thing for America.

Democrats and Republicans should be in this Capitol negotiating, sitting at a table together, and the first item on the agenda has to be healthcare costs for American families.

All this talk about a dangerous game and radical-left policies and management--it is not a radical-left idea that a working family ought to have affordable health insurance; it is basic in America.

As flawed as our health system is in this country and as great as it is in many respects, if people cannot afford to have coverage for their family, then hardship follows.

That is the real reason.

They say: Well, what about the cost? Remember, this is an administration that wants to give $20 billion to Argentina. Twenty billion dollars this President is planning to give. I am worried more about 20 million Americans who will lose their health insurance if we don't do something and do it quickly.

The American people get it. This issue has gone from the beltway to the backyards of America. People know that this is coming, and they are worried about it, and they should be. They want us to do something, and they want it done now.

We are making the fight on this continuing resolution because it is timely, and we need bipartisan support to pass it. So let's do something positive in a bipartisan way, and dealing with the cost of health insurance is my approach that I would suggest.

Illinois

Mr. President, let me take this to another issue that is near and dear to my heart, and that is what is happening in my home State of Illinois. We all know the popular quote:

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first

time.

Or, in President Trump's case, if a person shows you who they are a million times over, believe them.

President Trump has shown us his unlawful and inhumane priorities over and over again, city after city. He continues to deploy militarized immigration agents and National Guard troops to more American cities purely for political theater. He wants America to talk about the Texas National Guard in Illinois, not about healthcare costs facing American families.

But it is not going to work.

Unfortunately, the men and women of the Texas National Guard who are in the State of Illinois, as of yesterday, have been sent off on a political assignment, political theater. Instead of working to find a bipartisan way to reopen the government, lower the cost of healthcare, President Trump is focused on scoring points against his perceived enemies.

Just yesterday, 200 or 300 members of the Texas National Guard joined Federal law enforcement officers in Chicago, along with President Trump's loyal FBI Director Kash Patel. The truth is that the arrival of the Texas National Guard and the FBI Director will not make Chicago safer; it will only escalate the unnecessary and dangerous situation this President himself has created.

I still can't get the image out of my mind from 2 weeks ago, when the ICE officials, in full combat gear, carrying long rifles, were marching down Michigan Avenue. It was a hateful effort that was used to provoke people into strong emotional feelings. This administration's unlawful use of military resources to police American cities makes our country less safe, and it is a mistake that will be remembered in the history books.

I pray that the court system will respond accordingly as they did in the case of Oregon and Illinois when the hearing tomorrow is brought before the Federal judge. Deploying the Texas National Guard without the consent of Illinois elected officials is, in my estimation, unnecessary and unlawful.

The Posse Comitatus Act expressly forbids the use of our Nation's military for civilian law enforcement unless expressly authorized by statute or the Constitution.

National Guard personnel do not deserve to be used by the President's political pawns. Let me say and make it clear: As much as I regret the decision by the Texas Governor to send his National Guard troops into Illinois and as much as I want them to leave immediately, I do not make those statements at the expense of the individuals who are in the Guard and volunteered to serve their State and Nation. The same thing is true with the federalized Illinois National Guard. They are doing what they were ordered to do according to the military standards.

But the bottom line is, we all know they are not fighting crime. If the Trump administration truly wants to help Chicago--and I don't believe they do--and Illinois, it won't defy our elected leaders; it will work with us. It will restore millions of dollars the Trump administration suspended in crime prevention and public safety grants. Instead, this administration has chosen to use America's military to create chaos and sow fear in our cities.

We all agree on the importance of reducing crime and making our communities safer. The President claims his aggressive immigration raids and threats to deploy troops are to help get violent criminals off the streets.

I have come to the floor 2 straight days, and this is the third, to condemn what happened last week in the city of Chicago on Tuesday. A South Shore apartment building was raided in the middle of the night. Doors were crashed down, families were rousted out of their bedrooms, many of them brought out to the street and questioned as to whether they were in America legally. Some were American citizens. We don't know how many. We certainly don't know if there were any criminals found as a result of that. No report.

But we do know this: What happened on that street on that night was not the way America does business and shouldn't be. It was to terrorize these families, with no warrant for their arrest and no suspicion that they committed crimes, simply because they looked Hispanic and maybe looked like foreigners--I am not sure. This action was taken against them.

These attacks are part of Stephen Miller's personal agenda for mass deportation at any cost. They pulled FBI, DEA, and ATF agents from their assignments, important assignments, to stop narcotics and other things to carry out the President's immigration agenda. They stopped working on fighting crimes like terrorism, gun violence, human trafficking, and drug smuggling to land a helicopter near a building in Chicago and to bring 30 families out into the street in the middle of the night.

I have fought for humane reforms to our immigration system and evidence-based ways to reduce crimes in our cities. If the President is serious about fixing our immigration system or lowering crime in our communities, I will join in on that effort. But sending in militarized Federal immigration agents and National Guard troops to our communities is not the way to do it. These actions have accomplished what I believe is the President's true intention: sowing fear in the hearts of our communities, especially our immigrant communities, and consolidating the President's power in Washington.

The actions taken by this administration undermine the very fabric of America, a nation that was founded on the belief that all people should be free from tyranny. I remember a time when every Member of Congress would have risen in outrage if an administration attempted to use the military unlawfully against cities and communities and States that they represent. Unfortunately, this time has passed. There is nothing but silence from the other side of the aisle. Congressional Republicans are content to stand aside in abject servility to this President as he tramples the Constitution.

But Americans should not stay silent. People across Illinois are peacefully making their voices heard and letting this administration know the attacks on our city will not go unchallenged.

As a Senator from Illinois, I will do everything in my power to hold this administration accountable for their unlawful actions. They may think this is a diversion of attention from the basic issue of controlling healthcare costs and helping working American families afford their health insurance. I think it is much more. It is a threat to our Republic and our Constitution, and I hope that others will join me in condemning this activity.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, today, for the first time since her confirmation earlier this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer for her tenure in the Office of the Attorney General for this calendar year.

From the outset, the Attorney General was not, apparently, happy to be there. She ducked many questions, and I think she believed we wouldn't notice. We did.

In her opening statement, the Attorney General said that ``playing politics with law enforcement powers,'' as she claims previous administrations have, ``will go down as a historic betrayal of public trust'' and that ``this is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people's faith in our law enforcement system.''

That is interesting coming from an Attorney General who, over the course of 8 very long months, has presided over exactly such a betrayal of public trust. The Attorney General has systematically weaponized the Department of Justice, turning it into a shield to protect President Trump and his allies and a sword to attack his opponents. She has made clear that her loyalties lie first and foremost with the President, not with the Constitution. In doing so, she effectively shut down justice at the Department of Justice, even before the party controlling the White House, Senate, and the House of Representatives shut down the government.

Last week, on the Senate floor and in the wake of the Federal indictment against former FBI Director James Comey that was ordered by President Trump expressly, I warned of the dangers posed by weaponizing the Justice Department in a political fashion.

A President, enabled by people like this Attorney General, who can warp the Department of Justice and FBI into a personal police force to target his enemies, can turn it against ordinary Americans too. Unfortunately, the city of Chicago, which I am proud to represent, is feeling that today.

In an especially egregious instance in the city's South Shore neighborhood last Tuesday night, hundreds of armed Federal agents rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters and swarmed an apartment building in the South Shore area. This made-for-movies entrance was into a building, which apparently the ICE agents knew little about the occupants.

ICE rampaged through the building, breaking down doors, rousting people

out of bed, rounding up the residents without cause, detaining many with zip ties, including women and children. When one of the ICE agents was confronted with the children, he said, ``F---- them kids.''

Detaining not just immigrants but U.S. citizens for hours on end, with no justification, isn't fighting crime; it is cruel, and it is un- American.

Attorney General Bondi's Justice Department has defended this dubious legal basis for Federal deployments to Illinois and diverted Department of Justice personnel and their components to assist with these efforts. So, today, many of us pushed her for answers.

I asked her if anyone at the White House consulted her about the National Guard deployments to Chicago and other cities. She refused to answer that she even had a conversation with the White House about their justification for sending hundreds of National Guard troops into the city of Chicago.

I asked what secret the Attorney General was trying to hide from the American people who deserve to know the legitimate legal rationale for deploying American military to our cities. She responded by attempting to blame Democrats for the Republican shutdown and attacking me for not ``loving Chicago as much as [I] hate President Trump.'' That was a quote.

I have been a member of the Judiciary Committee for 20 years-plus. Never have I encountered a witness from any other administration of either political party responding to legitimate questions with personal attacks. She had a personal attack crafted for each one of the Senators and thought she was getting the best of us. But that kind of unserious response is what we have come to expect from Trump administration officials whose priority is loyalty, not the rule of law.

If DOJ is serious about reducing crimes, then they would work in conjunction with State and local leaders to implement evidence-based policies that do drive down violence. The fact is, this administration actually cares more about spreading fear into the hearts of our communities and catering to the vengeful whims of President Trump and Stephen Miller. It is political theater with an immense human pricetag.

I also asked the Attorney General about the Epstein client list. She wouldn't touch it. She said in February, publicly, that the client list was ``sitting on her desk.'' Well, it is October, and the American people are still waiting for answers on this. She refused today to provide any information about this list, and we know why.

A few months ago, a credible whistleblower told my office that FBI agents were instructed to flag any mention of President Trump from the files of Mr. Epstein. If true, that is not law enforcement; that is political protection. So I pressed her again today for more information to be made public. She refused.

Mr. President, what we saw in today's hearing was an Attorney General unwilling and maybe unable to defend what is happening in her Department. Whether it is the Epstein files, Chicago immigration raids, sweetheart deals for Trump allies, or the mass purging of career law enforcement, her silence tells a story.

Saying ``I'm not going to discuss this with you'' may have worked today, but one day, she will need to answer for her conduct in this role, and she will need to defend her record--one that saw the dismantling of the Department of Justice for political purposes on her watch.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, on Friday, in the midst of a Republican- led government shutdown, President Trump revealed his priorities. It isn't to protect the healthcare, the health insurance of millions of Americans who are about to lose their insurance or see premiums skyrocket. No, that is not it.

The President's priority is to deploy militarized immigration agents and National Guard troops to more American cities. Why? Purely for political theater and to advance his extreme agenda.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday last week, while this government barreled toward a shutdown, President Donald Trump launched a military law enforcement assault on the city of Chicago. In the city's Southside neighborhood, hundreds--hundreds--of Federal agents, many hiding their faces with masks, rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters, darted out of disguised moving trucks, armed with military-grade weapons, to descend on a targeted apartment building in the city of Chicago. They swarmed through the building, knocking down doors, tearing up homes.

It appears these agents knew nothing in advance about the residents whose homes they were destroying. In fact, in the dead of night, Federal agents reportedly started checking on the residents as they brought them out of the building, residents that included American citizens and children. They checked on them to see if maybe they had an outstanding warrant for their arrest or were undocumented.

Picture this, if you will: You are with your family in an apartment building, a helicopter lands on the roof, Federal agents with masks on batter down your doors, drag you and your children out of their beds into the street, and start an interrogation as to whether there is any undocumented person present.

America.

Many were yanked from their homes and their beds and detained shirtless and without clothing. Some were detained using zip ties, including children. Here is what one witness of the events said:

Kids were crying. People were screaming. They looked very

distraught. I was out there crying when I saw the little girl

coming around the corner, because they were bringing the kids

down, too. [They] had them zip tied [together].

In the middle of the night in the city of Chicago, an assault on an apartment building in America. The witness continued:

One of [the agents] laughed [out loud]. He said ``f*** them

kids.''

Four U.S. citizen kids with undocumented parents were separated from their parents who were taken into custody.

Secretary Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security posted to social media a highly produced video of the raid--her version of the story--because that is all this is to them, a promotional video, political theater. But the human toll has been immense.

What if it were your child yanked out of his bed in the middle of the night, hands zip-tied behind him, brought down with few, if any, clothes on, standing in the street, while all this is happening, watching his parents be arrested in America?

In another case, ICE agents fired a pepper ball into CBS Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei's car. What was her crime? Driving by the Broadview ICE facility to report on the protests there. It is known in the Constitution as freedom of the press. It doesn't seem to impress Kristi Noem.

I have long fought for humane reforms on our immigration system on a

bipartisan basis and evidence-based ways to reduce crimes in our city. If the President is serious about fixing our immigration system or lowering crime in our communities, I am all in. But sending in militarized Federal immigration agents and National Guard troops to terrorize Chicago or any American community in any State is not the American way.

These actions have accomplished, I believe, the President's true intention here: spreading fear in America, especially among immigrant communities.

And he has been very successful. I go to these communities virtually every weekend when I return to Illinois. I meet with the people who live there. They are scared to death, people who have been here for years, no criminal record, no reason to be removed, working and paying taxes are afraid to shop and afraid to go to church.

Last week, on the floor, I warned about this, and I have for some time now. The President's decision to unleash military personnel against the city of Chicago and American communities is another pillar in his master plan to weaponize the Federal Government against those he views as ``the enemy within.'' Where did that phrase come from? From the mouth of the President of the United States speaking to the military leaders of the United States. He told them to be fearful of ``the enemy within'' and to use American cities as their training ground.

Think of that. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ranted to law enforcement agents on the eve of their Memphis deployment that they were, ``unleashed.'' Stephen Miller's word, ``unleashed.'' Does that sound like law and order? Does that sound like the rule of law? ``Unleashed.''

In addition to Memphis and Chicago, this President has targeted cities like Los Angeles and Portland, reckless immigration raids, unnecessary deployment of military power over the objection of State and local officials. I fear these disturbing developments are the latest indicators that we are on a slippery slope into control by the Trump regime.

The President is attempting to overturn the Department of Justice, the FBI, ICE, and the military into his own personal police force. This not only erodes trust between communities and the people tasked with protecting them, it is an existential threat to civil liberty, the rule of law, and the core of values of who we are as Americans.

This is what is at stake. This is a defining moment we are in. In times like these, you have a choice. You can stand up and speak out or you can be silent or maybe you can cheer. It is your choice as Americans. But think about if it were your family in the middle of the night, people crashing through the doors yanking you and your children out of bed into the street, arresting people.

Remember what the goal was when we got started with this? The President made it very clear. We were after undocumented people, illegal people in the United States who were rapists, murderers, terrorists, criminally insane, and child predators. The President was very explicit. These are the people we are going after. We will tell you their names as we arrest them.

So what percentage of those that have been arrested with this mass deportation detained by ICE, what percentage of them have a criminal record? Fewer than 30 percent. By a 2-to-1 margin, innocent people are being dragged into this in the middle of the night in the city of Chicago in an apartment building. Children are being treated like pawns in the Trump political game.

Today, Illinois attorney general Kwame Raoul filed a lawsuit to block the administration's unconstitutional attempt to deploy troops in Illinois.

I join with all of my Democratic colleagues in the Illinois delegation who are calling on the President to immediately rescind this unnecessary and dangerous deployment of the military to Illinois.

I have spoken personally to the Governor of our State, JB Pritzker, several times this weekend amidst this development. He did not ask for the National Guard troops to be sent in from Texas or anyplace. There is no need for it to either protect Federal facilities or to protect the people living in the city of Chicago.

I am going to continue speaking out as the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I appeal to my Republican colleagues who are watching this in silence: It could be you. You could have an opportunity soon for the President to send in troops.

It is not likely as much from the Republican side, as very few of their communities have been targeted, but if you happen to live in a State that didn't vote for Donald Trump, buckle up. He is coming down on you, whether it is California, Oregon, or Illinois.

I will close with this: At that Tuesday morning raid, videos taken at the scene showed detained immigrants being held in an adjacent parking lot across the street. A woman is seen and heard calling out in broken Spanish:

I will always love you.

Where is the humanity in tearing families apart?

If there is a dangerous person, for God's sake, put him in a separate category, but families who are doing their best to get by and struggle, who work and pay taxes, and who have children who are citizens of the United States should never be treated like this in America.

In an interview recently, Secretary Noem was quoted as saying:

This country is a country of laws. If you don't like the

laws, go change them. We are enforcing them.

She said:

That is sending a message to the whole world.

The Secretary is right. The administration certainly sent a message in Chicago on Tuesday night--a shameful message and one that shouldn't be part of American history.

Terrorizing families with midnight raids and troops in our streets is writing a shameful chapter in our Nation's history. This is going to make America great again?

President Trump is not intent on fighting crime; he is intent on spreading fear. In doing so, he is destroying the values which define us as Americans.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich) and the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Rosen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich), and the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Rosen), are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich) and the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Schatz) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I am sure that you can agree, having been involved in public service for a large part of your life, that sometimes it takes a long time to make an idea a reality. That has happened many times to me in my public career and, certainly, in my home State.

In 1969, 56 years ago, former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley proposed extending the Red Line of the Chicago

Transit Authority, and yet, still, to this day, residents of the Far South Side of Chicago don't have that transit option, at least not as they should.

Transportation can make or break not only employment but attending school, even making it to a doctor's appointment. For decades, residents of the Far South Side viewed this extension as just politicians talking.

That changed this past January, when the Federal Transit Administration officially obligated $1.9 billion in Federal funding for this crucial extension. After waiting over 50 years, it was finally going to be a reality. This project will expand transit access to 100,000 people. It will be an economic boost for the city and create tens of thousands of jobs for working families.

However, guess what: today, a news flash from the Trump administration. We received news that the OMB Director, Russell Vought, and the U.S. Department of Transportation have decided to illegally freeze $2 billion in grants for Chicago, including the obligated grant for the expansion, and risk decades worth of effort.

This is in addition to the $7.5 billion in Department of Energy grants Director Vought canceled yesterday, including 33 projects totaling almost $700 million in Illinois.

So why would this administration decide to target thousands of working families when it comes to their electric bills and when it comes to transportation? Because President Donald Trump wants to punish States like Illinois and the people who live there because they didn't vote for him in the last election.

This is petty. It is unfair. It is wrong.

These vindictive actions will cost Illinoisans jobs. Many of them will lose their employment. And it is going to raise the cost of electricity across the country.

Freezing funds for these projects is a blatant abuse of power by a President and an administration that would rather settle petty personal scores than actually help people.

OMB should immediately release any freeze on these funds, and I will do anything I can, with Senator Duckworth, to hold this administration accountable for its decisions, which continue to hurt working families.

Nomination of Stanley Woodward, Jr.

Mr. President, on a separate subject, the upcoming vote on more than 100 nominees is exactly what I feared would happen when Senate Republicans violated Senate rules to fast-track nominees. This has opened the door to rushing through more extreme nominees who have one qualification for office: They are blindly loyal to President Trump.

That extends to a man named Stanley Woodward, the nominee to be the No. 3 official at the Department of Justice.

Let me make this clear: Mr. Woodward is not even close to qualified. He has never--never--worked at the Justice Department before this administration. What he has done is show his loyalty to Donald Trump by representing Trump associates for their roles in thwarting investigations into the President.

As Associate Attorney General, Mr. Woodward would oversee some of DOJ's most critical programs, including the Office of Justice Programs and the Civil Rights Division. As senior adviser to Attorney General Bondi, Mr. Woodward has already been involved in gutting these offices.

The Trump administration has terminated hundreds of millions of dollars in grants administered by the Office of Justice Programs that support State and local law enforcement. The Trump administration also has gutted the Civil Rights Division, which has been known for years as the ``crown jewel'' of the Justice Department.

About 70 percent of the Division's attorneys have been forced out--70 percent--and many, many staff have been diverted away from crucial efforts to protect the civil rights of all Americans, so long as they sign up for the mass deportations of the President.

Mr. Woodward also overruled Antitrust Division officials to personally negotiate a settlement with lobbyists in DOJ's challenge to Hewlett Packard's $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. The acquisition resulted in two firms controlling more than 70 percent of the wireless network market, a market duopoly.

To Trump administration political appointees in the Antitrust Division who objected to this settlement, what happened to them? They were forced out of office. One of them said of the settlement:

[C]orrupt lobbyists with no relevant expertise are

perverting actual law enforcement through money, power,

relationships, and influence. . . . Stanley Woodward

perverted justice and acted inconsistent with the rule of law

[in this deal].

I asked Attorney General Bondi about Mr. Woodward's involvement in the scandal. Crickets. No response. Nothing to say.

It is wrong to fast-track unqualified, unfit nominees whose only goal is to advance a political agenda at the expense of the American people. Previous Associate Attorney General nominees have received a rollcall vote on the floor of the Senate and committee, of course.

Take President Biden's nominee for this position, Vanita Gupta. In 2021, Republicans tried to filibuster her nomination in committee and then tried to shut down committee business before we voted.

On the floor, Republicans forced extra procedural votes to slow down our confirmation. Despite my frustration at the time with Republican colleagues for obstructing a highly qualified and experienced nominee to serve as Associate Attorney General, I never sought to short-circuit the constitutional responsibility of Members in the Senate of advice and consent.

Now when the shoe is on the other foot, Republicans are intent on taking away yet another core duty of the Senate in deference to President Trump. I hope they remember this moment when they resume their minority positions in the future.

I urge my colleagues to vote no on these nominations.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons) is necessarily absent.