Floor Statements

Mr. President, I expect that the Senate will soon pass by unanimous consent the Blackburn-Klobuchar Safe Cloud Storage Act. This bill will enable Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to use modern cloud computing services to store and process digital evidence when investigating online sexual abuse and exploitation. Senators Blackburn and Klobuchar worked closely with me to make important changes to this bill to strengthen the cyber security requirements for the tech companies storing such sensitive digital evidence so that hackers are not able to steal and then redistribute the extremely sensitive images and videos documenting abuse that law enforcement agencies have entrusted to these companies. I sincerely appreciate their partnership on this important issue.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following GAO opinion letter dated May 12, 2026, be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 394, S.J. Res. 145.

Mr. President, I rise today to offer a joint resolution of disapproval that would restore critical privacy protections for consumers that the Trump administration did away with.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is one of our foremost laws aimed at protecting the privacy of the American people. The law requires that a consumer report, like a credit report or a background check, can only be provided if the report's requestor, like a creditor, landlord, or employer, certifies that it has a permissible purpose to obtain a report on a specific person.

Despite these requirements, far too many Americans have been subjected to serious, outrageous breaches of privacy when companies sharing the report for one person include information pertaining to someone else.

In 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau--our Nation's consumer watchdog--took action to protect Americans' privacy and crack down by issuing new guidance on the rules that surround crucial credit report privacy.

The advisory opinion did something that ought to be common sense: It made it clear that your sensitive financial information couldn't be shared with landlords, loan sharks, or used car salesmen just because you had a similar name to somebody else.

Once your credit info is in the wrong hands, scammers, criminals, and shady data brokers can easily use your personal information, and then they go rip you off.

This was a huge win for consumer privacy, and Donald Trump gutted it.

I will close with this: My resolution is simple. It would restore this advisory opinion that Trump withdrew as part of this administration's ongoing war against consumers and privacy.

I urge all of my colleagues to join me in rolling back Trump's war on consumers by supporting this joint resolution that will once again restore important privacy measures for the American people.

I yield the floor.

Vote on Motion to Proceed

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

Mr. President, I call up S. 4444, a bill to extend the surveillance law known as section 702, for 3 weeks and to require the declassification of the FISA Court's recent ruling on section 702. That ruling found serious violations of Americans' constitutional rights in how the Trump administration has used section 702. The Congress should not vote--should not vote--to renew section 702 while Americans are left in the dark about these troubling abuses.

Today is the expiration date for section 702. Nonetheless, because of a court order, the government's surveillance can continue without interruption until March of 2027. Several Senators have made it clear to me that they are uncomfortable with section 702 expiring. I believe it will be easier to negotiate reforms to section 702 if the Congress passes a short-term extension. The bill that I seek to pass is straightforward: a 3-week extension.

Every day that section 702 is extended without meaningful reforms is a day that the program can continue to be abused. I am willing to allow a short-term extension so long as important information currently hidden from the public is declassified so that Congress can have a full public debate. A 3-week extension is more than reasonable. Senators from both parties introduced legislation months ago, and we have been prepared to negotiate.

Unfortunately, Senators willing to accept business as usual decided to wait. They wanted to just wait around until just before expiration to try to jam through whatever they wanted. That approach failed 2 weeks ago. Senators for business as usual decided they weren't going to use that extra time to do any negotiating.

If the House and Senate are given the opportunity to vote on a long- term extension with meaningful reforms to protect the privacy rights of Americans, it is going to pass. Three weeks is more than enough time to negotiate a reform bill; that is, if Members are serious about negotiating.

My legislation requires the government to declassify the FISA Court's March 17 ruling on section 702. The government is already required by law to declassify this court ruling. This is an important part of the debate. Let me repeat that. Declassification is already required by law. All that my bill requires is that the opinion be declassified now--now--before Congress votes on renewing section 702.

The law requiring declassification and public release of the court's rulings isn't even remotely controversial. Each year, the FISA Court issues a ruling approving the program, and every year the government follows the law and comes around to declassifying the ruling. These declassified rulings inform Congress and the public about how the administration and the FISA Court interpret the law. It sheds light on past abuses. These opinions are critical to congressional oversight and to the public.

So what might be different this year? First, the March 17 ruling describes serious abuses of section 702 and violations of Americans' constitutional rights. The Congress is debating section 702 reauthorization right now. So maybe there are some who would rather have Congress just go out and vote in the dark--vote in the dark before the public hears about the Trump administration's latest violation of Americans' constitutional rights.

So I am going to wrap up by addressing the arguments of some of our opponents. First, what about protecting what is called sources and methods? My bill allows the executive branch to make redactions to protect sources and methods, just as they have done for all previous section 702 FISA rulings that have been released to the public.

Second, you may hear there is not enough time to do this. The Trump administration has known for over a month that they are legally required to declassify the opinion that I am seeking. My bill would give them 2 more weeks to do it. That is more than enough time to carefully redact a single document. Believe me, when the government wants to declassify something, they sure as hell move fast.

To sum up, my bill gives Congress more than enough time to negotiate a section 702 reauthorization bill with meaningful reforms, and it requires the declassification of information that, in my view, is critical to the debate and the public's understanding of what is being voted on.

So, Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4444, which is at the desk; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, so let me repeat the central business in a key area, and that is: I am prepared today to pass a short-term extension of section 702. I am doing that because I have listened to colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

I don't think it is really necessary because of the FISA Court ruling recently, but in the interest of comity and working together--which is something I have tried to make a priority--I want to state again: I am prepared to pass a short-term extension of section 702 today.

What I am also extraordinarily concerned about, though, is there is a classified ruling of the FISA Court that found troubling abuses of section 702 that violate Americans' constitutional rights.

Let me just repeat that. That is a finding that the court found of troubling abuses of Americans' constitutional rights.

What I am beginning to get a sense of is the Trump administration is now so desperate to keep this ruling secret they would rather let section 702 expire than make it public, which I believe is the key here--make it public before the vote.

The American people deserve to know what the Trump administration is up to. Before the Congress votes on whether to give Americans greater protections, Congress must use a short-term extension to openly debate the critical issues in front of the American people, and I am disappointed that instead, it sure feels right now that the other side of the aisle is covering the abuses up.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, my colleague on the other side of the aisle is now ducking the issue that I have brought to light. I am clear that I am for a short-term extension. I have said it now three or four times.

But I also believe that the government, which is already required to declassify the ruling I am seeking, it ought to get out to the American people. That is what this is all about. I would just say to my colleague the chairman: Let's let the American people decide whether it is not a big deal as my colleague has said.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, let me pick up on where I think the majority leader wants to go as well. We have been working hard on the 702 legislation with the kind of lodestar that we want to prove that, for the first time, the government is saying that liberty and security are not mutually exclusive; that we can do both.

To do that, we now have a letter that will be sent very shortly from Chairman Cotton and Ranking Member Warner to the DNI and the Attorney General. I just want to read this--it is very short--into the Record that will reflect this, and then we will have a brief colloquy, the majority leader and I, that is along the lines of what we talked about.

So Chairman Cotton and Ranking Member Warner write to the DNI and the Attorney General:

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice delivered to

Congress a classified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

(FISC) opinion and order, dated March 17, 2026. Under the

law, your offices are currently conducting a declassification

review for the purposes of making this FISC opinion and order

publicly available, consistent with the protection of sources

and methods, as soon as practicable. In order to inform the

Senate debate on reauthorization of section 702 of the

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, we expect that this

declassification review will be completed, and the FISC

opinion released publicly, within 15 days.

So, again, this is coming from the chairman of our committee, Chairman Cotton, and Senator Warner, our vice chairman. It is going to the DNI and the Attorney General, and to make sure that everybody understands the state of play here, a formal letter is being written, and we are just getting the signatures on that now. Everyone is waiting to hear where things stand.

And with that, let me yield to my colleague the majority leader.

Mr. President, the majority leader states it correctly. That is my understanding as well. The point of this is to have some additional time. This is a very new period in this debate with, for example, AI driving so much of this. And you know, new tools require new rules, and we are going to be able to think about how to proceed with that in the future.

I yield my time. I thank the majority leader for, in effect, reaffirming what we have been working on. I think that this letter from the chair and the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, where I am proud to serve, to DNI and the Attorney General is a step in the right direction.

I yield the floor.

Reserving the right to object.

Mr. President, the Senate is now delaying a vote on FISA because Members are waking up to the fact that this surveillance authority is too dangerous to hand to any President without new reforms. And here is the bottom line. If there were the votes today to advance this bill right now, we would be voting. But when it comes to reauthorizing section 702, I am here to offer the judgment that the only path forward is reform.

Here is how we got here. Two weeks ago, the leadership in the House executed the oldest play in the book when it comes to surveillance: They waited until a week before the bill was set to expire, there was no time to debate, and they tried to pass a straight reauthorization without reforms.

What happened? A bipartisan coalition said: No way.

Then they came back with a new bill that week, but it turned out that these so-called reforms made FISA 702 less accountable. That bill failed.

Then the House voted on a straight extension of the law--again with no reforms. A bipartisan coalition voted that down.

And now, this week, the House Republican leadership tried to sell a fake reform to their Members a third time. Once again, the body is in disarray.

It is clear that Senators who voted to support the current FISA surveillance law in the past are now rethinking their positions. Every day, this administration demonstrates its contempt for the rule of law and its thirst for absolute power. They have destroyed

oversight and guardrails and trampled on the rights of the American people. They have attacked and killed protesters and observers, seized the records of journalists, and gone after political enemies, including Members of Congress.

There are many ways in which 702 can be abused by the administration, including warrantless searches of Americans' communications in 702 data. The fact is, there are alarm bells pointing to administration abuses. What kind of abuses? Month after month, Trump administration officials have been trotting out conspiracy theories about elections and voting. These theories include accusations of foreign involvement. The Director of National Intelligence even showed up at the FBI's ballot-seizing raid in Fulton, GA. And one of her excuses: She was there to protect against foreign interference. These conspiracy theories open the door for more warrantless 702 searches, all to try to discredit American elections.

The Trump administration has also been abusing its authorities to go after journalists whose stories they don't like. All it takes is an accusation of a foreign connection and they can be subjected to 702 searches. Then there are protesters who the administration could accuse of being connected to antifa groups.

When the guardrails are gone and the abuses are clear, there is only one solution: Congress must require court-ordered warrants to conduct searches on Americans. There ought to be exceptions, but only for emergencies.

I am going to close with one last important issue that colleagues are approaching all of us to ask about, and that is the role of AI in supercharging surveillance abuses. The Trump administration is going full speed ahead on AI, and Americans are rightly concerned about how artificial intelligence is going to affect their privacy rights.

In the case of section 702, the government could use artificial intelligence to process huge amounts of data to identify Americans for warrantless searches. These technological advances are happening so fast, and Congress needs to step up and protect Americans. New tools require new rules, and it really applies to artificial intelligence.

So when the Senate returns to vote on government surveillance, I am here to say another effort to jam this bill through without reforms is also going to be dead as a doornail.

I urge all Members to come forward and work in a bipartisan way because security and liberty are not mutually exclusive. Smart policies get you both; not so smart policies get you neither.

I urge my colleagues to recognize that at this moment it is right for the Senate to postpone the vote. It is the second time we have postponed a vote because the country doesn't buy this argument that we should sacrifice our liberty in order to have security. We can find both.

I urge my colleagues to use this interim period to make sure that actually happens, and I intend to be on the floor objecting at every opportunity if it doesn't.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, just so we are clear, there is authority to continue the protections for the American people already. We will have that debate. I am eager to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

We have to recognize that the only path forward for the American people is actual reform and not just cliche's.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, it has been a year since Republicans gutted Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. For many women, Planned Parenthood is their only source of primary care and prevention, like cancer screenings and STI testing. There are 23 Planned Parenthood clinics that have closed, and 75 percent of the clinics that have shuttered their doors have been in rural or underserved areas. The number of breast exam visits fell by 25 percent. Fewer women are getting essential preventive care, heightening their risk of cancer.

All of this lifesaving care is on the chopping block if this amendment passes. This amendment is just the Republicans' latest attempt to strip women of the healthcare they need and depend on so that they can go score some political points.

I urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment--to strongly oppose it.

Point of Order

Madam President, I raise a point of order that the pending amendment is not germane; therefore, it violates section 305(b)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 5336 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. President, the amendment would require that the Government Accountability Office analyze Donald Trump's agreement with the pharmaceutical companies. He claims that he signed deals with 16 pharmaceutical companies to get Americans the lowest prescription drug prices in the world, but the details of these so-called deals are completely shrouded in secrecy.

Donald Trump wants Congress to put these deals into black letter law, sight unseen. So my amendment would require the Government Accountability Office to analyze the deals and provide a clear analysis of the savings, if any, to taxpayers and to patients.

And for any of my Senate colleagues who are concerned about disclosing trade secrets, this amendment protects all confidential information.

If these Trump deals are so great, there should be nothing to hide. This amendment would give Congress and the public the specifics for the first time on these Trump pharmaceutical deals. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote yes.

Mr. President, I rise today to request unanimous consent to pass the Speedy Tariff Refund Act.

The bill forces the Trump administration to immediately return the money it has stolen from American businesses under Donald Trump's illegal tariffs. Nothing illustrates the hostility that Donald Trump has shown toward helping Americans seek refunds better than his comments to CNBC this morning.

Donald Trump said this morning that it would be ``brilliant'' if companies do not seek refunds and that he will remember those who don't. That sounds like a threat to me. The President of the United States basically said he will remember those who don't seek a refund or come forward.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court struck down President Trump's so-called ``emergency'' IEEPA tariffs. The Court's ruling was clear: the tariffs were illegal, and the administration must refund the money to the American importers that paid the tariffs. It has now been 2 months since the Supreme Court's decision. Not a single penny has been paid back.

The Trump administration is deliberately delaying these refunds, even after Trump's own lawyers claimed that they would be issued.

While Donald Trump funnels money to his vanity projects and illegal war, his administration is doing everything it can to avoid returning the money it stole from American companies. That is why I quoted the President's threat this morning.

I have heard from countless small business owners who paid the tariffs but still have no idea when or if they will ever get their money back. This leaves businesses and workers on a financial rollercoaster, questioning if they are going to be able to keep their doors open.

Yesterday, Customs and Border Protection began accepting refund requests through yet another online system, which is already riddled with glitches and errors. But instead of paying refunds automatically, Customs and Border Protection is requiring businesses in America to file yet another round of paperwork to get a refund. This is just more bureaucratic red tape, making it harder for Americans to get their money back.

Customs and Border Protection is even excluding whole categories of imports from the refund system for now, and they are doing it despite the Court of International Trade's order to pay refunds of all IEEPA tariffs.

It is as clear as Crater Lake that Oregonians can't rely on this administration to return their money, so Congress needs to step up. My bill requires the administration to pay tariff refunds, with interest, within 30 days. It applies to every importer who paid IEEPA tariffs, not just certain imports, and it makes it clear that CBP must pay the refunds automatically without requiring additional paperwork.

I am sure my Republican colleagues are also hearing from small businesses in their States that are desperate to get a tariff refund. I urge them to join me, Senator Markey, Senator Shaheen, and to do it today. The Senate can act today to put money back in the pockets of small businesses and ensure Donald Trump no longer keeps scamming Americans out of the tariff refunds they are owed.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4364, the Speedy Tariff Refund Act; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Just very briefly, as I know Senator Merkley is waiting to speak, we are talking about CBP. If we really want to know what they are in the process of doing, they are in the process of playing more stall ball, making it tough for small businesses to get access to these tariff refunds.

As I said, it is all summed up by what Donald Trump said to CNBC. I interpret that as, point blank, a threat to people who go out and try to advance their rights, and I think it is wrong for the President to do it.

I yield the floor.

Reserving the right to object.

Madam President, Americans understand that every single day there are abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. And the reality is, a growing number of Democrats and Republicans are now saying that a straight extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act law is absolutely unacceptable in any way, shape, or form.

So it is clear it is time for real reforms to protect Americans from warrantless surveillance by a government that they rightly do not trust.

So for the last hour or so, I have been speaking to colleagues in the other body of the House. And they have told me, unequivocally, that this short-term extension makes reform more likely and expiration makes reform less likely.

But make no mistake about it, opponents of reform have shown no willingness, for years and years, to negotiate meaningful reform. And those of us in a bipartisan, bicameral way who have insisted that this time will be different want to emphasize that this morning.

The reality is that the country believes that security and liberty are not mutually exclusive. We can have both. A good bill that we are insisting on will do that. A bad bill will give us less security and less liberty.

So I hope that opponents of reform are going to understand what is going on in the Congress and in the country and start talking about what is genuinely good reform and what it would look like.

I will say that I am now the longest serving member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and I have never seen the concern on both sides of the aisle, that is bicameral, for real reform.

So I have talked to my colleagues in the House, and their views have been particularly important because they have told us about their work last night and what it means for real reform.

And we are going to be following that here every single day because Ben Franklin said--you are going to hear me talk about that--anybody who gives up their liberty for security doesn't deserve either.

We are going to insist on it.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I release my hold on the promotion of Col. Thomas M. Siverts, PN793-2, on the Executive Calendar.

In March 2026, I raised concerns about Colonel Siverts' appearance on an episode of a podcast known as The Berm Pit, which is anti-Semitic and racist.

I requested the Marine Corps to provide me with a copy of this podcast episode, so I could review the nature of his participation in this podcast. I was first told the podcast was not accessible, but the Marine Corps provided me with a copy of the episode after I objected to the promotion of Colonel Siverts. I have since been able to review the podcast episode, and I did not have any concerns with the exchange on the podcast.

Further, Colonel Siverts wrote a letter to me unequivocally condemning anti-Semitism and racism, noting that at the time of his appearance on the podcast, the podcast had no association with the hateful ideologies expressed by others on different episodes of the podcast months later.

Colonel Siverts made clear that the ideologies of anti-Semitism and racism are antithetical not only to the values of the Marine Corps, but to who he is too.

My concerns have been addressed, and I support the Senate confirming Colonel Siverts' promotion to brigadier general.

Mr. President, soon, we will cast important votes here in the Senate on surveillance law. I rise today to share some important new developments about the surveillance practices of this administration, which are vital to this debate.

Today, I want to start by warning my colleagues: Any Senator who votes to reauthorize this law without real reform will be directly responsible when the Trump team abuses their spying powers to go after Americans. I want the Senate to know the alarm bells are loud and getting louder.

Senators know the surveillance law known as section 702 of FISA expires on Monday. I have been on the Intelligence Committee since the law was written. It is undeniably a useful tool that American intelligence agencies rely on to collect information about foreigners outside the country. The problem is that 702 lacks adequate safeguards to protect Americans whose emails and texts or other communications can get swept up in this surveillance. So you could have Americans doing legitimate, often sensitive, important work--journalists, foreign aid workers, people with family overseas, even women seeking abortion medication from a provider overseas.

Reformers argue that 702 should only be reauthorized with stronger protections--protections for constitutional

rights--and that is particularly true when there are blaring alarms warning of abuses, some of which Congress has yet to be told about. I am going to highlight now some of those alarm bells.

For years, there have been jaw-dropping abuses of section 702. Government officials have searched through 702 data to find Black Lives Matter protestors, political campaign donors, elected officials, even a State judge who complained about police abuses.

Opponents of reform say that the problems with the law have been fixed. The facts show otherwise.

One of the biggest flaws in section 702 is what is called the ``backdoor search loophole.'' Mr. President, 702 is supposed to be an authority aimed at foreigners outside the United States, but the government is currently allowed to trawl their way through the vast collection of 702 data to conduct warrantless searches for Americans' communications. Last year, the FBI increased the number of warrantless searches it conducted for Americans' communications by more than a third. That is concerning enough right there. Yet it gets worse.

The number of so-called ``sensitive'' warrantless searches--which can target elected officials, journalists, or the leaders of political organizations--more than tripled during the first year of the Trump administration. The FBI has refused to say why. Given Trump's enthusiasm for investigating journalists and political opponents, this, too, is a blaring alarm warning of abuses that Congress has not been told about.

The government is also circumventing warrant requirements by using a credit card. A few weeks ago, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that the FBI is actually buying up Americans' location data. If the government wanted to compel companies to hand over this information, it would need a warrant, but through a loophole in the law, government Agencies--we are talking about the FBI, ICE, CBP, and the Pentagon--can buy this sensitive information from sleazy, shady data brokers with essentially no oversight.

The fact is, if you are going to close the data broker loophole, the time to act is now. You are not going to get another chance this year.

Yet another blaring alarm went off a few weeks ago. On March 17, the FISA Court--the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court--found major compliance problems with section 702. These problems are directly related to Americans' constitutional rights.

In the past, the government would work with that court to fix these kinds of problems. Today, the press reports that the Trump administration is appealing the court ruling so that they never--never, Mr. President--have to fix the problems.

This raises a serious question: How can Congress reauthorize the authority while the appeal is pending and nobody knows what reforms are actually needed? I am going to have a lot more to say about this part.

The court ruling needs to be declassified. Americans ought to have the ability to understand what their government is up to.

I will remind my colleagues there is another separate, secret law problem with section 702. Multiple administrations have relied on a secret interpretation of 702 that directly impacts the privacy rights of Americans. The Director of National Intelligence, unfortunately, has turned down my request to make this information public, so I have written a classified document that explains the problem in more detail. I have made it available in a secure room at Senate Security. I urge this afternoon in the strongest possible way--I encourage my colleagues to read it so Senators can hear the alarm bells loudly warning us of abuses that Congress hasn't been told about.

We are also being warned about the impact of new technology on Americans' constitutional rights. I want to talk, for example, about the implications of artificial intelligence on this debate, and these are fairly new developments that I think most Senators have not heard.

The CEO of one of America's largest AI companies sounded this warning several weeks ago. He did it in a message about his firm's multimillion-dollar contract with the Department of Defense.

Here is what this AI CEO said:

AI-driven mass surveillance presents serious, novel risks

to our fundamental liberties. To the extent that such

surveillance is currently legal, this is only because the law

has not yet caught up with the rapidly growing capabilities

of AI. For example, under current law, the government can

purchase detailed records of Americans' movements, web

browsing, and associations from public sources. . . .

Powerful AI makes it possible to assemble this scattered,

individually innocuous data into a comprehensive picture of

any person's life--automatically and at massive scale.

This is one of the most powerful voices in the field of AI. I am citing somebody who really understands the underpinnings of what AI is all about, and he is warning Congress about the impact of AI-powered surveillance.

Let me repeat that. One of the most powerful voices in the field of AI is warning Congress at this time about the impact of AI-powered surveillance. I hope my colleagues will listen to him.

I recently wrote to several leading AI companies to ask them about whether government agencies could use their products to analyze information on Americans collected through this kind of bulk surveillance. None of them denied that their products could be used this way.

I want America's intelligence and law enforcement agencies to take advantage of new technologies that can help them protect public safety and national security, but new tools require new rules. Without new rules, you can count on the executive branch to run roughshod over Americans' privacy rights and constitutional freedoms. It is not hard to see how these capabilities could be abused--especially to target immigrants, people attending protest rallies, women seeking abortions, and Donald Trump's other perceived enemies.

The fact is, there is a bipartisan, bicameral group of Members that I am part of that has worked together to come up with a solution to these kinds of challenges.

Among other important reforms, our bill would require the government to get a warrant if it wants to deliberately read an American's emails or texts. That would be whether the information is collected under FISA or outside of FISA. And it would finally close the data broker loophole.

The fact is, what we are hearing about now, these new developments which are breaking weekly about government surveillance, ought to give the U.S. Senate--every Senator--Democratic, Republican, Independent-- ought to take some pause here. My last floor statement on surveillance was only a month old, and I have read through a whole laundry list of stunning new developments that have emerged since then.

I am truly amazed that some of my colleagues seem ready to give the executive branch a blank check to keep trampling on Americans' constitutional rights. Congress can and must protect Americans' security and Americans' rights at the same time.

Ben Franklin said anybody who gives up their liberty to have security really doesn't deserve either. We ought to be thinking about that at this crucial time.

I urge my colleagues to insist that the renewal of section 702 include real reforms--actual black-letter text--to protect Americans' privacy rights. Senators ought to oppose any extension--any extension-- that does not include the kinds of reforms I have been talking about this afternoon.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, it is tax day, April 15--the anti-holiday.

This tax day, in particular, is a tough one. Tax day 2026 is a reminder that Donald Trump and Republicans will put the interests of giant corporations ahead of the interests of typical Americans. There is no clearer example of Trump corruption in practice than betraying taxpayers and killing the Direct File Program as a favor to his allies.

Here is what this is all about: When it comes to taxes, Democrats start with the proposition that for the vast majority of Americans-- wage-earning workers whose taxes really aren't complicated--filing your taxes ought to be free and easy. Our view is you shouldn't have to pay a penny to perform your basic civic duty.

That is why, back in 2022, after years of hard work, we passed funding for the IRS to build a Direct File Program, a way for taxpayers to file directly with the IRS online for free. The IRS launched a pilot project for 2024. They expanded it in 2025. Hundreds of thousands of people used Direct File. It was hugely popular--in effect, a beloved program. A lot of people are skeptical that the government is still capable of building useful things. Direct File proved the skeptics wrong. It proved that the Federal Government can still come up with great public services from the ground up.

Well, the tax prep giants saw it as a threat, and over the years, I saw them spend millions to try to defend the status quo that was failing. The prep giants unleashed a tidal wave of lobbying to try to squash the program before it reached escape velocity. They found some willing partners in Republicans here. Going into this year, Trump and Republicans killed Direct File. Millions of Americans should have had an opportunity to use it to file for free, but now, they are back at the mercy of the tax prep companies.

The Republicans who killed Direct File say it is no big deal because there are other free options out there, programs that partner with the private companies. The reality is that tax prep companies have already demonstrated they can't be trusted. The worst example was with Intuit. When Intuit was involved with the Free File Program, it was caught burying the free option on a website you couldn't find with a traditional search engine. It steered users toward options that battered them with upcharges and misleading marketing. Finally, they quit offering Free File when they got called out on what were genuinely underhanded tactics.

My view is, the debate over this subject isn't that complicated. The government requires people to file and pay taxes, so the least the government can do is to make the filing process simple and free and as painless as possible. Donald Trump and Republicans don't agree because they destroyed a wonderful, new public service when they shut down Direct File.

My Finance Committee colleague Senator Warren has been a terrific partner and a champion of Direct File. I have enjoyed working with her over the years on this critical issue. I am behind her effort 100 percent as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee to revive Direct File. We are not going to let this go no matter how long it takes, and I urge all of my colleagues here in the Senate--as it used to be bipartisan--to support Direct File.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, Donald Trump has been trying for quite some time to coerce the States into handing over their voter lists since his first term. That is so he and Stephen Miller can create a list of people they do and, most importantly, don't want to have voting in Federal elections. It would allow Trump to block his political enemies.

His Executive order is a desperate attempt by a failing President to cling to power by taking control over how States run their elections, and the reason I am here is its effect on States like Oregon that rely on vote-by-mail.

I am the country's first U.S. Senator elected completely by mail, and I can tell you the people of my State understand better than anyone that vote-by-mail is safe, easy, and effective. We have been doing it for over 30 years. Oregon is one of nine States that currently conducts elections by mail.

Trump talks a big game about vote-by-mail being riddled with fraud. As usual, he exists in his own reality. States that use mail-in voting experience fewer instances of voter fraud than any other system. A review of the vote-by-mail system by Oregon's Legislative Fiscal Office found that, from 2000 to 2019, there were approximately 61 million ballots cast, and, of those, 38 criminal convictions were obtained for fraud, amounting to a 0.00006 percent fraud rate.

So let's be clear. First of all, this Executive order is unconstitutional. The Constitution explicitly grants States the power to establish the times, places, and manner of elections, including creating and managing voter lists. That power does not rest with the President.

The State of Kansas passed a similar law that was struck down by the courts because it illegally blocked 31,000 eligible voters from registering to vote.

Second, this Executive order is illegal. The creation of a national voter database would give the Trump administration unprecedented access to private voter data. Forcing the Social Security office to share private voter data with another Agency is a clear violation of the Privacy Act.

When news dropped about the Executive order, I immediately wrote to Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano, demanding more information about this data-sharing agreement. This would force Social Security employees to put aside their real jobs--helping seniors and Americans navigate Social Security benefits--and, instead, they would have to execute Trump's voting witch hunt.

Americans are already being forced to endure long waits to receive their hard-earned benefits because of Trump's intentional mismanagement of the Agency. Under the order, they would have to wait even longer because the Agency is too busy doing Trump's illegal, unconstitutional, and unethical bidding.

From day one of his Presidency, Donald Trump has shown as much consideration for the personal privacy of the American people as a bull in a china shop. He essentially handed over the keys to the kingdom when he gave Elon Musk and DOGE unfettered access to the government's internal data systems. We still don't know who ended up having access to the data. Now he wants to do it again--this time, to create a database of voters that allows him to pick and choose who can vote. What he would be doing is weaponizing a fundamental democratic right-- the right to vote--and potentially target his enemies.

Given this administration's track record of mishandling and weaponizing Americans' personal information and data, we can be sure this is a blueprint for who-knows-what with respect to chilling abuses by the Trump administration. There is no legitimate justification for a provision like this.

Anybody who facilitates Donald Trump's directive to create a voter database would be a willing and blatant voter suppressor. They would be as culpable in this travesty as Donald Trump.

Vote-by-mail makes it possible for millions of Americans to make their voices heard. Stephen Miller would tell you that if you can't vote by mail, you can vote another way. That will have drastic consequences for millions of rural Americans, seniors, and people with disabilities. They would be shut out--no voice in our democracy.

An elderly woman living in Eastern Oregon would be forced to drive for hours to the nearest election office to cast a vote. If she doesn't have a car or if she can no longer drive, she would have to find a neighbor or a friend to drive her.

If your mom lived in a nursing home, she wouldn't be able to cast her ballot by mail. You would be forced to find time in between running your kids to soccer and holding down a full-time job to get her to a polling place.

This is exactly what Donald Trump hates about vote-by-mail: It encourages voter participation. It makes it easier for people to be heard, and it makes it harder for Trump to rig elections in his favor. He is terrified of vote-by-mail because, if he doesn't suppress votes, he knows he can't win. It protects the constitutional right to vote.

From his postmarking rule changes to consolidating the Postal Service, shutting down mail processing facilities, and now this, he is in the spaghetti-throwing phase of his midterm election strategy. He knows his platform of pardoning pedophiles and making life more expensive is going to lose him the midterms. Instead of trying to lower costs and improve life for ordinary families, he is hell-bent on making it harder for people to vote.

His Presidency is failing, and the Republican platform becomes more unpopular by the day. That is why they are making such a desperate attempt to get the SAVE Act passed before November. Republicans know they don't have the support in the Congress--certainly not to overhaul Federal elections and enact a voter suppression bill. They are wasting our time debating it because not one of them--not one--has the backbone to stand up to Donald Trump.

Oregonians will be damned if we let Donald Trump do away with how we conduct our voting so Donald Trump could rig another election.

I will fight to make sure Trump's election-rigging scheme dies the death it so richly deserves on the floor of the Senate.

I yield the floor.