Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the extraordinary career and service of Jo Ellen Deutsch, who recently retired after a nearly 40-year career focused on ensuring and expanding rights for all Americans.

Jo graduated from Smith College in 1982 with a B.A. in American studies and later received her M.A. from the George Washington University, focused on women's studies, specializing in public policy and women's history. Although her activism began long before her college years, Jo jumped immediately into advocacy and public service as she began her professional career.

On Capitol Hill, Jo spent a year as a fellow in Representative Barbara Boxer's Washington, DC, office. She then joined the Association of Flight Attendants, as their director of government affairs, focusing on passing a ban on smoking in-flight to protect workers and passengers from secondhand smoke. Later, with roles at both the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and the Commercial Workers International Union, Jo continued her work to support and defend the rights of working men and women across our Nation.

In 2011, Jo joined Freedom to Marry as their Federal director, with the goal of overturning the so-called Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Jo, as she did with all her efforts, threw herself wholeheartedly into this fight for equality. She built coalitions--including Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, and the Respect for Marriage Coalition--signaling that there was sustained momentum and progress across our Nation in support of the freedom to marry. She used her deep knowledge of the inner workings of Capitol Hill to build support with a bipartisan coalition of Members in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. Jo's sustained efforts paved the way for change across the Nation.

After 2015's landmark Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, establishing the freedom to marry across the country, Jo turned her advocacy into sustained mentorship. She established the Deutsch Initiatives Group, sharing her experiences and expertise in lobbying, management, training, and messaging. She later joined the Campaign Legal Center to advocate for critical reforms goals to the laws undergirding our democracy, particularly with regard to campaign finance, ethics, and voting rights laws.

Jo's landmark work at Freedom to Marry paved the way for legislation I was proud to help author and usher into law in 2022, the Respect for Marriage Act. This act repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and ensured that under Federal law, you were free to marry the person that you love.

And love has always been at the center of Jo's world. Together with her wife Teresa, they have centered their family in their adopted home of Maryland. After 29 years together, in 2013, they were married with their three children serving as their wedding attendants, an event I was honored to attend.

I am delighted to congratulate my friend Jo on a wonderful and deeply impactful career. The ripples of her determination and advocacy will be felt for generations to come, and I am thrilled to see what the next chapter holds for her, Teresa, and their family.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor Rana Altenburg as she retires from Marquette University. Rana has served as the leader of Marquette's government affairs and community engagement initiatives since 1996. Her retirement marks the conclusion of an exceptional career spanning nearly three decades of service to Marquette University and the greater Milwaukee community.

Rana's time at Marquette began as a student, where she earned her bachelor's degree in political science and Spanish. Later, Rana received her MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Over her 30-year career at Marquette, Rana's advocacy efforts contributed to increased investment by both the Federal and State governments, resulting in major infrastructure projects near campus, such as the Wisconsin Avenue median, Wells Street median, Marquette Interchange, 27th Street Corridor and the Menomonee Valley. Later, Rana and her team helped secure Federal and State funding that supported capital projects and research efforts, including working with me to secure congressionally directed spending for an expansion of the school of dentistry, a simulation lab in the college of nursing, and catalytic development in the Near West Side of Milwaukee.

Rana championed the university's Les Aspin Center in Washington, DC, providing students interested in public service opportunities for internship and professional development in our Nation's Capital. The Les Aspin Center has offered incredible opportunities to many young people still working in public service, including on my staff. On campus, she was a mentor to student leaders.

A tireless advocate for Marquette, Rana takes immense pride in not only being an alumna; she is also a parent, donor and season-ticket holder to Marquette's nationally ranked basketball programs.

Outside of her work at Marquette, Rana serves as founding president of Near West Side Partners, which she helped launch in 2015. Near West Side Partners brings together schools, businesses of all sizes, nonprofits, and neighbors to strengthen and improve the community they live in. She is also a member of the boards of directors of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

I am pleased to congratulate Rana Altenburg on a distinguished career and wish her, her husband Jeff, her daughters Sophia and Hannah, son- in-law Jack, and her granddaughter Honor much happiness and well- deserved time together in the years ahead. We will continue to look to her for her thoughtful servant leadership and wise counsel, and I know that her impact will continue to be felt within the Marquette and greater Milwaukee community for generations to come.

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize MAJ Melissa Bateman for her outstanding work on behalf of the people in Wisconsin and our Nation. A native of Darnestown, MD, Major Bateman served as a 2023 Department of Defense legislative fellow in my Washington, DC, office and later as a U.S. Army Reserve congressional liaison from 2024-2025.

Melissa demonstrates a level of professionalism and hard work I have come to expect--but not take for granted--from the Department of Defense and U.S. Army soldiers. Indeed, she follows a long line of accomplished Department of Defense legislative fellows who have made impactful contributions to my office and U.S. national security policy. She distinguished herself as an Army officer, setting a high bar and providing invaluable advice and insights as she advised me on wide- ranging and complex matters under consideration before the Senate Appropriations Department of Defense Subcommittee. Melissa's servant leadership showed in her work as a congressional liaison for the U.S. Army Reserve. Her attention to detail and ability to effectively communicate with Congress became apparent as she successfully advanced key Army Reserve legislative initiatives and priorities.

Melissa will soon transition to her new duty assignment at the Military Intelligence Readiness Command. On behalf of my colleagues and the U.S. Congress, I thank Melissa for her dedicated service to my staff, the U.S. Army, and our Nation. Part of what makes the U.S. military the greatest in the history of the world is that servicemembers like Melissa dedicate their lives to service and sacrifice for this country. Major Bateman does not do it alone, so I also acknowledge the support of her family to include her cherished dogs. I wish Melissa all the best in what I know is a bright future.

Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of the 275,000 Wisconsinites who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace, many of whom are downright scared. They are scared because their healthcare costs are about to double on average. They are scared because they now have to figure out which necessity in their life they can go without. And they are scared because maybe this just puts it beyond reach, and they won't be able to afford healthcare at all.

They are scared, and you know what, we actually have the ability to do something about it. At the end of the day, that is what this job is all about--listening to our constituents, fighting for them. I am not here to instill more anxiety or fear; I am here to help. It is why I first got into public service, and I still believe that to my core.

Right now, what Wisconsinites are crying out for is for some breathing room and healthcare that they can afford. These are real people with very real stories.

Take Mark, a retired firefighter from Eagle River. He wrote to me:

As it stands, my monthly healthcare premiums will increase

almost six-fold under this Republican refusal to provide

adequate, affordable healthcare to hardworking Americans and

especially retirees after a lifetime of service.

Take Alicia from Chippewa Falls, who works hard as a childcare provider. Like so many workers in the childcare industry, Alicia needs these tax credits to afford their insurance and do what they love.

Callie from Mercer, WI, is a cancer survivor who is facing down a $110 increase to her premiums each month. That might not seem like a lot to my Republican colleagues, but for a local library director in a small, rural, Wisconsin community, a 30-percent increase could be the difference between having insurance or not.

My Republican colleagues have kicked the can and this crisis further and further down the road, and now Wisconsin families are looking at changing careers, coming out of retirement, shuttering their small businesses, or selling their family farm.

These are real, life-changing cost increases that my Republican colleagues seem to be fine with, because, let's be clear, this is, in fact, a choice. It is a fairly simple decision, one that Americans understand: Vote to extend these tax credits or send 22 million Americans off a cliff. The choice is yours.

I yield the floor.

Reserving the right to object.

Mr. President, I am going to make just a few brief points in response to my colleague Senator Husted's proposal.

This bill is part and parcel of what we have seen for years from the Republican Party--an attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act in its entirety.

If this bill became law, it would undoubtedly still kick millions of people off their ACA coverage.

When Americans are calling out for help to lower costs, this bill would actually increase premiums by an average of over $1,000 for over 10 million people annually. And if that is not enough, Senator Husted's bill sneaks in another attack on women's right to control their own bodies, and it bans Marketplace insurance coverage of abortion.

I will end with this: I have worked on this policy for a long, long time. I care deeply about affordable healthcare and have been willing to work with anyone to deliver results for the people I represent. But the place for this debate--perhaps this offering--should have been this past June during the debate on President Trump's signature legislation, a major tax bill that disproportionately sends its benefits to the wealthiest among us. That is where we should have had an extensive debate on extending a tax break for working families and individuals to be able to afford their healthcare premiums, and if not during that debate, we should have been working across the aisle on this in the lead-up to the expiration of the last CR on September 30, the end of the last fiscal year.

But it is 5 days before the expiration of open enrollment--5 days. People have been shopping since November 1. They have seen what their costs were this past year, and they have seen what their costs are going to be next year.

I, along with my Democratic colleagues, have been pleading with Republicans to come to the table and negotiate on this and, by and large, they have refused. And then yesterday, just 1 day before we vote on a clean 3-year extension, we get this bill out of the blue. This bill is a deeply unserious proposal to a very serious problem. And, therefore, Mr. President, I object.

Mr. President, shortly, I will move to table amendment No. 3947 for the purposes of offering my amendment to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for 1 year. I am doing this because my Republican colleagues are refusing to act to stop healthcare premiums from doubling for over 20 million Americans.

I just can't stand by without a fight. Americans have said loudly and clearly that they are in a healthcare crisis. That is not up for a negotiation. But it didn't have to be this way. We are at this moment because Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have simply refused to address the biggest increase in insurance premiums they will likely ever experience.

For months, congressional Republicans and Donald Trump have refused to even talk to us about addressing it. Estimates show that 22 million Americans will see their premiums double on average. I am getting calls daily from Wisconsinites begging me to stay in this fight.

A couple in Door County, WI, told me their premium is rising by $550 a month next year. Everything is already too expensive. So where are they supposed to find 6,500 extra dollars in their budget?

Another couple, from Butternut, WI, told me their premiums are going from $400 per month to over $5,000 per month. That is $55,000 more a year. As they wrote to me, ``healthcare tax breaks are not just numbers on paper. They are a lifeline that allows us to sleep at night, knowing that we won't lose everything if one of us gets sick.''

Behind every one of the 22 million Americans who rely on these tax credits is a story, a family who has to put together a budget, who has to make the hard decisions of what they can afford for their family next year. Some are logging on to healthcare.gov right now and finding that they simply can't afford health insurance next year. That is unconscionable.

Addressing this demands that we act now--not in a week, not next month, but now.

That is why a handshake deal with my Republican colleagues to reopen the government and no guarantee to actually lower costs is simply not good enough. The people I work for need more than that. They need healthcare that they can afford, not a symbolic vote.

For over a year now, I have been fighting to get a bill passed to avoid this very situation and make these tax credits permanent. My colleagues and I have tried every which way to get this bill passed. Every time, my Republican colleagues kill the effort and put 22 million Americans on the path to pay more for healthcare next year.

For 41 days, I have been clear. I will work with anyone to reopen the government and lower Americans' healthcare costs. And I am not throwing in the towel until we have exhausted every option to make that happen.

That is why I have offered an amendment to extend tax breaks for Americans who buy their insurance through the Affordable Care Act for 1 year. My amendment is as straightforward as it gets. It would extend current law for 1 year, stop costs from skyrocketing for constituents, and give us time to negotiate on healthcare costs, without leaving 22 million Americans in the lurch.

Is this everything I think we should do? No. We should make healthcare more affordable for everyone forever. But I am willing to compromise to avoid catastrophe for families I work for.

I am demanding that we take this vote so that we can actually provide some relief to millions of American families. The American people are desperate for healthcare that they can afford and demand that we do everything in our power to lower costs. This is a tool in my toolbox to try to lower their costs. So I am using it.

I have talked to so many of my Republican colleagues who want to do something here, who want to keep healthcare costs down for their constituents, who know their constituents in red States and districts will be hardest hit.

Well, now is the time to show it.

My sincere hope is that the Republicans join me so I can make this amendment to the continuing resolution and let 22 million Americans rest easier. I hope my Republican colleagues choose to join us.

And now I yield to Senator Sanders.

Mr. President, I move to table amendment No. 3947 for the purposes of offering my amendment to extend ACA tax credits for 1 year. That is Baldwin No. 3950.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Vote on Motion

Madam President, I rise today to echo, to underscore, to emphasize what my colleagues have just presented. This is our path forward. This is how we reopen the government and lower healthcare costs for millions of Americans.

This is what compromise looks like. Look, if I had my way, we would be making these enhanced premium tax credits for working families permanent. But I understand that we can't get everything that we want. That is how compromise works, and that is what our constituents expect that we do when we come here.

I know that giving relief for the 275,000 Wisconsinites who are shopping online at healthcare.gov for healthcare, as we speak--I know that this relief is urgent, just like it is urgent that we reopen our government.

I have had so many conversations with my Republican colleagues here in the Senate. I know that so many of them have expressed privately that they are supportive of a 1-year extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits. They are hearing from their constituents who will no longer be able to afford their healthcare also, just like we are.

So I hope my Republican colleagues can join us in voting to pass this proposal so that we can finally put this shutdown behind us and allow 22 million Americans to rest easier, knowing that their healthcare costs are not going to double, triple, or even worse.

I yield to the Senator from Arizona.

Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of the 22 million Americans who are about to see their healthcare premiums double, on average, unless my Republican colleagues do something. We have spent the last 35 days trying to get them to care about Americans' healthcare costs going up.

I can tell you firsthand, Wisconsinites are calling me every day, begging me to stay in this fight.

Last week, we saw, for the first time, just how much Wisconsinites' premiums will go up unless President Donald Trump and Republicans do their jobs and negotiate with us. In Wisconsin, the average 40-year-old will see their premiums increase nearly 40 percent. An average family of four will see premiums skyrocket by nearly $17,000 per year. And for a 60-year-old couple, they will be paying more than $24,000 for healthcare next year.

And these that I am sharing right now are just statewide averages. For some folks, the reality will be much, much worse. A 60-year-old couple in Barron County, a rural county in Wisconsin, making $85,000 a year will see an increase of over 800 percent in their premiums. That is a $33,000 increase,

more than a third of their entire income just to get healthcare for the year.

And behind all of these statistics are real people. Open enrollment started just 4 days ago, and right now Americans can log onto healthcare.gov and see just how ruinous these premium costs will be to their budgets for next year.

I have heard from constituents like Carol, a retired high school teacher in Menomonie, whose premiums are going to go up by nearly $2,000 per month. Will she have to drop her insurance entirely?

I am hearing from small business owners like Teresa in Milwaukee County. As a metastatic breast cancer patient, going without insurance is simply not an option. Will doubling premiums in 2026 jeopardize her entire business and all of the people that she employs?

And I have talked to soybean farmers like Phil in Spring Valley, who is adding healthcare costs to the growing list of crises Donald Trump has created for his business. He is already losing $85 an acre because of Trump's trade war. Where is he supposed to find extra money to afford his health insurance?

These are real questions that 22 million Americans are asking themselves as they start logging on to healthcare.gov to buy insurance for 2026, only to find their costs have increased astronomically. These price increases are not an issue that will stop at any State line. Who you voted for or what political party you belong to does not matter; prices are going up for Americans in every single State.

These 22 million Americans all have a story to tell, and sadly, many of my Republican colleagues are not telling those stories. So I am here to do that because, regardless of where you live in this country, I fundamentally believe you should have good healthcare that doesn't break the bank.

Take Iowa, for instance, where 120,000 Iowans saved an average of $470 each month because of premium tax credits. That is over 100,000 people who are about to see their healthcare premiums double, triple, maybe even quadruple. People like Lori from Des Moines, a cancer survivor, who needs these tax breaks to afford lifesaving screenings, MRIs, and routine care.

If these tax credits expire, her premiums will go from $8 per month to over $600 per month, and she will have no other option than to opt out of health insurance entirely. She simply cannot afford it. And Lori isn't alone. Estimates show that the average premiums for Iowans with marketplace coverage will increase by over $1,000 next year. For Iowans already struggling to make ends meet, that is simply unaffordable.

I also talked to Jenny from West Des Moines. After Jenny's husband died of cancer, she started using the Affordable Care Act to find health insurance for herself and her son. She shared last week that ``[w]ithout the enhanced tax credits, my premiums are going to more than double.'' She continued, ``As hard as it's going to be for us, I know it's going to be a lot harder for a lot of other single mothers.''

Iowa, like Wisconsin, also is home to countless rural and agricultural communities that are going to be hard hit by Donald Trump's healthcare crisis. More than 1 in 4 farmers nationwide rely on the Affordable Care Act for their coverage, and taking away these tax credits will be yet another blow.

As Aaron Lehman and Matt Russell from the Iowa Farmers Union wrote in a recent op-ed, ``Iowa farmers are being stressed right now by low prices because of trade wars, increased production costs, tens of millions of dollars in cuts to USDA programs, like support for conservation and specialty crop production . . . A dramatic increase in 2026 health care premiums for thousands of rural Iowans will crash individual family budgets and intensify the economic crisis.''

Listen to them. Healthcare premiums will crash families' budgets. These farmers have already been dealt a terrible hand by this administration--and now this?

And let's not forget, we are having this debate after Donald Trump and Republicans already took a hacksaw to the rural healthcare system with their ``Big Ugly Bill.'' Their cuts to Medicaid are going to cost rural hospitals nearly $150 billion over the next decade, forcing many to close and even more to drop some of their least profitable services--but vital services--like labor and delivery and mental healthcare.

Unless Republicans and Donald Trump come to the table, the expiring Affordable Care Act tax breaks will put salt in the wound for rural Iowans and Wisconsinites alike. So if Donald Trump and my Republican colleagues won't listen to Democrats, I hope they will listen to Iowans like Jenny and Lori who are terrified how they will be able to make ends meet without these tax breaks.

To my Republican colleagues: There was plenty of room in the budget to deliver tax breaks for the ultrawealthy and big corporations, but what about hard-working Americans?

The path out of this is so incredibly clear. Republicans can come to the table today to work with Democrats, to reopen the government, and protect their own constituents from skyrocketing costs; or Republicans can ``whistle past the graveyard'' as they green light the largest premium spike in history. To me and your voters, the choice is clear. I just hope you can listen and stand up for working families.

If not, millions of Americans will know whom to blame when they can no longer afford their insurance.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to give voice to the more than 700,000 Wisconsinites who use SNAP to put food on the table. We call it FoodShare in our State, and it is nothing short of a lifeline for over 40 million Americans. But, unfortunately, right now, Donald Trump is pulling the rug out from under American families.

Let me be crystal clear: No one wins in a shutdown. And that is why I have been practically begging Republican leadership to sit down with Democrats to reopen the government, make sure

families are fed, and to lower healthcare costs.

And while I stand ready and willing to work with my colleagues on a compromise, House Republicans have been on vacation for 45 days. Donald Trump has been jet-setting around the world, and when he is back in the country, he has been focused on overseeing the construction of his big, beautiful ballroom.

But, now, he has finally started to turn his attention to the shutdown. Unfortunately for the American people, he is not coming to the table to negotiate to reopen the government and bring down healthcare costs. Instead, he is holding hungry Americans hostage and using families as political pawns. Instead of sitting down with Democrats to find a compromise to get out of this shutdown and lower costs for working families, Donald Trump illegally cut off food for nearly 42 million Americans.

President Trump made a choice not to feed hungry families. That is right--a choice. And we learned that choice was illegal. Two different judges concluded that Donald Trump was required to use contingency funds to make sure SNAP continues to flow to hungry families.

But the President was then given another choice. The judges told him that he could shift resources around to make families whole and ensure that our kids are fed. But, again, the President said no and chose to withhold Federal funding needed to keep food on the table for Wisconsinites.

Now, to put a finer point on this, the President has the money for all sorts of things--private planes for his staff, $20 billion to bail out Argentina, and, of course, his glamorous ballroom--but he is choosing not to fund SNAP and keep 700,000 Wisconsinites fed.

This is really uncharted territory. Until now, ensuring that funding for SNAP continues has been standard operating procedure in every previous shutdown. Until Donald Trump, every President has put people above politics to keep food on the table.

By sitting on his hands and refusing to lift a finger for hungry families until a court forced him to step up, Trump has caused total and utter chaos. The resulting delays and confusions have been nothing short of devastating.

States are trying to figure out how to administer partial payments. Food pantries are seeing lines outside their doors. Families are showing up at grocery stores unsure if they are going to be able to afford to buy food. Children are going to school with empty stomachs.

Then, just today, President Trump posted on social media and further muddied the waters, leading us to question if he plans to abide by the court order to release SNAP benefits at all.

The President needs to follow court orders and provide food assistance now, and he should fund it in full.

For 700,000 Wisconsinites, Donald Trump refusing to fund SNAP adds insult to injury when it comes to nutrition assistance. Remember, the President's marquee accomplishment this year was passing a massive tax bill that disproportionately benefits the wealthiest Americans and big corporations.

And how are we paying for that tax break for billionaires? Donald Trump's novel solution was, in part, the largest cut to SNAP in history.

Now, even more families are being left in the lurch because of President Trump, unsure if there will be food on the table this week.

We need to reopen the Federal Government and address rising costs for American families. We know the fastest way is Donald Trump coming to the table. I am here waiting. But in the meantime, 42 million American families should not go hungry because Donald Trump wants to use them as leverage.

President Trump, you have the power. You have the legal authority to keep these benefits flowing and feed hungry kids. Use it.

I yield the floor.

Will the Senator yield for a question?

Thank you.

Senator Merkley, you and I are both members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

I have a question for you about how critical a functioning Congress and a functioning appropriations process is to our separation of powers, our checks and balances, and, therefore, to our very democracy.

The Federal Government is currently shut down because Republicans who control the House, the Senate, and the White House are hell-bent on raising healthcare costs for the American people. In fact, 22 million Americans are about to see their health insurance costs potentially double, triple, or more. And the only way for us to get out of this mess is for Democrats and Republicans to sit down together and negotiate a solution.

So far, Republicans refuse to come to the table. The House has been out of session for over a month--out of town--and President Trump is leaving the country, again, at the end of this week.

The longer this Trump shutdown continues, it appears more likely that our Republican colleagues will totally give up Congress's power, which, of course, is the power of the people in the government-funding process.

In fact, this morning, reporters are circulating the Capitol, speculating that Congress will give up on passing fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills and instead attempt to pass a full-year continuing resolution. This would be a failure on the part of the House and the Senate majority, controlled by Republicans. And, really, it would be a failure on the part of President Donald Trump. It would be a failure that undermines one of Congress's core democratic functions: setting priorities through the power of the purse.

So my question for you, as you hold the floor to shine a light on the ways in which this President continues to undermine our democracy and disregard the Constitution: How is Donald Trump undermining Congress through his attacks on the bipartisan appropriations process? And when he does that and the majority--the Republicans in Congress--allow this to happen, how do the American people lose?

Thank you.

Mr. President, for the past 6 or so months, I have been crisscrossing the State of Wisconsin, listening to families, small business owners, parents, caregivers, doctors, nurses, and neighbors about what good, affordable healthcare means to them. And the overwhelming consensus, as you might expect, was that having healthcare you can rely on and afford means everything.

I know this exact feeling. When I was just 9 years old, I had a very serious childhood illness, similar to spinal meningitis. That wasn't the exact diagnosis. But I was in the hospital for 3 months, and even though I was able to make a full recovery, my family was then not able to find any health insurance to cover me, not at any price, because I had been labeled as a child with a preexisting health condition.

You see, back then, insurance companies were under no obligation to cover people who had been sick or were sick. So people with preexisting health conditions, like diabetes or a cancer diagnosis, so often went uninsured. That kind of experience, being hospitalized for months and then not being able to get health insurance, it is not an experience that one forgets.

So when we have these debates about healthcare policy, I know that it is not just a high-minded conceptual idea. It is real. The consequences are real, and the people behind the stories are real.

And over the past few months, I have been able to hear those real stories. I heard stories from families who were sometimes unable to put into words what it would mean if their Medicaid were stripped away.

I heard from Evan in Madison, WI. Evan is on Medicaid. We call it Badger Care in the State of Wisconsin. Evan has undergone two brain surgeries and subsequent radiation over the past 10 years to treat brain tumors. Thankfully, he has Medicaid to help cover this care, but his ability to stay healthy means that he needs medication. He wrote to me and said that without Medicaid, ``I won't be able to afford my medication that literally gives me the ability to go out and be a part of my community.''

I also heard from Ashley from De Pere, WI. She told me how Medicaid was essential for her 15-year-old daughter with disabilities. Medicaid has allowed her to modify her home so her daughter can safely get around and also allowed the family to get a wheelchair-accessible van so her daughter can get to school and get to the doctor and just be a kid and experience the world.

These are the Americans who are now living in fear that their Medicaid is on track to be terminated because my Republican colleagues jammed through a partisan bill that cuts Medicaid to the bone and will kick more than 10 million Americans off their healthcare. As always, I would be remiss if I did not say that was all in service to giving huge tax breaks to big, profitable corporations and the ultrawealthy.

This is the damage that I am hearing about from the people I work for, and, sadly, the stories from folks who are worried their healthcare is on the line don't end there. Twenty-four million Americans get their healthcare from the Affordable Care Act, and they are waiting right now for that dreaded letter in the mail letting them know that their premium costs are about to skyrocket. For the 22 million who receive enhanced premium tax credits, their costs will go up on average by 75 percent. Four million of these Americans are going to get that letter and realize that they cannot afford healthcare at all anymore.

This, of course, is because my Republican colleagues refuse to pass our bill to extend the enhanced premium tax credits and make them permanent, which allow millions of Americans to get affordable healthcare through the ACA.

I heard from some of those families and small business owners last week. They are just dreading what they are about to find out and what the future holds for them.

Take Kim, who owns a bakery in the Fox Valley. Last week, she laid out how if Republicans refuse to extend these tax breaks, she is not only worried about how she will be able to afford her healthcare but also that increased costs on the exchange will mean that employees may quit working for her to go work for a big company that offers insurance. And, of course, she is worried that her customers will inevitably be left with less

in their pockets to come by and patronize her store.

I also heard from Keith in Marathon County, who runs his own insurance business. He knows this issue inside out, and Keith laid out some staggering figures for me of what he is staring down. If Republicans don't join me in extending these premium tax credits and making them permanent, Keith's premiums will go from less than $740 per month to more than $2,300 per month just to get insurance for his family. That is a staggering increase.

It is no exaggeration to say that the American people are staring down a healthcare crisis. We have a healthcare system in crisis. And I want to be clear that it is 100 percent manufactured by my Republican colleagues.

But do you know what? This is still avoidable. It is still avoidable. I am hearing my constituents sounding the alarm, so I am here to do the same. I got the memo that they don't want to have Medicaid gutted, they don't want to have their Affordable Care Act tax credits taken away, and they don't want their costs to skyrocket.

The people I work for have been crystal clear about what they expect and demand of Congress: Work together to lower costs and give them the opportunity for their hard work to let them save and to let them get ahead.

So that is my position. We need to lower the costs of healthcare, not take it away from families. I simply refuse to just go along to get along because the people I represent are truly struggling, and the solution is right in front of us.

That brings us to today. The path to keep the government open and stop healthcare costs from rising for millions is on the table. The whole idea of a shutdown is totally avoidable. If Republicans refuse to see what is right in front of them, then a shutdown is on them. And Wisconsinites will know exactly who to thank when they get that dreaded letter and their healthcare costs skyrocket or they see it simply stripped away.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, folks in this Chamber may know this, but

the fight for affordable healthcare is deeply personal to me.

When I was just 9 years old, I had a very serious childhood illness. It was a diagnosis similar to spinal meningitis--that wasn't the exact diagnosis--but I was actually in the hospital for 3 months. And even though I made a full recovery, my family was not able to find health insurance for me at any price, and that is because I had been labeled as a child with a preexisting health condition.

At that time, insurance companies were allowed to refuse coverage for people because they had preexisting health conditions, but because of the Affordable Care Act, we changed that and gave Americans with preexisting conditions some serious protections.

We gave families like mine hope. We gave young people hope allowing them to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26--a provision I crafted in the House of Representatives. And we gave small business owners hope, ensuring that their employees could get affordable care.

And since then, I am proud to say that we have actually built on the success of the Affordable Care Act. One of those wins has been giving families a tax break when they buy their insurance through the marketplace to help make their healthcare more affordable.

For small businesses, like our restaurants, manufacturers, and childcare providers, the small group health insurance market isn't just a huge administrative burden, it is also expensive. The open marketplace is the difference between being able to hire and retain and keep doors open and losing staff to jobs at companies that have the wherewithal to provide health insurance.

But this tax break is all on the line right now. If Republicans don't act with us, this tax break will end at the end of this year, jacking up premium costs for 24 million people in America, including pricing about 4 million Americans out of the market altogether.

Yes, you heard me right, 4 or more million people will see their healthcare terminated. These numbers have very real people behind each of them, with very real stories.

Take Amanda. Amanda is a broker's assistant in a real estate office in Wisconsin who relies on the enhanced premium tax credits on the Affordable Care Act. Amanda, who has lupus, needs weekly shots to manage the autoimmune disease.

Or take Madison chef and restaurant owner Evan Dannells who has about a dozen employees who all get their care from the Affordable Care Act.

He said that if that weren't an affordable option, his employees would be looking at corporate employers that can afford big insurance packages.

The stories go on and on of Wisconsinites who rely on the Affordable Care Act to get just that: affordable healthcare.

But these are the people who will have their premiums skyrocketing, forcing some like Amanda to lose care altogether and forcing others like Evan to lose employees.

The upside is that there is a very simple way to fix this, and it is right in front of us: pass the bill that Senator Shaheen and I lead to make these tax breaks permanent.

Time is of the essence. Families and businesses are going to get those dreaded letters in the mail any day now saying their premiums are going up 75 percent. Families will have to make really tough choices. Small businesses will be left holding the bag as employees leave for corporations that are able to afford insurance plans.

So we are left with one question: Will Republicans refuse to act and increase healthcare costs for tens of millions of Americans? So far, their answer has been yes. They have had opportunity after opportunity--in fact, three different times on the Senate floor this year--but again they chose not to do anything.

When Republicans were putting together their huge sweeping tax bill, you would think that including tax breaks for tens of millions of families to afford healthcare would be their centerpiece, right? Wrong.

As families are slated to get notices of how much their premiums are going to go up any day now, Republicans had yet another chance this week to help address this pressing issue. House Republicans unveiled a bill just yesterday to fund the government, but it does absolutely nothing to lower healthcare costs or prevent millions from being kicked off of their insurance.

This agenda to strip healthcare for millions and raise healthcare costs for tens of millions is not what the American people are clamoring for, I can assure you.

Wisconsinites have been crystal clear that they need lower costs. The last thing they need is their healthcare premiums to be jacked up or, worse, not even being able to afford them. If Republicans fail to act, Wisconsinites know who to thank when their premiums go up next year and millions are priced out of healthcare.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise to recognize the 50th anniversary of Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, WRTP, Building Industry Group Skilled Trade Employment Program's, BIG STEP. I am delighted to celebrate this impactful organization's 50 years of service to the State of Wisconsin.

Founded in 1975, WRTP BIG STEP was determined to improve the labor force through its efforts in reshaping apprenticeships. The organization envisioned an environment that intertwined diversity, resilience, and creativity to produce an incredible generation of workers. Soon, their vision became a reality as WRTP BIG STEP developed pre-apprenticeship programs and advanced training courses that increased the number of minority workers, ensuring everyone has a pathway to a quality career in the trades.

Over the last 50 years, BIG STEP has been essential to creating Milwaukee landmarks, from our skyscrapers to our sports complexes. After helping tens of thousands of people take their first steps into the trades, BIG STEP has served Wisconsin's workforce by building courage, innovation, and equity.

Today, WRTP BIG STEP creates pre-apprenticeship programs and provides access to specialized training, consistent sponsorship, and support for its clients with targeted curricula for direct career pathways. In addition, WTRP BIG STEP helps industry employers and labor organizations create career pathways through intercultural workforce learning, the development of a skilled talent pipeline, and through working groups that identify and reduce barriers in real time. As just one example of their work, WRTP BIG STEP recently welcomed 180 high school students to their Milwaukee Summer Trades Academy, introducing them to careers in construction and teaching them about skilled trade jobs and apprenticeship pathways, so they could consider a future career in the skilled trades.

We in Wisconsin are so grateful to WRTP BIG STEP for helping to uplift our workforce and create the next generation of leaders. I am honored to recognize the 50th anniversary of WRTP BIG STEP and look forward to its continued success in Wisconsin for years to come.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life and service of Michael John Remington. A longtime aide to former Wisconsin Representative Bob Kastenmeier, Mike played a pivotal role on Capitol Hill in shaping strong intellectual property laws America is known for and that our artists, musicians, authors, and others have utilized for decades.

Mike was born in 1945 in Baraboo, WI. A graduate of Central High School in Madison, Mike went on to earn his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mike comes from a family with a deep commitment to public service. His father Frank Remington was a national leader on criminal law and procedure and whose work continues through the University of Wisconsin's Frank J. Remington Center.

Mike's first taste for service came as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa, where he helped build homes and a basketball court. Mike went on to earn a Fulbright scholarship which brought him to Paris, France. He was the first American to be a Fulbright scholar at the Conseil d'Etat, equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court. Shortly thereafter, Mike moved to Washington, DC, to apply his unmatched work ethic and intellect to strengthen the U.S. legal system.

In 1977, he joined the staff of Representative Bob Kastenmeier, who represented Mike's hometown of Madison. During that time, Mike worked closely with Representative Kastenmeier to strengthen intellectual property laws. Later, Mike served as chief counsel to the Judiciary Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration for 9 years, where he played a pivotal role in the enactment of over 20 public laws aimed at improving the administration of justice. Among his many accomplishments were several key amendments to patent law.

Mike was genuinely committed to bipartisanship, working closely with Members on both sides of the aisle to achieve shared goals around improving the legal system. Mike served as the director of the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal, an entity established by Congress to study and report to the President, Chief Justice, and Congress on issues relating to judicial misconduct and impeachment. He also served as staff to the Presidential Clemency Board in the Ford administration and to the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council in the Clinton administration.

Following his service on Capitol Hill, Mike became partner at Drinker Biddle in Washington, DC. Mike was also the founding chair of the firm's intellectual property group. Throughout his career, he worked with a diverse array of clients, from a performing rights organization representing thousands of songwriters and music publishers, to a university foundation involved in technology licensing, individual authors and creators, and an alliance of inventors and start-ups.

Beyond his public service, Mike was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. He enjoyed travel, exploring his talents in cooking, photography, painting, and writing along the way.

In 2015, at an event honoring Representative Kastenmeier, former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson noted Mike's ``great influence in Congress and in Wisconsin'' and said ``there aren't enough Remingtons. Can't get enough Remingtons.''

Mike's dedicated public service, love of Wisconsin and our Nation, are a lasting and indelible legacy. I am grateful for Mike's service and leadership.

Mr. President, I call up the Baldwin, Murkowski, Cantwell amendment No. 2855 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. President, our amendment would strike the rescission for Public Broadcasting. Eliminating this funding would be devastating for local public radio and television stations. It would reduce or eliminate access to educational programming, local news, and lifesaving alerts during emergencies and natural disasters. It would disproportionately harm our rural and Tribal communities.

If my colleagues have concerns about this funding, I commit to working with you on those concerns as part of the appropriations process. That is where we should have these debates. But these issues were not even raised as a part of our appropriations process during the past 2 years. So to take this extraordinary step and say that these issues are now so grave and so urgent that we have to address them like this, what are we doing here?

If we don't adopt this amendment, local television and radio stations will shut down, and it will be rural stations that will be the first to close.

I urge my colleagues to vote for our bipartisan amendment and to work with me on these issues as part of the appropriations process, where they should be dealt with.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Vote on Amendment No. 2855

Mr. President, the rescissions package before us reduces access to educational programming for children and locally produced public radio and television programming. It diminishes America's global leadership while eliminating lifesaving aid from the world's most vulnerable populations.

I want to spend a minute on the impact that this will have on public radio and television, including the disproportionate impact it will have on rural communities.

One in four Wisconsinites lives in a rural community, and many rely on public broadcasting for local news, emergency alerts, and free educational programming, especially for children. Wisconsin Public Radio is the primary broadcast relay for Wisconsin's Emergency Alert System, including AMBER Alerts and lifesaving weather alerts like tornado and flash flood warnings. Look no further than the absolutely devastating news out of Texas. Access to high-quality information can truly be the difference between life and death. Access to local news from reporters and sources that community members trust is more important than ever.

Stripping away this funding would also endanger local news that is already disappearing in so many Wisconsin communities. In 2024--just last year--almost 20 percent of our local newspapers shut down in Wisconsin, according to a study by Northwestern University. That same study found that Wisconsin's northernmost county, Bayfield, had no local news sources at all while 22 counties across Wisconsin had just 1 local news source.

That is where public radio plays a critical role in keeping Wisconsinites connected with their communities. Stations like WXPR in Rhinelander, WI, would be under threat if this package advances--one of the few news sources producing local reporting in Wisconsin's Northwoods and Michigan's Upper Peninsula--or Radio Milwaukee, which, because of public funding, can broadcast local school board meetings for parents and families to stay in touch with what is happening in their communities.

Without Federal support for public media, this critical information could disappear for Wisconsin families. This is what public broadcasting means for Wisconsinites, but it applies to all the States that we represent. That should be reason enough to oppose this bill on the substance of it.

But the other reason is the extraordinary process that is being used to make this change and the impact it would have on the ability of this body to perform its most basic functions. If passed, this bill would represent the first time this rescissions process would be used to pass completely partisan rescissions, and in doing so, we would undo bipartisan agreements.

That is why I oppose this bill, and I hope enough of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will choose to do so as well.

The Senate passes bipartisan appropriations bills every year. They are hard, and they take months to negotiate, and it doesn't always work as well as it should. Senators on both sides of the aisle often discuss wanting to return to something we call regular order. We decry full- year continuing resolutions, or CRs, and government shutdowns. We say we want to bring appropriations bills to the floor. This isn't a pipedream, and I reject the idea that the appropriations process can't work anymore. More often than not, we pass appropriations bills within the first few months of the new fiscal year--not ideal but workable. We certainly need to work to make it better, and the full-year continuing resolution we find ourselves in right now is a prime example of its failing, but throwing in the towel, as this bill does, would make it so much worse.

I want to highlight one example of when the appropriations process worked how it should that is particularly relevant in this exact moment.

It was just a few years ago, in fiscal year 2019, that the Labor- Health and Human Services bill--not the easiest bill--passed the Senate and was signed into law prior to the start of the next fiscal year. At that time, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Shelby, along with other Republicans and in working with Democrats, vowed to return to regular order and committed to it.

In May of 2018, President Trump submitted a rescissions package just like the one we are contending with today. Enough Republicans joined all of the Democrats in opposing it. It failed, and that was the end of it.

Then, 3 months later, a combined Defense and Labor-Health and Human Services bill passed. It passed the Senate; it passed the House; and it was signed into law by President Trump on September 28--just days short of the expiration of fiscal year 2018. It wasn't the only pair of bills. Several other appropriations bills were enacted prior to October 1 also.

My Republican colleagues knew then that passing partisan rescissions packages would make passing bipartisan appropriations bills that much harder, if it would be possible at all. That is what we are debating today. The issue here is really simple: How can any minority party, Democrat or Republican, make concessions as part of these bipartisan appropriations negotiations if the majority just walks back those deals a few months later?

The answer is, it can't, and that is why we have never passed partisan rescissions packages like this before.

Passing this rescissions package will also, very likely, mean that there will be more to come. In fact, OMB Director Russ Vought has said as much. Right now, the Department of Education is withholding $7 billion in funding that normally goes out at this time of year to the States for the upcoming school year to support afterschool programs, STEM education, school counselors, and smaller class sizes, among many other things.

Will the administration put that funding in the next rescissions package?

So, if we pass this bill, we would find ourselves right back here in a couple of months--with the President exerting his influence to pass another partisan rescissions package--or we can end this here, like we did in 2018, and deal with these issues where they should be dealt with and where they frequently are dealt with as part of the appropriations process. We can and should debate the issues raised in this rescissions package as part of the annual appropriations process. We should mark up bills

in committee and bring them to the floor.

But you cannot vote for this rescissions package and then argue for regular order or decry brinksmanship over government funding and government shutdowns or full-year continuing resolutions because walking back on bipartisan agreements like this rescissions package does will make future bipartisan agreements that much harder, if not impossible.

As the ranking member on the Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee, I commit to working with my Republican colleagues on their specific concerns with funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but the concerns I have heard raised as part of the debate on this package actually weren't even raised as part of the appropriations process in the last 2 years as I chaired this subcommittee. My colleagues are saying that this is such a grave problem that we have to take the extraordinary step of rescinding funding when these issues weren't even raised when we passed the appropriations bills with this funding in it originally. That is not how this process should work.

To my colleagues, if you are for regular order, if you want this body to work better and want more bipartisanship and less partisanship, I sincerely ask you to deeply reflect on what this vote means for that goal that a majority of our constituents want from us. I urge my colleagues to vote no.