Floor Statements

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I rise today to reflect on the last 100 days and the unimaginable amount of havoc and harm President Donald Trump has caused for Wisconsinites.

Now, while on the campaign trail and even once in office, the President made a staggering number of promises: promises to end wars on day one, promises to lower costs at the grocery store on day one, promises to make healthcare more affordable. And the list goes on and on and on.

Look, I was on the campaign trail and listening to Wisconsinites at the same time as Donald Trump was. And, truly, I get why he was making some of these promises. Wisconsin families were facing high prices. Workers felt like they were being ripped off by their big-corporation employers. Democracy felt broken, as voters' voices were drowned out by special-interest money, and people were sick and tired of endless wars. Mr. Trump claimed he had the solution.

Well, so far, he has broken these promises and literally betrayed the American people.

Here is the kicker: Donald Trump not only broke these promises, but many of the things he promised to fix he has actually made worse. Grocery bills are up, and I have yet to see even a concept of a healthcare plan, while Medicaid coverage for 1 million-plus Wisconsinites is on the chopping block to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. Wars are raging in Ukraine and Gaza. Billionaires and big corporations have a friend in the White House who has their backs. It is one of the greatest bait and switches of our time. And, at the end of the day, it is Wisconsin families who are paying the price.

For the last 100 days, I have heard from constituents in all 72 Wisconsin counties who fear what this administration's actions will mean for them and their families.

I have heard from farmers like Linda in Vernon County, who barely survived Donald Trump's first trade war. Family farmers like her are scared that they will be put out of business entirely as punishing tariffs and new trade wars jack up costs of fertilizer and farming equipment, while cutting off access to markets.

I have heard from folks like Renee in Milwaukee. Renee has stage IV breast cancer. Renee is scared that cuts to Medicaid will force her and her husband to choose between protecting their life savings--their retirement savings--or getting the lifesaving cancer care that she needs to stay alive.

I have heard from veterans like James in southeastern Wisconsin who are out of a job because Donald Trump fired them from the only place that they have ever felt like they belonged in civilian life: helping their fellow veterans at the VA.

I have heard from so many small businesses, like Lakefront Brewery. There was a local roofing contractor in Milwaukee, small retailers, and an auto parts seller in Milwaukee who are all considering: Do we have to raise our prices? Will our customers be able to afford our prices? Or do we have to lay off workers because President Trump's trade war is tightening their margins and making it harder to plan for the future?

I have heard from families from Ozaukee County on Wisconsin's east coast to the St. Croix Valley on our western side who have had their childcare or food assistance threatened because this President is choosing to prioritize tax breaks for his wealthy friends over working families.

Dairy farmers saw millions in funding that they were promised to grow their businesses frozen, and Alzheimer's researchers at Wisconsin's universities are making do with less because of arbitrary cuts that threaten the next breakthrough that would serve our loved ones. Seniors accessing their hard-earned Social Security benefits have fewer places to turn as field offices shutter and staff is let go.

Public schools in Milwaukee with children in them who have been exposed to lead paint in the schools have fewer resources because President Trump fired the very lead hazard experts they relied on at the CDC. Imagine that.

I hear it from constituents every day calling my office. Now, in ordinary times, my office would maybe get around 50 to 100 calls a day, but regularly, since January, we have passed 1,000 calls a day from Wisconsinites. There isn't a corner of our State that hasn't been impacted by this President's often illegal, sometimes unconstitutional overreach of his Presidential powers.

These Wisconsinites are not alone. Poll after poll is showing the same thing: This President is reaching historically low approval ratings. More Americans are giving him an F grade than any other grade.

It is hard to state all the ways that President Trump's second term is already impacting folks in Wisconsin. His actions have made things more expensive and the future far less certain, whether you are a Wisconsin farmer or small business owner, veteran, senior, or just a family looking to make ends meet.

In January, I said I would work with anyone to deliver for Wisconsin. I also promised that I would stand up to anyone who hurts Wisconsinites. Those things remain true, and right now our country is not on the right course. And Americans agree.

Wisconsinites want lower costs. Our veterans and farmers want to be respected and working families to have a fair shot. Donald Trump's chaos isn't delivering any of that, and it is about time Congress steps up and acts as a true check and balance on this President before it is too late for our economy, working families, and the future of our Nation.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 1693 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. President, my amendment is straightforward. It would prevent any cuts to Medicaid that could lead to rural hospital closures.

When I travel around rural Wisconsin, the No. 1 challenge that I hear about is access to healthcare. We absolutely must make it easier to get healthcare for these folks, not take away their lifeline by cutting Medicaid.

Make no mistake, these drastic cuts to Medicaid will force rural hospitals and clinics to close. That means no regular checkups for children, no prenatal care for expectant mothers, no timely emergency care after stroke or heart attack.

The choice here is simple: Do you really believe that rural hospitals should close so that Donald Trump can give big corporations and the wealthiest a tax break? I certainly don't. But that is what this budget from Senate Republicans is setting us up for.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect access to healthcare for all rural Americans.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I rise today on behalf of the 1.2 million Wisconsinites who rely on Medicaid--or as we call it in Wisconsin, BadgerCare--for their health insurance. And I rise today in their defense because their healthcare is under attack.

I really want to focus right now kind of taking off where Senator Durbin left off talking about our children, our babies. One in three children in Wisconsin rely on Medicare for their life insurance. That is one in three children in Wisconsin's urban, suburban, and rural counties who need Medicaid just to see a doctor to get regular checkups or to get vaccines and to stay healthy.

I have traveled across Wisconsin, meeting with constituents who are terrified about what these cuts will mean for their families, their finances, and their health. I would like to share a few of those stories with you this evening.

I think about people like Megan from Wisconsin, a single mother of two young children who relies on Medicaid so that her kids can get regular check-ups to see the dentist. She reached out to me to share that without Medicaid, her entire paycheck would go to just keeping her children healthy--with nothing left over to pay for rent or keep food on the table.

I heard from Shelley in Lake Holcombe, WI, who reached out to me about her 17-year-old daughter Chloe. Chloe was diagnosed with leukemia last October. Chloe receives chemotherapy 5 days a week, and her parents drive her almost an hour each way to Eau Claire, WI, so that she can get the treatments that she needs. Without Medicaid, the cost of Chloe's treatment would force Shelley and parents like her to make an impossible choice between financial ruin or not getting the care that they need for their children.

I have also heard from dozens of Wisconsin families whose children live with disabilities. They are terrified of what financial cuts will mean for their kids' future and their family's finances.

Jennifer in Wauwatosa wrote to my office about her son Will. Will is a 15-year-old sophomore at Wauwatosa West whom she described as vibrant and loving. Will also has Down syndrome which, among other medical care, has meant that he has needed a total of 11 ear tube surgeries just so that he can hear. Jennifer wrote me that the math on those costs to their family is pretty simple. Eleven surgeries which cost $10,000 each, without insurance, would cost her family $110,000. She said without Medicaid, she and her husband would struggle to give their children the lives they deserve, including paying for their other son's college tuition.

She wrote:

If Medicaid is cut, we will struggle financially. We will

not be able to get Will the support he needs to be

independent, get a job, and go to college. It could even mean

one of us having to leave our full-time employment which

could hurt even more. Please don't cut Medicaid.

I also heard from Brooke in Thorp, WI. She shared that because of Medicaid and the speech therapy for her 4-year-old son that he receives, she has, for the first time this year, heard his voice utter more than one syllable.

Imagine that.

She wrote:

It marks the first time I have been called Mom by him, and

I have heard ``I love you'' come from him three times--all

occurring in the last 12 months. He receives speech therapy

five days a week to learn how to express himself, [to]

process emotions, and [to] regulate. This has changed his

life. And these therapies are paid for by Medicaid. Don't

allow people like me to only hear ``love you'' a handful of

times simply because of a budget cut.

We can talk about the number of children who will be impacted by cuts to Medicaid, a total of over 30 million nationwide. While that number is staggering, it is important to remember that every single child who relies on Medicaid has a story like Chloe's or Will's. And they have parents like Megan and Brooke who just want what is best for their children and are terrified about their future if Medicaid is taken away.

If my colleagues on the Republican side want to go through with cuts--the ones laid out in the House's budget plan--it is these families Republicans must answer to.

Donald Trump and congressional Republicans can explain why they are planning to rip away healthcare for children so that the top 1 percent can get richer.

I, for one, would like them to answer for the chaos, for the fear, for the heartache that they are causing families in my State.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise this evening once again to highlight the stories of Wisconsinites who would be impacted by cuts to Medicaid that my Republican colleagues are proposing.

Earlier this evening, I talked about children, babies, our most vulnerable. Now I would like to talk about older adults.

I rise to share the story of Renee. Renee is a 60-year-old woman. She lives in Milwaukee, WI. In October 2023, Renee was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. It had metastasized to her brain, her lungs, and her liver.

She depended upon Medicaid for that diagnosis through a program that Congress created, and she also depends on Medicaid--or BadgerCare, as we call it in the State of Wisconsin--for her treatment.

Without Medicaid, she said, ``[I] would be forced to ration or forgo cancer treatment--hastening my death--or send me and my husband into bankruptcy trying to keep me alive.''

In March, last month, I brought Renee to President Trump's State of the Union Address to show this President who his massive cuts to Medicaid will hurt.

Medicaid provides health coverage to 7.2 million seniors nationwide. That is millions of Americans just like Renee who rely on Medicaid for the lifesaving treatment they need.

I also heard from Linda. Linda lives in Viroqua, WI, where her husband and she run a dairy farm that they bought nearly 22 years ago. Linda served her community for 30 years as a registered nurse, working primarily with new moms and babies, before she was forced to retire due to chronic health issues. Since then, she and her husband have relied on Medicaid and he on Medicare for their healthcare because they cannot afford other types of insurance.

Like so many dairy farms in the State of Wisconsin, Linda and her husband work on very tight margins, made even tighter by Trump's first- term tariffs, which, according to Linda, ``put us into poverty.'' This was in Trump's first term. Now they are staring down another Trump trade war and wondering how it is going to impact their dairy operation.

She wrote:

I am not proud that I have to use Medicaid and Medicare for

insurance, but at 63 years of age, it appears that I will not

be able to work at a job that provides health coverage or a

living wage. If the cuts in Medicaid become a reality, not

only will we be homeless . . . but we will not be able to

access the healthcare and drug coverage we need to have

quality of life. We never thought we would need government

healthcare, but here we are, and the outlook has darkened

considerably for many dairy farmers since January.

This fight to protect Medicaid for seniors is personal to me and dozens of Wisconsinites. My own mother relied on Medicaid at the end of her life to afford nursing home care, as do the majority of Wisconsinites in skilled nursing homes. Six in ten residents in our State's nursing homes use Medicaid, or over 10,000 seniors who might not be able to otherwise afford to have a safe roof over their heads.

Medicaid also supports more than 43,000 elderly or disabled adults who receive long-term care at home in our community. That includes people like Tammy in Monona, WI, whose father Bud battled dementia at the end of his life. Medicaid allowed Tammy's dad to stay in his home for the last 5 years of his life with the support of at-home caregivers.

She wrote to me:

People should be able to choose where and how they spend

their last days in life. Medicaid allowed my dad to stay in

his own home, with familiar surroundings that helped ground

him when his dementia was the most challenging for him.

Please continue funding Medicaid to be able to help other

frail elders stay in their own homes.

There are so many pleas that I hear from my constituents in every corner of our State, and it is these constituents that I hope President Trump and congressional Republicans are listening to when they think about ripping away Medicaid to pay for their tax cuts for big corporations and billionaires.

Seniors like Renee and Linda know that Medicaid is a lifeline for Americans who otherwise would have nowhere to turn. It is Wisconsinites--who will face bankruptcy just to stay well--who will pay for Donald Trump's giveaway to the top 1 percent.

I cannot believe that my Republican colleagues are even considering a plan that is so backward and so cruel for hard-working Wisconsinites and seniors. This is wrong, and we must continue to fight back and say loudly and clearly: Hands off Medicaid.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today for the third time this evening

on behalf of Wisconsinites in rural communities whose access to healthcare will be devastated by cuts to Medicaid.

Earlier this evening, I talked about the impact that cuts to Medicaid would have on children and babies and then about the impact that cuts to Medicaid would have on seniors and older adults.

But in my home State of Wisconsin, about a quarter of the population lives in rural areas, or roughly 1.4 million people do. And across the United States, about 60 million people live in rural areas.

When I travel around Wisconsin, I hear about several challenges that our rural communities face, from the lack of high-speed broadband to ensuring businesses have enough workers to thrive. But the No. 1 challenge that I hear about, time and again, is about rural access to healthcare.

Wisconsinites in rural communities face long drives and wait times to see a doctor. And for specialized healthcare, many of my constituents are looking at hours in the car just to get the care that they need and that they deserve.

That is why I have made it my mission to lower healthcare costs and expand care across the State, but especially for critical-access hospitals in our rural communities.

I am proud of our work because I know what a lifeline our rural hospitals are for Wisconsinites, from emergency care to having a place to get regular checkups. But I know we have work to do.

In the past 10 years, 120 rural hospitals have either closed or ceased offering inpatient services across this country. That is 120 communities and hundreds of thousands of people whose healthcare options have diminished or vanish overnight.

Most recently, in the State of Wisconsin, the closure of two HSHS hospitals and more than a dozen--well, over a dozen--clinics in Western Wisconsin left 1,400 workers out of a job and thousands of Wisconsinites with less access to emergency care, inpatient beds, mental health care, treatment for opioid addiction, and labor and delivery services.

Nearly half of all rural hospitals nationwide operate at a deficit, especially in States like Wisconsin that have not taken up the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion option for adults.

In a struggle to keep their doors open, many rural hospitals opt to close less lucrative units, such as maternity wards. That means women driving further for prenatal checkups or to give birth.

For the hospitals left and places that provide care, there has largely been one saving grace: Medicaid. Medicaid--and Medicaid expansion, in particular--is a crucial funding source for cash-strapped rural hospitals. And it makes sense. Children and people in rural areas are more likely to be enrolled in Medicaid than those in suburban and urban areas.

In 10 States and Territories, more than half of Medicaid and CHIP enrollees live in rural areas, including 1 in 3 children in Wisconsin's rural communities.

Medicaid ensures access to a critical range of services for people living in our rural areas, including covering nearly half of all births.

And, like other States, our rural hospitals are already too few and far between. Closing any more down would be devastating for people's health and our economy. But those are the consequences we face if Donald Trump and Republicans cut Medicaid to pay for their billionaire tax cuts.

It is not just blue States. It is not just big cities that should be bracing for impact if Republicans get their wish.

Massive cuts to Medicaid will undoubtedly force more rural hospitals to shutter. That means more Americans suffering from a stroke or heart attack not getting the lifesaving care they need until it may be too late. That means more children in rural communities not getting to regular checkups, and it means more expectant mothers facing roadblocks to getting prenatal care.

Let's be clear. The health and lives of rural Americans are on the chopping block if Republicans and Donald Trump pass their plan to gut Medicaid--and all to make superwealthy Americans even richer. It is wrong, and I for one plan to fight back.

I yield the floor.

Will the Senator yield--

--for another question?

So noted.

Senator, since you have taken the floor, which I suppose is nearly a full day now, there have been new breaking news of mass firings. Perhaps others have come to the floor to talk about it. But you were just talking about how great democracies are shredded, sometimes from within.

Look, one of the pieces of breaking news today was the mass firing of our Nation's public health Agency within it. Today, it was reported that the Health and Human Services Department began firing up to 10,000 more people--more than the previous firings--including researchers, scientists, support staff, and senior leaders.

These are people who are doing work to keep our children safe from preventable illnesses and researchers who are searching for cures and treatments for diseases that plague our families, like cancer and diabetes and Alzheimer's.

Look, we can all agree that government could be and should be more efficient. But here is where I disagree with the unelected Elon Musk and people like our President. People stopping the spread of measles--

--researchers finding cures for Alzheimer's disease are not waste, fraud, or abuse.

The slash-and-burn that is being led by Elon Musk's DOGE will make Americans less healthy, less safe. And Elon Musk's DOGE and Donald Trump are callously ripping away treatments, cures from millions of Americans suffering from Alzheimer's disease, cancer, ALS, and other devastating diseases.

Behind these cures are, of course, workers, and they are some of our Nation's brightest and best and most devoted. They keep our Nation healthy and our economies running. But this administration is not respecting their work, their mission.

And I have to point out the why. What is the why to all of their actions today, where it was announced that they are starting that slashing of 10,000 workers within the Department of Health and Human Services--by the way, with more in store because last week, they announced a reorganization that would result in 20,000 people losing their jobs. But what is the why?

Ripping the rug out from under cancer and Alzheimer's disease and ALS patients is all in service of finding the money that Elon Musk and Donald Trump need to cut taxes for themselves and billionaires like them, and, yes, big corporate tax breaks. They are cutting cancer cures for corporate tax breaks.

Senator Booker, these cuts to Health and Human Services are going to crush families in Wisconsin, whether it be people not having hope for a cure, for a disease, or to the workers who are doing this groundbreaking research all across the United States who are going to be fired.

In New Jersey, what will these firings mean for the people who you represent?

I remember that.

We sure did.

Will the Senator respond to another question?

Thank you, Senator Booker.

You just talked about your visit to Wisconsin. You have had many. But there was one that you are talking about that I remember really well and really fondly.

I had the privilege of hosting you and showing you what our State had to offer.

Something that I likely bragged about then, like I often do, is that the Badger State is known for making things.

While I know you don't indulge in all of the things that we do make because, of course, we have our iconic products, like beer and brats and cheese, but we also build motorcycles and big industrial ships and engines that power our Navy, and so much more.

That is right. Make one, too, build them.

And, of course, behind it all is our workers, as you were just talking about. And whether they are in a marsh harvesting cranberries--we are No. 1 in cranberry production.

I know, but we are No. 1--not that I am competitive here.

Or whether we are on a foundry floor or whether that worker is on an assembly line, workers are what make our economy go round. And so, naturally, they are the ones we should be prioritizing in all of our policy. But that is not what this administration is doing. They are going to get a slap across the face when the administration slaps across-the-board tariffs and gets us into a trade war.

And it is going to be these workers who pay the price.

Wisconsinites are really worried about what we are going to see this week. They are worried about their businesses. You met so many of them when I hosted you. Their livelihoods, their communities, they worried because we have all been here before.

Wisconsin was one of the hardest hit States by retaliatory tariffs last time Donald Trump started a trade war. During Donald Trump's last trade war, American farmers lost $27 billion in export sales. And according to further records, Wisconsin's agricultural economy exported more than $3 billion worth of product sales. And our manufacturing economy in Wisconsin, well, it exported about $26 billion in manufactured products.

And do you know what? The exports that Wisconsin manufacturers make is supported by more than 460,000 jobs, and our agricultural economy is supported by 350,000 jobs. So a trade war would be devastating to the workers of Wisconsin.

Then the prices--people have been struggling with the high price of things in grocery stores, gas stations. A number of our business leaders have spoken out about the impending tariffs. AriensCo in Brillion, WI, that makes outdoor equipment like snow blowers, told Reuters news that policy whiplash in this arena is making it difficult to plan, especially as price hikes are likely in the works.

And Roden Echo Valley in West Bend told one of our media outlets,

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today, I rise to reaffirm my partnership with Senator Susan Collins in the Lifespan Respite Care Reauthorization Act of 2025.

Senator Collins and I recognize the challenges that family caregivers face. We have worked together over many years to advance legislation to support the essential role that caregivers play in our communities. We were successful in passing legislation that establishes a national strategy to support family caregivers, the RAISE Family Caregivers Act, and we are committed to reauthorizing the Lifespan Respite Care Program that supports the health and well-being of family caregivers.

Every day, family caregivers in Wisconsin and across our country tend to the needs of their loved ones. Although this work can be very, very rewarding, it can also be emotionally and physically challenging.

After serving as my grandmother's primary caregiver as she got older, I know firsthand the time, the dedication, and the sacrifice involved to keep our aging, disabled, or sick loved ones safe and well. Caregiving can be a 24/7 job, and too often, family caregivers compromise their own health to ensure that their loved ones are not left in limbo.

Respite care offers family caregivers a necessary break to focus on their own mental health and well-being. That is why I was proud to reintroduce our bipartisan legislation so that our family caregivers can access the support and the relief they need. This bill would support family caregivers by reauthorizing the Lifespan Respite Care Program, which allows full-time caregivers to take a temporary break from their responsibilities caring for aging or disabled loved ones.

Across the country, there are over 53 million Americans who currently provide uncompensated care for their families, which provides an estimated $600 billion in uncompensated care each year. Let that sink in.

By protecting the health of caregivers, respite care decreases the need for professional long-term care and allows individuals who require care to remain at home.

I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Collins to advance this important legislation in the 119th Congress.

Mr. President, today, I rise to reaffirm my partnership with Senator Susan Collins in the Lifespan Respite Care Reauthorization Act of 2025.

Senator Collins and I recognize the challenges that family caregivers face. We have worked together over many years to advance legislation to support the essential role that caregivers play in our communities. We were successful in passing legislation that establishes a national strategy to support family caregivers, the RAISE Family Caregivers Act, and we are committed to reauthorizing the Lifespan Respite Care Program that supports the health and well-being of family caregivers.

Every day, family caregivers in Wisconsin and across our country tend to the needs of their loved ones. Although this work can be very, very rewarding, it can also be emotionally and physically challenging.

After serving as my grandmother's primary caregiver as she got older, I know firsthand the time, the dedication, and the sacrifice involved to keep our aging, disabled, or sick loved ones safe and well. Caregiving can be a 24/7 job, and too often, family caregivers compromise their own health to ensure that their loved ones are not left in limbo.

Respite care offers family caregivers a necessary break to focus on their own mental health and well-being. That is why I was proud to reintroduce our bipartisan legislation so that our family caregivers can access the support and the relief they need. This bill would support family caregivers by reauthorizing the Lifespan Respite Care Program, which allows full-time caregivers to take a temporary break from their responsibilities caring for aging or disabled loved ones.

Across the country, there are over 53 million Americans who currently provide uncompensated care for their families, which provides an estimated $600 billion in uncompensated care each year. Let that sink in.

By protecting the health of caregivers, respite care decreases the need for professional long-term care and allows individuals who require care to remain at home.

I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Collins to advance this important legislation in the 119th Congress.

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

Madam President, I rise today in strong opposition to any attempt by the Federal Government to meddle in decisions about who can and cannot participate in school sports.

Simply put, it is not the Federal Government's place to tell State and local sports leagues across this country how to do their jobs. This is a decision for local communities, where players and parents can participate in that discussion at the local level.

This is a decision for sports leagues to thoughtfully craft policy that actually takes seriously what is best for all players, not blanket mandates that will undoubtedly have unintended consequences for the safety of all students.

I, for one, trust our States, our leagues, and our localities to make these decisions without interference from Congress or the President. For years, we have seen them do it thoughtfully and carefully. They have done what is best for the children, in consultation with parents, teachers, coaches, and community members. This is exactly how this type of policy should be created.

But Republicans are now saying that they actually know better than these local sports leagues. The President is saying that he knows better than parents what is good for their children. President Donald Trump and my Republican colleagues have inserted themselves into this discussion, tying the hands of leagues that are actually focused on the best interest of our children. And as far as I can tell, it is just to score political points and stir the pot of the culture wars.

I will close with this. Too often in this debate, it gets lost that we are talking about real people. It is clear that my Republican colleagues, when they casually dehumanize trans Americans in their attack ads, forget or simply do not care that they are talking about real people--often youth, often children--who already do not feel welcome in their communities.

This legislation tries to send the message that certain kids are not welcome in Little League or on the basketball court, and, really, that they are not welcome in school at all, beside their peers--what a heartbreaking message to tell a child. No American, especially those who are already vulnerable, should be demonized and picked on so that politicians can win elections--period, full stop.

At the end of the day, while Republicans are focused on playing politics with children's sports leagues, I am focused on issues that I hear about from my constituents every day. I am focused on lowering household costs and taking on the big corporations that are price- gouging families at the grocery store and at the pharmacy.

I am focused on growing our made-in-America economy and making sure that everyone has a fair chance to get a good-paying job. I am focused on ensuring that people can access high-quality healthcare and protecting Medicaid. I am focused on the people of Wisconsin and their needs, not stepping on their right to decide what is best in their own local communities.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the importance of the Department of Education and my grave concerns about the nomination of Linda McMahon to be the Secretary of Education.

President Trump has made it clear what his directive is for Linda McMahon. It is to dismantle the Department of Education. And despite President Trump's stating that he has never read Project 2025 and Mrs. McMahon repeatedly stating that she is not familiar with Project 2025's proposals on higher education, it is abundantly clear that this administration is following Project 2025 to a tee.

Project 2025 lays out a blueprint for ending the Federal Government's role in public education, starting with dismantling the Department of Education, so that they can find the money they need to provide tax breaks for their billionaire friends. You heard me right: cutting public education dollars so that the richest can get richer.

Eliminating the Department of Education would be absolutely devastating for students, for teachers, and parents in Wisconsin and across America. Wisconsin stands to have $235 million in title I funding ripped away. Wisconsin stands to have over $270 million in IDEA funding, which is critical for special education, ripped away.

What this means is Wisconsin teachers stand to have needed resources for their classrooms ripped away. Parents stand to have in- and out-of- classroom support for their children ripped away. And of course, our children--our children--stand to lose out on the public education and opportunity to learn that they deserve, regardless of their ZIP code.

Look, we know we are facing a challenging time in the American education system. We know that, as a nation, we must turn the tide and ensure that America is a global leader in educating our children, and I am committed to working with parents, teachers, principals, and school districts to do just that. But we also know what won't help our children get a good education, and that is slashing the education budget. And we know what will help turn the tide: critical, data-driven investment in our public education system to support our children, our teachers, our schools, and our communities.

It is clear that Mrs. McMahon is being nominated for this role not to help children but to do Mr. Trump's

bidding. She comes to this role with very little experience in education, but she has a wealth of experience in Trump world. She has never been a teacher, but she did donate over $20 million to Trump's campaign and organizations that are backing him. She has never been a school administrator, but she does sit on the board of directors for Trump Media & Technology Group.

In this critical time, we need to be providing our students and schools with more support, not less, and I urge my colleagues to join me in voting no on her nomination.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to sound the alarm about what is happening to our Nation's ability to advance lifesaving medical research in the first month of the Trump administration.

As many of you know, I am a proud graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. In many ways, I grew up at the university, where both of my grandparents, who raised me, worked. My grandmother ran the costume lab at the theater department, and my grandfather was a scientist. He was a biochemist who spent four decades unlocking the key to how our metabolism works--in large part thanks to funding from the National Institutes of Health. My grandfather and his colleagues pioneered breakthroughs that impacted biochemistry around the world, leading to all kinds of developments to keep our bodies healthy, from nutrition and diet to advanced drugs, to, really, so much more.

I share my grandfather's story because it demonstrates why the NIH is so essential. As the world's premier biomedical research institution, the NIH invests in our health, our national security, our economy, and our future. These investments influence our Nation's competitive edge, patients' treatment options, and, simply put, American lives for generations to come.

Research supported by the NIH has helped us find breakthroughs for treating diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and substance use disorders. It is supporting clinical trials right now for patients battling terminal diagnoses for cancer. In fiscal year 2023, the NIH generated almost $93 billion in economic activity--nearly twice the Agency's budget.

The engine behind all of it is, of course, researchers and scientists. They are dedicated scientists like my grandfather who right now are worried that their life's work--the work of keeping our loved ones healthy and saving lives--is in danger, all because Elon Musk and President Trump are firing nearly 1,200 critical staff across NIH Institutes and Centers, halting lifesaving research in its tracks, and indiscriminately and illegally freezing funding from going out the door to academic and research institutions across the country.

Across the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump and Elon Musk have fired more than 5,000 public servants. We are talking about scientists, doctors, researchers, and so many others who are doing this critical work to keep us healthy.

Musk and Trump are going so much deeper than firing the HHS workforce, which is damaging enough to research programs and puts Americans' lives at risk; they are throwing sand in the gears of the NIH--their basic grant-making operations--to prevent scientists from getting the resources they need to conduct lifesaving biomedical research in the first place.

For instance, the President has unilaterally fired more than 130 employees at the National Cancer Institute--many of them scientists. Across the NIH, Trump and Musk have fired 160 program officers, grant management specialists, and other key administrators whose job it is to get grant funding out the door to universities and other research institutions across the country.

Since President Trump took office, his administration has canceled more than 70 NIH study sections and advisory council meetings that are the final step in grant approval. This means that more than $1.5 billion in funding has been withheld so far--illegally and in blatant defiance of court orders--by this administration. The impact is already having ripple effects across the research community.

Take, for instance, Alzheimer's disease research. The Trump administration has stopped tens of millions of dollars from going out the door for Alzheimer's research, halting studies, clinical trials, and moving us further from a cure.

The Trump administration is also terminating entire NIH training programs focused on supporting early career scientists from diverse backgrounds and folks who are underrepresented today in biomedical research. In its endless quest to cancel any program that even uses the word ``diversity,'' the Trump administration has even paused research involving women.

Make no mistake, we will be feeling the impact of these cuts for decades to come. Universities are pausing graduate student admissions because they aren't sure they will have the funding to support the students they currently have enrolled.

What is at stake is not just a generation of talent and our Nation's competitive edge; it is also the next breakthrough that could cure cancer or Alzheimer's disease. Thanks to Donald Trump's actions, the United States may lose its global competitive edge in biomedical research and cede it to China.

In Wisconsin, our universities follow a long-held tradition known as the Wisconsin Idea. It is a pretty simple philosophy that says the work done at our universities should make an impact far beyond the classroom itself, and it does. From vitamin D, to human embryonic stem cells, to blood thinners and new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, Wisconsin universities and dedicated scientists like my grandfather have discovered breakthroughs that revolutionize the world of medicine and, more importantly, revolutionize how we keep our loved ones safe and well.

So when President Trump and Elon Musk come after this funding and come after these public servants, they aren't just coming after scientists in classrooms and laboratories; the impact will spread far beyond those institutions. When they come after the NIH, they are coming after patients with terminal illnesses, who are right now being turned away from potentially lifesaving clinical trials because of these cuts. They are coming after the next breakthrough that could have helped your loved one battling Alzheimer's. They are coming after a young scientist who is living paycheck to paycheck who will not be able to pursue a research career developing treatments to help others get better.

Now, you may be asking yourself: Why are Donald Trump and Elon Musk doing this? Well, the answer is pretty simple--so they can give tax breaks to billionaires. Why are they cutting off clinical trials and cancer research? So that people like Elon Musk don't have to pay their fair share. Why are they withholding funding to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease? So big corporations can pay less in taxes than the average American family. The cuts we are seeing right now will damage Americans' lives for the next generation--all so the wealthiest Americans can get wealthier.

We must stand up to this illegal freeze on funding, this assault on the Federal workforce, and these billions of dollars in cuts that will take decades to undo. Our health and the health of our loved ones depend upon it.

I yield the floor.