00:00Thank you, Madam President. Thank you to my colleague from Oregon for setting out what is
00:05going on here because, as he said on Friday night, President Trump announced that he was
00:11stealing more money from the American people. Trump and his budget director, Russ Vogt,
00:16call it a pocket rescission. Well, whatever you call it, it is illegal. Trump is taking the
00:23bipartisan funding that we passed, funding that Democrats and Republicans agreed on,
00:31that he signed into law, and he's now ripping out the pages he doesn't like. Forget about ideas like
00:38Congress and the law. Look, this is theft from the American people, plain and simple. In this case,
00:48Trump is tearing away funding to help Americans buy a home. He's cutting off funds for
00:53health care research, which would prevent things like hospital infections that are dangerous or
00:59saving taxpayers literally billions of dollars. But you know what? Trump could not care less.
01:05While he blows your tax dollars on an illegal war, Trump is illegally cutting off funding for health
01:13research, housing, and more. And I guess that's no surprise, given how this president is constantly
01:20out of touch with American families, saying tariffs is his favorite word, or saying that he loves
01:27inflation, or saying he wants housing costs to go up. He said that. But where are my Republican
01:33colleagues who helped pass these funds that Trump is now stealing? Because this did not come out of
01:40left field. No one can pretend to be surprised by what is happening now. When Russ Vogt was nominated
01:47as Trump's budget chief, he was pretty darn transparent about the fact that he planned to break the law,
01:54he planned to tear up our bills, and he dared us to stop him. That didn't stop every Republican
02:01senator from voting for him. And when his deputy was nominated and told us this summer that pocket
02:08rescissions were very much still on the table, what happened? Once again, every Senate Republican voted to
02:16confirm him, too. Anyone watching could see this coming from a mile away. Trump used this scheme to
02:23unlawfully impound $5 billion last summer, for heaven's sakes. And that's why Democrats have fought
02:31again and again and again to prevent the president from being able to use this illegal tactic, including
02:40in recent negotiations over the CR that's now locked. But Republicans have refused to work with us to
02:47prevent Trump and Russ Vogt from stealing from the American people. Time after time after time, they have
02:55shot down our attempts to stop this administration from defying Congress and robbing our constituents.
03:03And let's talk more about this pocket rescission scheme for a minute. And what is at stake?
03:09President Trump and Russ Vogt are saying, hey, we can ignore the law. We can ignore bipartisan deals
03:16and just make our own decisions as long as we do it last minute. Everyone knows that is ridiculous
03:23and illegal. Congress would never have created a system that gave any president the ability to decide to
03:32just ignore or bypass a law. It makes no sense. And in fact, GAO has looked at what this president
03:39has
03:40done and has said it's clearly illegal twice. Now, my Republicans colleagues know some of this. Some of
03:48them have even said so. But whenever they have had the chance, they have not joined us to put an
03:54end to
03:55this. Democrats have language Republicans could have let us put in the last CR or the CR before it.
04:01We've taken vote after vote on versions of this language on the floor and in a committee. And of
04:08course, we have the vote where Republicans confirmed that unabashed architect of Trump's illegal scheme
04:13as budget director. Well, now, tonight, they're getting one more chance. Senator Merkley and I and others
04:20have a bill to help Congress reassert its authority, our authority, and head off Trump's completely
04:27illegal pocket rescission scheme. And we should be clear. Trump isn't just illegally robbing our
04:35constituents through this pocket rescission. There are a whole lot of other funds that he is refusing
04:40to get out the door, more health care research funding, grants to prevent teen pregnancy, funding
04:47to protect Americans from global health threats, and even a quarter of a billion dollars to help
04:54families in rural areas get the financing they need to finally achieve their dream of owning a home.
05:02Hundreds of families in rural America will be denied the shot to buy a home as Trump lights this money
05:10on
05:10fire tonight. So it's not just the pocket rescission. It's all the rest of the money this administration
05:16is holding up or misspending. And Republicans have been pretty quiet about it.
05:23Russ Vogt has always made his message to Congress painfully clear. He thinks the votes that we all take
05:29here don't count. He thinks the laws we pass are optional. Now is the time for our Republican colleagues,
05:39who said they would never let this happen, to help us now pass a bill that makes our message
05:45to Russ Vogt equally clear. Stop stealing from our constituents. Start following our laws.
05:54Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor.
05:58Subscribe to One India and never miss an update. Download the One India app now.
Comments