Ro Khanna

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, today, I am calling to ban data centers in residential communities and to ban Federal funding for Flock cameras. We can't have a surveillance state in America. We didn't fight a revolution to be ruled by tech billionaires. Americans are for innovation but not for the extraction of natural resources. Americans are for safety but not for the abuse of their privacy. We need guardrails on this technology. Communities should have the right to say ``no'' to a data center being shoved down their throats, and we should have the right for women not to be surveilled by Flock cameras by rogue police officers. As a Representative of Silicon Valley, I am calling for democratic accountability of this technology revolution. We the people should call the shots.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, the progressive movement is winning across the country, from the heart of New York to Michigan to Maine. The people are saying no to foreign wars, and they are saying no to genocide in Gaza. They are saying no to the unfair and lopsided economy that has allowed a few people to hoard extreme wealth and power, and they are saying yes to Medicare for All, to unions for all, to childcare for all, to making sure that we have a housing guarantee for kids by the time they are 35 if they work hard. Now, some of the oligarchs don't like it. Elon Musk has been threatening to sue me or jail me, but I will tell you what: They should judge us by those who are attacking us. We will not be intimidated. We stand for transforming this country for the working class over the billionaire class.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the House taking up the Government Audit and Accountability of Federally Funded State-Administered Programs Act. It is a long way of saying that this is a bill to go after fraud. I thank Congressman Tim Burchett for his partnership on this bipartisan legislation. I also thank Chairman Comer; Ranking Member Garcia; Congressman Gill; Congressman Subramanyam; my staff lead, Selene Ceja; and Kevin Fox, my legislative director, for their help in advancing this effort. The bill is straightforward. It directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct an independent review of Federal programs that States administer on behalf of working families. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that every tax dollar reaches the people and communities these programs are intended to serve. To do that, we need facts, data, and evidence. The legislation helps us better understand how these programs operate across States where vulnerabilities may exist, what practices are working, and what improvements Congress should consider to stop fraud. At its core, the bill is about prevention, accountability, and good governance. By directing the GAO to identify effective tools, technical assistance, and proven practices, we can help States strengthen program administration before problems occur, and it applies to all 50 States, so there is no politics in it. The families who rely on these programs deserve services that are efficient, reliable, accessible, and protected. Tackling fraud is not a partisan issue. Congress needs to continue bipartisan, evidence-based efforts to better understand how Federal funds flow through State-administered programs and how we can strengthen those systems. I recognize Congressman Tim Burchett for his extraordinary leadership and partnership here. This bill gives us the information we need to make informed decisions and strengthen the public trust.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Jackson for his leadership and vision on this 250th anniversary year of our country. He spoke out when there was silence in this body, when our leadership was distracted, and when the country was consumed by Donald Trump's diversions. The gentleman spoke out and said that there was a case in the Supreme Court that is gutting the Voting Rights Act and that will take away from Black Americans the right to freely choose their Representatives. We were all complacent while the gentleman was sounding the alarm. My friend knew, as the son of the great Reverend Jackson and as someone who has spent his entire life fighting for civil rights, he knew the dangers when powerful people try to strip away civil rights and freedoms from Black Americans. Unfortunately, Congressman Jackson was right. A Supreme Court decision has been the fastest rollback of Black freedom and Black political rights since Rutherford Hayes ended Reconstruction. Now I read that they want to go after districts with representation of majority Black Americans, majority Asian Americans, I don't believe they should go after my district just because it happens to be a majority Asian-American district with people of all backgrounds having a community of interest. I don't think they should be splitting up Congressman Jackson's district just to give the Democrats a little bit more of a partisan advantage, to take away a community that has struggled for freedom and civil rights for decades and split that up and not allow them to freely choose who their Representative is. That is what is going on in this country, and it is wrong. Tonight, as someone who is the grandson of a freedom fighter who spent 4 years in jail with Gandhi and as someone whose parents sacrificed everything they had so that I could have a chance, I stand in solidarity with my friend to say that we have come too far to roll back. I stand both for my friend's voting rights amendment and affirmative amendment next week which he will be introducing and for his standing up for voting rights in majority-minority districts.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court is engaged in an ugly recidivism to deny Black political representation in the South. Not since 1877, when Rutherford Hayes ended Reconstruction, have we seen as fast a rollback of political rights for Black Americans. The moral light has been extinguished from the Supreme Court. That is why we need term limits for Supreme Court Justices. Eighteen years, and you are out. That is why we need to expand the Court from 9 Justices to 13 Justices, like we have 13 circuits. The next time the Democrats have power, we need to actually take action, not just appoint commissions. Mr. Speaker, as we approach the 250th anniversary of our Nation, we need a modern Supreme Court to uphold our Nation's principles.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, yesterday Secretary Hegseth couldn't answer my question about how much the war in Iran is costing the American people, so I am going to answer it for him. The answer is $631 billion, $5,000 per American household. That is how much it is costing because of the increase in the price of food, gas, and electricity. We need to end this war now and help the American people reduce costs.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, the American people are angry at the corruption in our politics while food and gas prices go up and the American Dream seems dead. People feel they have no say while the rich and powerful call the shots. We need an administration to actually stand up to this corrupt power structure. First, appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and prosecute the Epstein class that abused and raped young girls. Second, call a Constitutional Convention to overturn Citizens United. This Congress isn't going to take on tech billionaires or private health insurance. Go to the American people and have two-thirds of the States pass an amendment to overturn Citizens United, ban super-PACs and money in politics. Third, ban the insider trading on Polymarket, Kalshi, and the stock market, where people have made millions because of this illegal, immoral war in Iran. Our Founders would be rolling over in their graves. We need to restore power to the people.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, this body needs to vote on Thomas Massie's and my resolution to end the war in Iran. The President has sent 2,000 more soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to Iran. This is on top of the 4,500 marines we already have there. We cannot afford to put ground troops in Iran. This body needs to say no to the $200 billion request and vote to end a war that is causing gas to skyrocket. Gas is up to nearly $4 a gallon, up 34 percent, and we have already lost 13 American servicemembers. Let's end the war. Let's bring the troops home. Let's make sure we are putting Americans first.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, the war in Iran is crushing the economy here at home. Working-class and middle-class Americans are struggling. Today, I read that the price of gas has gone up 27 percent in just 2 weeks. Every day, we are spending $2 billion of American money in Iran. To put that in perspective, for 20 days in Iran, we could have free public college for every American. We could have a thousand new trade schools. We could have childcare at $10 a day for working-class Americans. Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and I are introducing the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act for oil companies. They need to be paying a tax, and that money needs to go back in the pockets of ordinary Americans who are struggling at the pump. Instead of putting more money into Iran, we need a Marshall Plan for the United States of America. The Democrats stand for America's economy first, building jobs here, childcare here, and healthcare here. Let's focus on our people and our communities instead of draining more money to the war in the Middle East.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, the world needs a new moral vision. America needs a new vision. We are seeing militarism erode the soul of our Nation, leading to a regime change war in Iran and utter human devastation in Gaza. Simply put, we have lost our way. We are back to the law of the jungle, where might makes right and where the Middle East descends into a Hobbesian war of all against all. President Eisenhower warned that every warship built, every bomb deployed, every missile launched is a hospital and school forgone. A world in arms, he said, is stealing the hopes of our children. Today, this vote on Iran is not a procedural vote. It is a profoundly moral vote. It is a vote to direct our resources toward healing our own people, toward healthcare that saves lives, jobs that restore dignity, and housing that shelters families instead of raining destruction on other nations. It is a vote to renew an America that leads once more through diplomacy, statesmanship, and principle, an America that strives to end cycles of violence rather than ignite them, an America that cooperates with other nations rather than bullying them into submission, an America committed to confronting child poverty, the climate crisis, and illiteracy, to advance our shared humanity, an America that is respected in the world again. The world needs an America that finds its moral center, Mr. Speaker. Let us rise to this historic challenge. In this body, let us declare with courage and clarity that we reject this illegal and unjust war in Iran. Let us choose moral renewal over further moral decay.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, another war in the Middle East is not America First. That is why Congressman Massie and I will introduce a bipartisan Iran war powers resolution. America First means Congress first on matters of war and peace. Every Member in this body must go on the record about whether we should have another endless war in the Middle East. The American people are sick of billions of dollars going for overseas wars. They want that money for manufacturing jobs here, for healthcare here, for childcare here, and for education here. There is no doubt the Iranian regime is brutal in killing protestors and murdering their own people, but an American war will only inflame nationalism and will not prevent them from getting the bomb. We need a better approach. We need to focus on our country's economic development.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, yesterday Congressman Massie and I went to the Department of Justice to read the unredacted Epstein files. We spent about 2 hours there, and we learned that 70 to 80 percent of the files are still redacted. In fact, there were six wealthy, powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason. When Congressman Massie and I pointed this out to the Department of Justice, they acknowledged their mistake. They have now revealed the identity of these six powerful men. These men are: Salvatore Nuara; Zurab Mikeladze; Leonic Leonov; Nicola Caputo; Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of Dubai Ports World; and Leslie Wexner, who was labeled as a co-conspirator by the FBI. My question is: Why did it take myself and Thomas Massie going to the Justice Department to get these six men's identities to become public? If we found six men that they were hiding in 2 hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3 million files. The story gets worse. The reality is that Donald Trump's FBI scrubbed these files in March, long before Thomas Massie and I passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. My bill is clear. The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires them to unredact those FBI files. Yet, the Justice Department said to me and to Congressman Massie: We just uploaded whatever the FBI sent us. Guess what. The FBI sent scrubbed files. That means the survivors' statements to the FBI, naming rich and powerful men who went to Epstein's island, who went to his ranch, who went to his home and raped and abused underage girls or saw underage girls being paraded, are all hidden. They are all redacted. It is a little bit of a farce. They are inviting all the Members of Congress to go see the Department of Justice's ``unredacted files,'' but they have got all redacted files from the FBI. It is not the fault of the Justice Department attorneys. They were just told to upload things that Donald Trump's FBI had already scrubbed. It is a blatant violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but it also asks a fundamental question: Who are they protecting? Why are they protecting these rich and powerful men, people I call part of the Epstein class? Why are we in a country where there is no elite accountability for people who do the most heinous things? We have in England the king now calling for an investigation and possible prosecution of his own brother. We have in Norway the princess who no longer has support to be the queen. Yet in the United States of America, we have someone in the Cabinet, Howard Lutnick, who is all over these Epstein files and who allegedly had business with Epstein after he was convicted of pedophilia, but is still in the Cabinet. We need to ask ourselves: Are we in America going to have the lead accountability? Are we going to call to account the rich and powerful people who broke the law or cavorted with a pedophile, a convicted pedophile? Are we going to have prosecutions for billionaires who went to this island and either raped underage girls or saw underage girls being raped and didn't say anything? Are we going to have investigations? I will tell you what this is about. It is not just about the 1,200 survivors. It is about two tiers of justice in America. It is about people who can accumulate wealth and power and don't have to care about the rest of America. They have destroyed so much of this country. Income inequality is at a 60-year high. Workers' salaries are less than they have been for 75 years as a part of GDP. Somehow, this country seems to be working for the rich and powerful; but it is not working for ordinary working-class Americans. I say enough. It is time to begin with accountability for the Epstein class. Hold in front of Congress those people who visited the island or did business with Epstein after he was a convicted pedophile. Let's investigate them, and let's prosecute them. Let's return to democratic accountability in the United States of America. Let's return to one system of justice in the United States of America. Let's return to a place where every American has a stake in this country.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, Thomas Massie and my Epstein Files Transparency Act led to millions of files being released that have shocked the conscience of the Nation. Today, I call for Congress to hold in front of the Oversight Committee every single person who emailed about going to Epstein's island. They need to answer some basic questions. Who raped these underage girls from working-class families? What did they see? What did they know? What did they participate in? The American people are frustrated with the rich and powerful getting a different set of justice. There cannot be two tiers of justice in America, and I will not rest until the people who committed these heinous crimes and this heinous behavior are held accountable.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump's threats to invade Greenland have destroyed the world order. Prime Minister Carney, quoting Thucydides, has said that America is acting as if might makes right. He is invoking Vaclav Havel's call for resistance not against authoritarian communism but against the arrogance of America. Mr. Speaker, I am ashamed for my country. I want Prime Minister Carney to know that there is a new generation of America that believes in a multiracial democracy that raises the sovereignty and self- determination of all nations. I want him to know that there is a new generation that believes in statesmanship, not subjugation. I want him to know that there is a new generation that believes in Kant's vision of perpetual peace with free nations bounded by international law. Prime Minister Carney and leaders of the world, I ask for your patience and faith that this new generation prevails in the United States of America.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, no one in America is safe from ICE today. Joe Rogan said that ICE agents are acting as ``villains,'' stripping away freedoms from Americans. This agency has gone rogue. It is lawless, and it needs to be reined in. The ICE agents who pepper sprayed an elderly couple in Minnesota need to be arrested and prosecuted. The ICE agents who dragged out a disabled woman from her car who was going to a doctor's appointment need to be arrested and prosecuted. The ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good needs to be arrested and prosecuted. When you have people in the MAGA base, when you have people like Joe Rogan talking about the lawlessness of a private police force--ICE acting as the President's private police force--then we know we have a crisis of freedom in this country. It is time to rein in this lawless agency.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, ICE has gone rogue. I was sickened to see an ICE officer shoot a 37-year-old mother, leaving her 6 year old an orphan. That officer needs to be arrested and prosecuted. Mr. Speaker, I am concerned about the human rights of people in ICE detention facilities. I visited the California City Immigration Detention Center and spoke with 47 detainees. They talked about rocks in their food. They talked about having blood in their urine and not being able to see a doctor. They talked about freezing in the night because they didn't have clothes. These are human rights violations. This is not the way America acts. We need accountability to ICE, and we need to act with our values.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow at midnight is the deadline for Pam Bondi to release the Epstein files. That is what Thomas Massie's and my bill calls for. It passed this body 427-1, passed the Senate 100-0, and the President signed it. Now, three Federal judges have ordered the release of all of these files from Maxwell's and Epstein's grand jury. Here is the reality. Any Justice Department official who does not comply with this law will be subject to prosecution for obstruction of justice. If Pam Bondi does not comply with the law, she will be held either in inherent contempt of Congress or subject to impeachment. We will not rest until the law is complied with and justice is served.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to sound the alarm on the military buildup in the Caribbean, edging us closer to a regime-change war in Venezuela. The Trump administration has sent the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, our largest aircraft carrier. Mr. Speaker, 10 percent of our Navy is in the Caribbean, including destroyers and submarines. We have got 15,000 troops in Florida and Puerto Rico, including marines who are ready for amphibious landings, and we have F-35s and B- 52s flying across the Caribbean and Venezuelan airspace. After Iraq, after Libya, after 20 years in Afghanistan, after Yemen, we do not need another regime-change war. It is time for the American people to oppose a regime-change war in Venezuela.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Smith for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, as our country wastes trillions of dollars in wars overseas, the American people are frustrated and saying: Why is it that we are doing that, while China, with its Belt and Road Initiative, is building its industrial base? They do not want us investing in wars overseas. They want us investing in manufacturing here at home, in healthcare here at home, and in childcare here at home. As we debate this bill, President Trump is announcing that he has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. People voted for President Trump because he was going to end the endless wars. This Congress must stand up against another war in Venezuela like we had in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Libya. The American people do not want a regime change war in Venezuela. Mr. Speaker, while I have such tremendous respect for the chairman of the committee and the ranking member, it is not enough for Pete Hegseth to come and just testify behind closed doors. I trust their judgment, but we need an accountability and a full hearing where Pete Hegseth answers to the American people for what happened off the coast of Venezuela. It is not the American way of doing business of killing people who are unarmed. That may be how Putin acts. That may be how Xi Jinping acts. That is not how America acts. I know there are Republicans on this committee who are concerned about how Hegseth has acted. We need Hegseth before the Armed Services Committee, answering to the American people. Shame on him for throwing an admiral under the bus. The admiral has far more honor than Pete Hegseth has. We need him to give answers to the American people. Mr. Speaker, I urge this committee and Congress to listen to the American people and stop getting us into endless wars.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership over the last 5 months to make sure that this bill came to the floor. I thank also Don Sisson for his leadership and understanding of all the rules to make this possible. As we are here today, I saw on CNN that the President is meeting with the Saudi prince. What does America First mean to me? How about meeting with the survivors? How about making sure that America's girls are not being raped? That is what it means to be America First. It doesn't mean going and meeting with Saudi princes. I am so honored to be here and to work together with Congressman Thomas Massie, who has shown so much courage and principle. I am so honored to be here next to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Congresswoman Nancy Mace. Someone ask me what I learned through this process. I said that sometimes we have to see people not just through their caricature. I had caricatures of Representative Greene, Representative Massie, and Representative Mace. What I saw was they cared as Americans and human beings. They stood with courage. They looked at this not from politics, but they looked at this as what is right. I am proud today to be a Member of Congress. I am proud to work with them. I am proud of what we are showing this country is possible. If we actually care about American values, maybe we can overcome some of the bitter divides in this country. If we didn't care about just getting the credit and maybe worked together, we could actually care about forgotten and abandoned Americans like the survivors that testified today. I was so moved by their testimony. How can we hear their testimony, as all of us have heard, see their tears, see them hold up photos at the age of 14, and think they are not telling the truth? This is not politics. This is humanity. Sometimes we get into these Chambers, and we forget what happened. We forget how we grew up. When most of us grew up, we went to barbecues. We went to Little League games. We went to church or temple. We didn't fly around in private jets and go to a rape island. We didn't buy off politicians and tell them to keep quiet. We didn't think that it was normal to abuse or rape young girls. Then they say they don't know if they were 18 or 22. Come on. It is rotten. Then they say to just care about the price of eggs. Care about the price of healthcare. What is more important than that? American values are more important. These rich, greedy men abused American values. They abused what is sacred about this country. They abused what built this country.

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, it is time. They are going to have a reckoning. The Epstein class is going to go. The reason they are going to go is because the progressive left and the MAGA right and everyone in between is finally waking up against this rotten system. When people are united and when people work across the aisle, amazing things can happen because the American people are kind and good and decent. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to have worked with Congressman Massie. I particularly salute the courage of Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace. None of this would have been possible without their courage in standing up on the petition and for what they did.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, our country is at a moral crossroads. Just today, it comes out that billionaires are worth $8 trillion. That is more than 50 percent of Americans combined. What does the President do? He decides he doesn't have the money for the American people. He is going to starve the American people to give $40 billion to the corrupt Libertarian leader in Argentina. Mr. Speaker, $9 million would have fed the American people. How is that America first? Then he says he doesn't care about the cab driver who is now paying $2,600 per month in healthcare as opposed to $44. He doesn't want to save the 20 million Americans who are going to face high premium increases. How is that America first? Mr. Speaker, we need national health insurance in this country. We need to tax billionaires in this country. We need to fund SNAP in this country. We need to stop funding Argentina and corrupt foreign leaders.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I am just returning from hearing the survivors tell their stories, and I was so deeply moved. This is not a political issue. This is an issue of 14-year-olds and 15-year-olds who told the stories of how they were solicited by Jeffrey Epstein and raped and assaulted. Then they went to the police and the police didn't do anything because Jeffrey Epstein knew rich people, because he knew Presidents, because he knew donors. This is not a Republican issue. This is not a Democratic issue. Marjorie Taylor Greene was there speaking out for the survivors. Nancy Mace was in tears, because she is a survivor, when she heard their stories. Lauren Boebert has said we need to speak up for the survivors. This is an issue that could actually bring this country together to say that a Nation in which rich and powerful men can rape young girls without consequence is a nation that has lost its moral and spiritual soul. We can fight about a lot of things. We shouldn't fight about this. We need two more Republicans to sign the discharge petition. I have a pretty simple rule. Most people don't understand all the jargon of Congress, but the survivors very clearly said they want the Massie- Khanna bill. They want it for closure. They want it for the release of the files. You know what the irony here is? President Trump could actually be the person who does good in this. He can still change his mind. Speaker Johnson is a true Christian. I know him. I know his family. He is a good Christian man. He can be for bringing justice. I really don't understand why we are fighting over this. Why don't we do something good for this country? Why don't we stand with these survivors and show this Nation we are still capable of coming together when it matters for truth and justice?

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to highlight the rising danger posed by the unchecked expansion of global nuclear arsenals. As we mark 80 years since the Trinity test, we must confront the urgent need to reverse course before miscalculation or escalation leads to irreversible catastrophe. I include in the Record the following article, 80 Years After Trinity, the Dangers of Nuclear War Have Never Been Higher by Norman Solomon: The dangers of nuclear war have never been higher, but poitical pressure to prevent it is at low ebb. Eighty years after the atomic age began with the Trinity bomb test in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, words can't possibly be adequate to describe the extent of global horrors that today's nuclear arsenals are capable of inflicting. But mainstream US media outlets and partisan politics are routinely oblivious to the threat of oblivion Despite the efforts of individuals and groups striving for arms control, the national discourse ignores the likely results of nuclear buildups--which continue to boost the actual risks of annihilation. Pronouncements from the nuclear establishment about a need to ``maintain deterrence'' and ``modernize'' usually go unquestioned as to the underlying assumptions. Senators and representatives praise nuclear systems with components produced in their state or district. Even well-informed and dedicated advocates of halting the arms race are often reduced to arguing for fiscal responsibility. Within the narrow confines of regular ``national security'' debates, the wisest lobbying tactic appears to be a focus on exorbitant costs of ``modernizing'' nuclear weapons. Yet cost-cutting arguments bypass how the weapons push the world closer to doomsday. Northrop Grumman--the contractor for the new Sentinel ICBM, which is meant to replace the current Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles--has racked up such huge cost overruns that the project at times seemed to be in jeopardy of cancellation. Meanwhile, the political response detoured around the unique dangers of ICBMs, which (as land- based missiles vulnerable to attack) remain on hair-trigger, ``use them or lose them'' alert. Given the long record of false alarms, such hypervigilance is a possible tripwire for an accidental apocalypse. ``Getting trapped in an argument about the cheapest way to keep ICBMs operational in their silos is ultimately no-win,'' Daniel Ellsberg and I wrote for The Nation in autumn 2021. We added: ``Better sooner than later, members of Congress will need to face up to the horrendous realities about intercontinental ballistic missiles. They won't do that unless peace, arms-control, and disarmament groups go far beyond the current limits of congressional discourse--and start emphasizing, on Capitol Hill and at the grassroots, the crucial truth about ICBMs and the imperative of eliminating them all.'' More than 700 scientists signed a letter last summer going beyond the focus on cost to urge the complete elimination of America's ICBMs. The letter, organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists, explained that ``the US could eliminate the land-based leg of the triad tomorrow and the US public would only be safer for it.'' Progressives working to defund new weapons systems recognize that massive military spending is, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., a ``demonic, destructive suction tube''--depleting enormous resources that should be devoted to meeting human needs instead of destroying lives and threatening human survival. But for typical Congress members of either party, disputes about how to get the most bang for the buck are affirming the arms race rather than impeding it. Certain firms might lose specific contracts if some Strangelovian projects are sufficiently exposed as boondoggles, but the nuclear-arms industry and overall military business remain on a steep upward trajectory. Congresspeople are accustomed to juggling billions of ``defense'' dollars. What they aren't accustomed to acknowledging--and what constituent pressure should demand they face--is that the latest weapons systems further endanger human life on Earth. The history of the last eight decades tells us that Americans will go along with astronomical spending for nuclear weaponry if they believe it makes them safer. Unless we effectively make the case that the opposite is true, the nuclear arms race will continue to play out in media and politics as a pricey necessity In recent years, numerous activists and groups have given priority to calling for abolition of nuclear weapons. It's a position that occupies the highest moral ground, famously seized by the Nobel laureate scientist George Wald in a widely reprinted 1969 anti-war speech at MIT. ``Nuclear weapons offer us nothing but a balance of terror, and a balance of terror is still terror,'' he said. ``We have to get rid of those atomic weapons, here and everywhere. We cannot live with them.'' During the past several years, accelerating work by activists for abolition has drawn inspiration from the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, now signed by 94 countries, and visionary organizations like the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Unfortunately, campaigning for abolition of nuclear weapons does not have any evident capacity to hinder the US government's leading role in propelling the momentum of the arms race. No matter how heartfelt and imbued with wisdom, pleas for abolition do not present a threat to the unrestrained and voracious power of the military-industrial complex. A truly horrific reality in 2025, and for the realistically foreseeable future, is that nuclear weapons will remain on this planet, brandished against the entire human species. The word ``realistically'' may cause some to bristle. But a lack of such distasteful realism can divert resources, time, and energies away from where they're most needed. Desperate needs include far greater activism, public messaging, and political organizing to avert the worst. The top of the agenda should include: renewal of US-Russia New START treaty set to expire next February: reinstatement of three vital nuclear-arms pacts canceled by the US government, the Anti-Ballistic Missile, Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, and Open Skies treaties; and initiation of step-by- step disarmament measures that can sometimes involve wise unilateral actions by the US government, as in the case of ICBMs. ``We are closer to nuclear catastrophe today than at any point since the Cold War,'' Representative Jim McGovern said this spring when reintroducing a House resolution ``urging the United States to lead the world back from the brink of nuclear war and halt and reverse the nuclear arms race.'' With 21 cosponsors, the resolution ``calls on the president'' to take major steps toward sanity, none of which Joe Biden chose to take and none of which Donald Trump shows any indication of taking. Looking at the names on the nonbinding resolution, a reason for discouragement is that only 10 percent of House Democrats and not a single Republican signed on. A less obvious problem is that the signers are not speaking out for vigorous American diplomacy to end the Ukraine war, which may be a prerequisite for restarting any semblance of dialogue on nuclear dangers between Washington and Moscow. For more than three years, ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, congressional Democrats have rarely advocated the kind of diplomatic efforts that might stop the war's carnage. Such efforts could supply a scaffold for rebuilding the arms- control architecture. But the default role for even progressive Democrats on the Hill has been to support no-strings arming of the Ukrainian military (``let's you and them fight'') while depicting the Kremlin as incapab]e of serious negotiations. Yet the McGovern resolution says that the United States should lead a worldwide effort to prevent nuclear war by ``in particular, pursuing and concluding new nuclear arms control and disarmament arrangements with the Russian Federation to prevent a buildup of nuclear forces beyond current levels.'' So while some congressional Democrats are emphatic that the United States should directly negotiate with Russia to prevent nuclear war, those same lawmakers are not willing to push for US negotiations with Russia to end the Ukraine war. In reality, thawing the deep freeze of the new Cold War is essential to halt and reverse the race toward annihilation. Voicing hope that nuclear-arms negotiations can be successful in tandem with belligerence toward Russia may seem politic, but it is not realistic. While hawkish legislators make no pretense of interest in any step toward detente, it's important that at least a minority of Democrats at the Capitol are urging diplomatic talks aimed at preventing nuclear war. Yet it's hard to imagine those Democrats sounding anything like President Lyndon B. Johnson at the close of his summit with Russian Premier Alexei Kosygin in mid-1967 in Glassboro, New Jersey, when LBJ said, ``We have made further progress in an effort to improve our understanding of each other?s thinking on a number of questions.'' Today, the Democrats who talk about the need to avoid nuclear war do not seem especially interested in ``an effort to improve our understanding'' of the Russian leadership's thinking. The rote storyline--that Vladimir Putin is evil, end of story--blends in smoothly with US news media and the punditocracy. What it also does is give more fuel to the momentum toward nuclear holocaust. Many who justifiably derided President George W. Bush after 9/11 for his Manichaean view of the world are now largely replicating it. Implicit in the current worldview is that-- after decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, causing deaths into the millions, and now while continuing to serve as the crucial accomplice for ongoing genocide in Gaza--the US government is clearly virtuous, in complete contrast with the Russian government because of its own unconscionable aggression in Ukraine, The prevailing reflex, to act as though US-Russia relations could roll along on two tracks--escalating geopolitical conflicts while restoring and concluding major nuclear-arms treaties--is the political equivalent of magical thinking, if not simply craven expediency. Meanwhile, for the corporate beneficiaries of a trillion- dollar Pentagon budget and an out-ofcontrol nuclear weapons program, the more hostility toward Russia and China the better. And the country that first brought atomic weapons into the world is continuing to lead the way toward thermonuclear destruction. For those of us who have lived in the era of nuclear bombs for many decades, still being alive can seem close to miraculous. Luck and collective efforts for sanity must have been factors. Now, the generations with most of their lives potentially ahead are in a world that could instantly make that impossible. The heightened militarism of American politics is threatening to seal their fate.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, the American people, Republicans, Independents, and Democrats want the Epstein files released with the victims' identity protected. Now most people don't understand how this town works, so I am going to try to explain this really simply. Congressman Massie and I introduced a bipartisan bill to release all the Epstein files and to make sure victims were protected. There are 10 Republican cosponsors of that bill, including MAGA stalwarts like Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Tim Burchett. We have the votes tonight to pass it, but what happened in the Rules Committee is they don't want to have this vote tonight because they know they are going to lose because they know their own Members want to vote for it. What is even sillier is they had this nonbinding resolution, so I thought surely we would vote on a nonbinding resolution. They don't even want to vote on the nonbinding resolution in case Donald Trump gets slightly offended. They don't even want the vote on the nonbinding resolution tonight. Now, the President is paying attention--not just because his favorite Congressman Thomas Massie is involved--and he directs the Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask the courts to release the grand jury testimony. Here is the problem: The grand jury testimony is largely about Epstein and Maxwell, not about all the rich and powerful men who abused, assaulted, and abandoned young women. Those people are still being protected. By the way, the courts usually don't release grand jury testimony. The President is hearing the American people, and the President knows that if there is a vote tonight, this body overwhelmingly would vote for the release of the files.