Raphael Warnock

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, listen, I have had the honor of working with my friend the Senator from Kansas on many issues, and I welcome him to join the conversation on our side of the table about how to get people affordable healthcare. I can tell you that as I move across the State of Georgia, which is a non-expansion State, much like Texas, people are trying to figure out how they are going to keep their healthcare. In about a month, folks will see their healthcare premiums double, on average. For some, it will triple. For others, it will quadruple. People will lose their healthcare, and some people will die as a result of that. A healthcare policy in general is a matter of life and death. We have seen the Republicans through their ``Big Ugly Bill'' cut $1 trillion out of Medicaid, and 15 million people lost their healthcare. Now 22 million people are going to see their healthcare double, on average. That is the problem we are confronting right now. I have not heard a solution from that side of the aisle about how to fix that. So I object that we would add yet another 1 million people who will not be covered as a result of this plan that my colleague from the State of Kansas is offering this evening. It is particularly harmful for nonexpansion States. Some may reasonably ask: Why these zero-dollar premiums? Georgia, like Kansas, is a nonexpansion State. The truth is, a lot of these folks who have the zero-dollar premium plans, they would have zero dollars if they were in an expansion State. So for me, it is a matter of fairness. I am standing up for the people in my State of Georgia. There are 500,000 Georgians in the healthcare coverage cap. If they lived in California, if they lived in New York, if they lived in North Carolina, they would be covered. And so, for that reason and others, I object.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, Georgia Aquarium opened in 2005 and has since become one of Georgia's most beloved cultural institutions, welcoming millions of guests and inspiring curiosity, stewardship, and a lasting appreciation for the ocean. Georgia Aquarium's transformative experiences have reimagined what an aquarium can be. Awe-inspiring habitats and immersive galleries are paired with science-based storytelling so families, students, and visitors of all ages connect deeply with aquatic life and leave with a renewed sense of wonder. Its profound community impact reaches downtown Atlanta and classrooms across the State. Accessible programs and field experiences strengthen tourism, support local businesses, and expand hands-on STEM learning opportunities for Georgia's students. As an animal well-being champion, the aquarium advances best practices through collaborative research and responds to urgent rescues, demonstrating expertise that saves animals and informs conservation worldwide. Georgia Aquarium strives to make every experience welcoming and accessible. Designated a Certified Autism Center and recognized as KultureCity's Sensory Inclusive Venue of the Year, the aquarium also runs the Veterans Immersion Program--therapeutic dives for wounded and recovering veterans--now extended to children from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and patients from Shepherd Center, creating restorative, unforgettable connections with marine life. As research and conservation experts, the aquarium and its partners conduct and apply cutting-edge science. They advance knowledge of threatened species, restore critical habitats, and turn evidence into action for healthier oceans and stronger ecosystems. On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, I congratulate Georgia Aquarium and commend its enduring leadership in education, animal care, inclusion, and conservation. This work enriches the lives of Georgians and elevates Atlanta on the world stage.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I believe in healthcare. Your health--my mother told me a long time ago--was everything, so take care of your health. It is vital. It is essential. I believe that healthcare is a human right. It is certainly something that the wealthiest Nation on the planet and in the history of humankind can and ought to provide for all of its citizens. It is right, it is fair, but it is also smart. A healthy nation is a strong nation. Healthy children are ready to learn. That is why I have worked so hard and so long with my colleagues on this issue. As a matter of fact, long before I came to the Senate, I had been focused on this issue of healthcare, trying to get my home State of Georgia to expand. I keep preaching that sermon because right now, there are more than 500,000 Georgians who are in the healthcare coverage gap. I came here in 2017, to this place, not as a Senator but as a pastor and as an activist. I remember getting arrested, I believe in 2017, when there were major healthcare cuts on the table. As I began to make my argument and gather with other pastors in the Rotunda, the Capitol Police--very professionally, but they began to say to us: Pastors, you can't gather and pray in the Rotunda. We will have to arrest you. What they didn't understand is that I had already been arrested. My mind and my imagination had been arrested by this idea that surely the American Nation can do better than this. Healthcare is a human right. Dr. King, who led the church that I am still honored to lead, said that of all the injustices, inequality in healthcare is the most shocking and the most inhumane. That is why I was proud to join my colleagues and I am proud to stand with my colleagues in this fight. This is about 22 million Americans who will see their healthcare premiums double; some, triple; and some, quadruple. This is not theoretical stuff for me. These are the people in my community. These are folks sitting in the pews of my church. Many of them will lose their healthcare if something doesn't happen. A few weeks ago, I was at the Evans County Memorial Hospital in Evans County. I have to tell you, that is a red district. I don't have a whole lot of votes. I have some. Claxton, GA--known for fruitcakes. I was at that hospital, and I can tell you that those folks were already worried because of the draconian cuts to Medicaid in the Big Beautiful Bill--the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. Fifteen million Americans already stand to lose their healthcare, and then the premiums are raised for 22 million Americans while giving Elon Musk and people like him a tax cut? That is beyond the pale of partisanship. For me, that is not about Democrats and Republicans. You ask ordinary people on the street if they think that is fair. I can tell you that those folks in Evans County--many of whom did not vote for me, but I am fighting for them because I am their Senator too. They are worried about it. That is why we have been in this fight, and that is why we continue to stand to this very day. It is day 38. We are holding vigil because of the pain of the people we represent. There is a lot of pain to go around: 22 million whose premiums may go up or have gone up--they are seeing it on the portals right now; Federal workers who have been furloughed; the kids who--like I was--are in Head Start. We have Head Start centers that are about to shutter because of the government shutdown. Let's be honest. The folks on SNAP were dragged into this fight. They were not a part of this. They were dragged into this fight. There are already legal provisions to make sure that they are cared for. And this administration right now is defying a court order to feed America's hungry people. With all of that pain from the crisis in healthcare, from the ongoing government shutdown, we come to our sisters and our brothers on the other side, and we extend a hand of compromise, because it hasn't taken me long to learn, really, that is the only way you get anything done in this body. I work all of the time with colleagues with whom I disagree about 90 percent of the time, because it is not about them, and it is not about me; it is about the people we represent. The Founders were wise to organize our government in such a way that that is the only way to have sustainable change, is to do it on a bipartisan basis. My colleagues have taken their position, and we have taken ours. Here we are at an impasse. But I represent a State that elected me and Donald Trump, so they expect us to figure it out. Sometimes, when I am driving my car--I have a 9-year-old and a 6- year- old, a 9-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son. Sometimes they are in the back seat having a disagreement: He looked at me. She touched me. Then they say: Daddy--you know, they call on me. Here is what I say more often than not: Figure it out. The two of you in the back seat of the car--that is your sister; that is your brother. We are all in the same car. We are trying to get to the same destination. Figure it out. We are all in the same car tonight, Democrats and Republicans. There is a way in which the poor and the wealthy--there is a way in which they are all in the same car. COVID reminded us of that. Before we had a vaccine, if my neighbor had the virus, I, too, was in peril. That didn't make my neighbor my adversary; that means I have a vested interest in making sure my neighbor has coverage. So here is the proposal: a 1-year, clean extension of the ACA subsidy. You know that is not what we want. You know that if we had it our way, we would make it permanent. That is not what we fought for 38 days for--a 1-year extension--but we are offering that after standing for 38 days. A 1-year extension, and then let's sit down, and, in the words of Scripture, let us reason together. Let us have a conversation. Let's reopen the government. Let's extend healthcare to folks who, in real time, are opening up the portal, and they have sticker shock. And then let's sit down and figure it out because, if we are honest, the status quo is not working very well for anybody. Anybody who is trying to defend the status quo has not been talking to ordinary people. There are a lot of things that need to be fixed. And we can do that, but we have to reopen the government and give people a little bit of hope--give those 22 million Americans hope, give the 44 million Americans who need SNAP some hope, give our Federal workers some hope. There is an African-American proverb that says: When the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. It is the grass roots in Georgia and all across the Nation right now who are suffering because too often the politicians make the politics about the politicians rather than about the people. Let's center the people. If we center the people, we will compromise and we will figure it out. In closing--nobody believes a Baptist preacher when he says ``in closing''--I have worked with Members of the Presiding Officer's party on a whole range of things. And at the risk of embarrassing him, Ted Cruz and I even work together every now and then. And I mention him because, early in my tenure here, he and I worked on a little thing-- just a little provision--to try to get a little bit closer to building out this interstate, I-14, that would run through Georgia all the way to Texas. The same road that runs through Texas runs through Georgia. And if we can get that road built out, when it is time to get on that road, nobody asks you: Are you a Democrat or are you a Republican? Nobody asks you about your religion or if you have a religious tradition at all. Nobody asks you. Some folks are going to church. Some are going to the mosque. Some are going to temple. Some are going to the park. Some are going to the beach. But they all get on the same road trying to get to wherever they are going. There is a road that runs through this American experience. There is a road that runs through our humanity that ought to connect all of us together, that ought to remind us that we all want our children to thrive and we all want our families to have a future. Let us make haste to that road and walk toward a brighter American future. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I welcome His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Eastern Orthodox Church to the United States of America. Since 1991, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has served as the spiritual leader for 300 million Orthodox Christians across the world. Throughout his diakonia, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has dedicated himself to fostering inter-religious dialogue, advancing initiatives to promote understanding and tolerance amongst Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Middle East. In addition to his commitment to religious tolerance and freedom, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has been a champion for ecological justice and the protection of the environment. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's dedication to the spiritual responsibility of environmentalism and the necessity of caring for God's creation led to him being referred to as the ``Green Patriarch.'' As a result of his efforts, the John Templeton Foundation has awarded Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with the 2025 Templeton Prize for helping ``bridge scientific and spiritual understandings of humanity's relationship with the natural world.'' It is an honor to have him visit Washington, DC, and our government officials during his trip to receive the Templeton Prize.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, today is a solemn day in the memory of our Nation. May we pause at the beginning of my remarks to remember those who passed into the light on September 11. (Moment of silence.) Amen. Political Violence Mr. President, I rise tonight in deep sadness for a nation that is increasingly beset by political violence. Yesterday, political activist Charlie Kirk was killed while speaking to students on a college campus--a place that is set up for the exchange of ideas. He was just 31 years old, a husband, a father of young children. I pray for his wife Erika and for his children who must now make their way without him. And his death comes on the heels of the devastating assassination of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman of Minnesota, victims of premeditated political violence. This should shock the conscience of every American, and it should cause all of us to rise up and say: Enough. Let me be clear. I disagreed with Charlie Kirk on just about everything, but I rise tonight not in spite of those differences but, in a real sense, because of those differences. I rise to say that he had a right to speak, to think, to change his mind or not, to engage with others, to participate in the free exchange of ideas, to argue it out. That is what it means to live in a democracy. That is who we are. We Americans engage in loud, heated, and sometimes rambunctious debates, not as a precursor to violence but to avoid violence. And we must learn to disagree without becoming violently disagreeable. Let me be clear. There is nothing more anti-democratic than political violence. Democracy is about creating space for competing voices and countervailing visions about who we are as one people, and that debate in the public square is what has made us better over time. So while pushing back--sometimes hard--against those with whom we vigorously disagree, we must, with the same voice and vigor, defend their right to be--their right to be heard, to be free. Our American family is held together by these democratic ideals, but I am afraid that what we are seeing increasingly around us is the tearing of those threads that bind us together--``e pluribus unum''; out of many, one--the ability to see past our political differences and see in the humanity of the other a glimpse of our own. So we must condemn what happened to Charlie Kirk, whether we are on the right or on the left, because condemning that heinous crime is not about the difference between right and left; it is the difference between right and wrong. And what happened yesterday was wrong. Whatever the motivation, this we know: It was wrong. And we have to say that clearly and without hesitation. I serve as pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, the spiritual home of Martin Luther King, Jr. We all know that Dr. King was a victim of gun violence. What fewer people remember or know is that in 1974, his precious mother Alberta Williams King, the wife of the pastor of the church, Martin Luther King, Sr., was shot and killed in our church one Sunday morning while playing ``The Lord's Prayer'' on the organ. Martin Luther King, Sr., was asked what he thought about all of this, and I am struck and inspired by his words. Having lost his precious wife on a Sunday morning, having witnessed his son struck down, Martin Luther King, Sr., said: I will never let any man pull me down so low as to hate him. He said: Hate is too heavy a burden to bear. He is right, and that is why in this moment, we must condemn political violence. But we must also condemn hate and hate speech. You cannot condemn one without condemning the other. Hate is itself a kind of violence that kills the spirit and corrupts the soul of a person and of a nation. That vicious cycle of violence and hate, of hate and violence can only lead to the demise of our country and the destruction of our humanity. So in this defining moment, may we resist the seductive sirens of those who are trying to convince us that we are at war with one another. Amidst our fierce debates, I submit that at the end of the day, we are all we have got--we the people. All we really have is one another. And a democracy is the imperfect institutionalization of that moral insight. All we have is one another. You either have a democracy, or you have political violence. You cannot have a democracy awash in political violence. So every single day, let us choose democracy, choose what the Apostle Paul called the more excellent way--the way of love. Love comes alive in the complicated story of a diverse people who refuse to give up on one another. It takes strength to love. It takes courage to love. It takes patience and persistence to love. God grant us strength and courage. God grant us patience and persistence for the facing of this hour and for the living of these days. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNOCK

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

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I rise today in the wake of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes in Gaza. As we say in my church's preaching tradition, ``Let me make it plain!'' It is wrong to starve children to death. It is wrong to starve people to death. Yet, in this moment, we are witnessing a famine unfold among children and innocent men and women in Gaza, the world's largest open-air prison, a pit of human misery. Reports estimate 18,500 Palestinian children have been killed in the conflict. Over 20,000 children were treated for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July of this year, and at least 3,000 children were severely malnourished. In Gaza today, starvation is being weaponized. Famine isn't a forecast but a fact, despite the denials of the Netanyahu government. So I rise today not only as a Senator but as a pastor, as a pastor of a church where Martin Luther King, Jr., served who told us that ``we are tied in a single garment of destiny caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.'' I rise today as a father to say there is devastating starvation going on right now, and all of us--the State of Israel, the United States, and the world--cannot turn our eyes away. We must get to these people the food, the medicine, the dignity that their humanity requires. The images of mass starvation are sickening. Children with no family, bare feet, empty bellies, hollow eyes who are seeking aid only to be trampled to death by other desperate people. And in their most desperate moments, some have been met not with mercy or medicine but with malice. Young people seeking bread have been met with bullets. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must stop using indiscriminate bombing and forced starvation and instead focus on lasting, moral peace that secures the return of the remaining hostages while respecting the dignity of Palestinian families and children who want the same peace as our Israeli brothers and sisters. All of us are children of the living God. In the eyes of suffering children, we see a glimpse of God's face. After an international outcry and public shaming, it was a welcomed announcement that Prime Minister Netanyahu would allow more aid into Gaza and enact military pauses to allow food to reach people, but what has been delivered so far is just a drop in the bucket of what this moment required. The people of Gaza deserve the same access to food and medicine we want--any one of us would want--for our own children. Now, there is no question that peace in the Middle East is a tough issue. If it were easy, it would have been resolved by now. And we cannot forget about what happened on October 7, and we must continue to call on Hamas to free the hostages. These folks deserve to go home. They deserve to be home with their families. So we call on Hamas to release the hostages. And as I have said time and time again, including in the wake of October 7, Israel has a right to defend itself. But what is happening now? Children are being wounded. Many of them have been orphaned. Pregnant and nursing mothers are having to navigate a war zone while nourishing their children. And beyond the obvious moral atrocity, the question is, How has this continuing bombing and mass starvation made our friend Israel safer? How has this made Israel safer? And at what cost? I urge President Trump, who has said that there is ``real starvation'' in Gaza, to leverage American leadership to bring an end to this human suffering. Human lives are at stake, and America's moral credibility is on the line. Inflicting human misery for its own sake is not a strategy. Starving the people of Gaza has not released any hostages or gotten us any closer to a cease-fire. The current trajectory is unsustainable. I do not believe that the answer to death and destruction is more death and destruction. There is this phrase in Gaza. It is an acronym. WCNSF: Wounded child, no surviving family. I can't think of a worse way to begin your life than to be a child or a baby wounded with no family. This phrase takes on new meaning as we are hearing stories out of Gaza of parents starving to death to give what little food they have to keep their children alive. So here is what I believe. I believe in the humanity of all of God's children, and that is why I pressed the previous administration and the Netanyahu administration to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza. I voted to give $10 billion in humanitarian aid to Gaza and other humanitarian crises. And just this month, I joined more than 40 of my colleagues calling for the large-scale expansion of humanitarian aid, and I urged the Trump administration to resume diplomatic efforts to end this war. I also called on the administration to end the U.S. support and financing for the shady, private organization that has been connected to deadly violence against starving people seeking food in Gaza. We must instead resume support for the existing U.N.-led aid efforts with enhanced oversight to ensure that help reaches those in need. My North Star in this whole conflict is a world that embraces the children on both sides of this conflict because here is the thing that even mortal enemies have in common: All of us want our children to be OK. We all want our children to be safe. And I said this on the floor of the Senate when I called for the cease-fire at a time when folks felt like you couldn't even say the word. This pressure has prompted temporary pauses in violence and some aid, but it is clear that these piecemeal steps are failing. America is Israel's friend. However, being a friend to Israel does not mean being complicit in its government's immoral actions unfolding even as I speak. Israel's strength is rooted in its allies, but allyship--true allyship--involves accountability. Here is when I know I have got a good friend; good friends tell you the truth. We must tell Netanyahu he must change course. The Israeli Government's current path is hurting the country's global standing and support in the world. So in the end, this growing humanitarian crisis is not good for Israel. Good friends tell you the truth, and that is why, yesterday, I voted in favor of the joint resolutions of disapproval. I have been thinking of the words of my mentor, my hero, who happened to also be my parishioner, the late, great John Lewis. John Lewis said that when you see something is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. So I am speaking up. I am speaking with my lips and my legs because the acid test of your faith is your commitment to the most marginalized members of the human family. We must work toward saving lives and centering our common humanity, returning the hostages home to their families, and securing peace and safety for all those in the region. Last year, I had the honor of meeting with the late pontiff, Pope Francis, at the Vatican. And I was struck by something the Pope said to me. He said to me that there was a small parish in Gaza that he called practically every night just to check on them, just to pray for them-- leader of Catholics all over the world. He called that little parish to pray with them. Well, the other day, that church was bombed. As it turns out, there was no sanctuary for them even in the sanctuary. So tonight, I am going to say a special prayer not only for the people of that parish but for the people all around me. I am going to pray for peace, but we don't just pray with our lips, we have to pray with our legs. We have to work for the world that we dream of for our children. History may not remember the debates that we had in these Chambers, but it will remember whether we acted when children were starving and hostages were languishing. Silence is complicity. Inaction in the face of famine is a choice. So let us choose life, dignity, and a peace worthy of the ideals we claim to pursue. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following motions to recommit for the bill H.R. 4 be placed in the Congressional Record: Mr. Warnock moves to recommit the bill H.R. 4 to the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate with instructions to report the same back to the Senate in 3 days, not counting any day on which the Senate is not in session, with changes that-- (1) are within the jurisdiction of such committee; and (2) would protect funding for the production and distribution of programming to support early childhood development. Mr. Warnock moves to recommit the bill H.R. 4 to the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate with instructions to report the same back to the Senate in 3 days, not counting any day on which the Senate is not in session, with changes that-- (1) are within the jurisdiction of such committee; and (2) would protect funding to support emergency alert systems during natural disasters. Mr. Warnock moves to recommit the bill H.R. 4 to the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate with instructions to report the same back to the Senate in 3 days, not counting any day on which the Senate is not in session, with changes that-- (1) are within the jurisdiction of such committee; and (2) would protect funding to support rural broadcasting and journalism.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I have a motion to commit at the desk.

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the motion be dispensed with.

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I rise to protect pro-business, pro- worker tax credits that are creating hundreds of thousands of American clean energy manufacturing jobs, many of which don't require a college degree. Put simply, these tax credits are working. I know firsthand because, in Georgia, businesses invested $4.50 for every dollar we spent in tax credits. They helped create 42,000 new manufacturing and construction jobs, many in rural parts of our State that are too often left behind by Washington politicians. Those 42,000 Georgia jobs and hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide are at risk if Republicans have their way and roll back these tax credits. That is why North America's building trade unions--

Mr. WARNOCK. Really?

Mr. WARNOCK. Those 42,000 Georgia jobs and hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide are at risk. That is why North America's building trade unions call this bill the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country. I urge my colleagues to vote for America's workers and vote yes on my motion to commit.

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, how much time do I have left? For every $1 we have invested--

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia, Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey support the Motion to Commit bill H.R. 1 to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and make changes that would protect clean energy manufacturing jobs in the United States.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, when the Senate considers the reconciliation bill, H.R. 1, it is my intention to make the following motion to commit the bill: A motion to commit the bill to the committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, with instructions to report H.R. 1 back to the Senate with changes that strikes provision that limit Federal Pell Grant recipients' ability to access additional Federal, State, or private student aid.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Madam President, I rise tonight in our moral moment in our Nation. As we debate this bill, so much is on the line. The healthcare of over 16 million Americans--750,000 of them Georgians--is on the line. Food for hungry children in a wealthy nation, where one in five children are already food insecure. They don't know where their next meal is coming from. Their livelihood, their welfare is on the line. The well-being of seniors in nursing homes and the disabled who rely on Medicaid and those who care for them is on the line. The fate of rural hospitals in Georgia, in Alaska, in Louisiana, in little towns all over this Nation that are right now barely hanging on is on the line. And the scraps that they are throwing them, while cutting them, will not save them. And my friends on the other side of the aisle know it. They know that these scraps that they are throwing at rural hospitals will not save them. And so in a very real sense, lives are on the line. We are in a moral moment because something else is on the line. I submit that the character of the country is on the line. In a real sense, the question tonight is, Who are we? Not who we tell ourselves we are, but who are we really? What and who do we care about? What kind of nation are we? And what kind of people do we want to be? Who matters, and who doesn't? Who do we think is dispensable? And no place is the answer to that question clearer than in a nation's budget. I submit that a budget is not just a fiscal document; a budget is a moral document. Show me your budget, and I will show you who you think matters and who doesn't. And if this awful budget were an EKG, it would suggest that our Nation has a heart problem and is in need of moral surgery. And so I am clear tonight. I understand the nature of what we are engaged in. This is a political process; it is. But it is also a moral exercise, not only for the Nation but for each of us individually, and especially for the mere 100 of us out of a nation of 300 million who get to vote, perhaps in a matter of hours. We have the rare privilege of standing up for people who have entrusted with us the covenant of centering their families. It is a real privilege for the people of your State to say that since we can't all go to Washington, we are going to trust you in rooms of power to be thinking about our children, to be thinking about our parents as they deal with the blessings and the burdens of growing old. And so the question for me tonight is, How will we will show up in this moment? And that is why yesterday I gathered in the Russell rotunda with a multifaith coalition of clergy to pray that lawmakers might have the courage to stand up to their party, to stand up to the special interests, and protect seniors in nursing homes and pregnant mothers on Medicaid and children who risk going to school hungry every single day in this country. One in five children in the wealthiest Nation on the planet are already food insecure. And with these SNAP cuts, this body is about to make it worse. And so surrounded by clergy of many faith traditions, yesterday, I prayed that we would have the courage and I prayed that we would have the grace to stand as voices for the voiceless. And as I stood there, I could not help but feel a sense of deja vu. This is not the first time I have been in our Nation's Capital speaking out against these policies that betray hard-working families. It was 8 years ago almost to the day in 2017 when Washington Republicans were trying to pass a tax bill that favored wealthy Americans over working families that I came to this building, not as a Senator but as a pastor. I had no idea that 8 years later I would be serving in this body. I had no notion that I would even run for the Senate. I came as a citizen. And standing with a multifaith coalition, we were praying for our Nation's leaders, and we were gathered in the rotunda of the Russell Building. And, as we were singing and praying, the Capitol Police said: I am sorry, pastors. You can't sing and pray in the rotunda. If you do not disperse, we will have to arrest you. And let me say that the Capitol Police did not mishandle us that day. They were first-rate professionals. But they said that if you don't disperse, we will have to arrest you. What they didn't understand is that I had already been arrested. My conscience had been arrested. My heart and my imagination--my moral imagination--had been arrested by this idea that we, as a country, are better than this. I come from a tradition where you don't just pray with your lips; you pray with your legs. You put your body in the struggle for other struggling bodies. And so here I am tonight, 8 years later, having transformed my agitation into legislation. I was arrested that day, but I have transformed my protest into public policy. Eight years ago, I was on the outside. Tonight, I am on the inside, but it is the same fight. Some of us fight on the inside; some of us fight on the outside. Some of us get to serve in the Senate or in the House; others are just watching at home tonight. But be really clear that we are in the same fight, whether we are on the streets or in the suites--same fight. In some ways, this is the same bill 8 years later, just worse. Like most horror movies, the sequel tends to be worse. When we were here 8 years ago, Washington politicians were trying their best to gut the Affordable Care Act. Remember that? When we were here, they were trying to gut ObamaCare out of political motives. Millions of Americans were spared, but tonight is the sequel to that horror movie. They are back to their old political tricks, trying to dismantle the ACA again with this legislation. It is the same fight, just worse this time. Instead of extending tax credits that would lower health insurance costs for the middle class, my friends on the other side are giving billionaires and the richest of the rich a tax cut. They are working real hard tonight to help billionaires because, God knows, they are having a hard time, apparently. What that means is that 1.2 million Georgians and nearly 20 million Americans are going to see their healthcare premiums rise. That is what is at stake tonight. If they enact these deep cuts to Medicaid, as they are positioned not to extend these premiums, these tax credits, they are raising the cost of healthcare for all of us. Even if you are on private insurance, you are not safe. Your healthcare is about to go up. Your hospital might close. And because they are cutting these clean energy tax cuts, your utility bills are about to go up. So I have a question tonight. Who voted for that? Some of us are Democrats. Some of us are Republicans. Some of us are Independents. Some voted for one party; some voted for the other party. I get it. But who voted for that? Who voted for everybody's healthcare premiums to go up and their hospitals to close? Here is what I know. The folks back in Georgia didn't vote for that. They voted for me, and they voted for Donald Trump, but they didn't vote for that. Ordinary folks don't want this. Just ordinary, everyday people who barely pay attention to politics, they don't want this. Even a FOX News poll--and you won't often hear me say that--but even a FOX News poll from this month found that Americans don't support this ``Big Ugly Bill.'' This is systemic in the ways in which the people's voices have been squeezed out of their democracy. This is not just a healthcare fight, it is that. It is not just a fight for food security for SNAP, it is that. But in the real sense, it is a fight for our democracy. Whose voice gets to be heard in this Chamber? That is what this is about, the character of the country. Ordinary Americans don't want to do this to our children. That is why they need to know that 71 percent of all Medicaid enrollees in Georgia are children--71 percent. They are taking away healthcare from kids to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Let me be clear. I am all for tax cuts. I believe working families deserve a tax cut, and I certainly don't want to see them face a tax hike this year. That is why I want to nearly double the child tax credit. I believe in tax cuts for hard-working families, for middle- class people, for working-class families. Instead of doing that, instead of helping working-class families who are struggling now against a 10-percent tax on everything and rising costs, we are now burdening our children by adding $3 trillion to the debt. We are taking away healthcare from kids and then burdening them with the debt. We are engaged in Robin Hood in reverse, this body, of stealing from the poor in order to give to the rich; this massive transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top. This is socialism for the rich. And when the people hear about it, guess what. They don't like it-- Democrats and Republicans and Independents. When the people hear about what is in this ``Big Ugly Bill,'' they don't like it. And that is why the folks on the other side are trying their best to fast-track it. That is why they are trying to pass it, and they haven't even finished writing it. They are twisting themselves in knots, making their Members walk the plank under the threat of a primary to pass this ``Big Ugly Bill.'' The American people do not want to rob our children of food and healthcare and then burden them with trillions in debt to give billionaires and wealthy corporations another tax cut. The people do not want this bill. So if the people do not want this bill, but they are trying to pass it, here is the question that you have to ask yourselves at home. You have to ask yourselves: Well, whom are they working for? Whom are they fighting for? Who do they think matters? Do you think they are working for you? This is a moral moment and a budget is a moral document. We have been summoned to this moment, people of faith and people of moral courage who claim no particular faith at all. Maybe because I was here yesterday and 8 years ago for a similar fight with faith leaders; maybe because I am a preacher and it is Sunday and I have been here instead of church, I have especially been thinking about those of us who are people of faith, people whose lives are informed by Scripture, people of the Book. And maybe those of us who have different politics but read from the same Book ought to spend some time together reading the Book because I do sometimes wonder--and I say this with all humility. None of us owns the truth. But if I am honest, there are days when I have to ask people of my faith tradition as a Christian, are we reading the same Book? The Book I know says: I was hungry and you fed me. I was sick, I was in prison, and you visited me. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. In as much as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me. The Book that I love says: Learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and the needy. My Book says: Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and will be repaid in full. The prophet Amos condemns those who ``buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.'' They sell the poor out and working-class people for cheap. And for those of us who have a vote in this moment, for my colleagues who are swinging on a moral dilemma, I hear the prophet Micah say: He has already told you what is good. What does the Lord require of you but that you do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. May God be with our Nation and grant us grace, wisdom, and courage for this moment. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following Motions to Commit for the bill H.R. 1 be placed in the Congressional Record: Mr. Warnock moves to commit the bill H.R. 1 to the Committee on Finance of the Senate with instructions to report the same back to the Senate in 3 days, not counting any day on which the Senate is not in session, with changes that-- (1) are within the jurisdiction of such committee; and (2) would protect clean energy manufacturing jobs in the United States.

Mr. WARNOCK

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 2177 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I know that we say this a lot around here, but I really rise to offer a very simple amendment: no cuts in Medicaid benefits; no cuts in Medicaid coverage. My colleagues have claimed that their proposal to cut up to $880 billion from Medicaid is just cutting waste, fraud, and abuse, so here is their chance to back up their words with action. If they are so confident that they can cut $880 billion from Medicaid without children, without seniors, or the severely disabled losing benefits and coverage, then they should vote for my amendment. If my amendment is voted down, it is a sad admission that my colleagues value the financial health of the richest of the rich over the physical health of millions of children and seniors. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment with Senator Kelly and others. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WARNOCK. How much time do I have remaining?

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I noticed that my colleague from Idaho did not say that they would not cut coverage. If the Senator believes that they can do this--

Mr. WARNOCK.--without kicking a single person off of Medicaid, he should vote for my amendment. Vote on Amendment No. 2177

Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.