Elizabeth Warren

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, Donald Trump is trashing our economy. First, Donald Trump imposed across-the-board tariffs. Then, just a few hours ago, he dropped those tariffs to 10 percent on everyone and moved the tariffs up to 125 percent on China, up from 105 percent yesterday. Now there is confusion. There is chaos. No one knows what the tariffs will be tomorrow or the next day or next week or next month. But here is what we do know: Are prices still going up? Yes. Are businesses still wary about investing? Yes. Are millions of working people still worried about their jobs and millions of small businesses still worried about closing shop? Yes. Right before Donald Trump declared that some of his tariffs were off again, he sent out a message to his billionaire buddies. He posted ``THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!'' Was that market manipulation? Was it corruption in plain sight? We need an independent investigation into market manipulation because Americans need to know whether President Trump or anyone in his administration manipulated the market to benefit their donors all while they are working for the American people and while small businesses and those working families are paying the price. It is a disaster, but here is the thing: Republicans in Congress have a chance to stop him right now. If they do nothing, they, along with Trump, are responsible for the fallout. Congress could end this dangerous trade war right now by passing my bipartisan resolution with Senator Ron Wyden to turn off the fake emergency authority that Donald Trump is using to impose his worldwide and chaotic tariffs. So I have a simple question for the Senate: Why aren't we passing this resolution this instant? Let's take a step back and talk about what has happened since Trump imposed his illegal, across-the-board tariffs 1 week ago today. Americans' retirement accounts took a hit. Businesses started hiking prices, and many are preparing for layoffs. Consumer confidence hit its lowest point in years as millions of Americans wonder will they have a job in 3 months' time. Economists have said that if we continue down this path of uncertainty, recession is inevitable. We have actually seen this before--in 2008 during the mortgage meltdown and in 2020, as we were hit by a once-in-a-century virus. But this time, there is no mortgage meltdown; there is no virus. No, the crisis is entirely the fault of one person: Donald Trump. This might be the first time in history that the actions of a single man have destroyed so much economic value around the planet. If we do not reverse course, this catastrophic mistake will seriously hurt people, seriously hurt small businesses, and seriously hurt the United States' position in the world. We all know what is happening. It isn't possible to turn on a television or check your news feed without seeing it. Every single elected Republican in Congress knows what these tariffs would mean for people--from farmers who are pleading for help as they brace for the trade war, to seniors who are on the verge of retiring and now having to scramble to figure out how they can work longer, to workers who don't know how many more paychecks they will get before being laid off. I know there are people who say tariffs are always a bad idea. I don't agree. I have long argued that smart tariff policy can be an important tool to help grow domestic industries, an important tool to help support good jobs, and an important tool to promote the development of critical supply chains here at home. For three decades, politicians from both parties have worked together to cut bad trade deals--trade deals that sold out American workers and promoted offshoring. Entire communities across this country were hallowed out, and American families across this country were left in the wreckage. We owe it to these communities, we owe it to these families to forge a new path forward on trade, one that invests in American workers and American industry. We owe it to these communities to integrate tariffs with other economic tools to encourage domestic production and good jobs right here in the United States of America. But everyone knows that the kinds of tariffs that Donald Trump is putting in place will not do that. They aren't strategic; they are just plain dumb. It is widely reported that the math behind this brilliant tariff scheme looks exactly like it came from someone typing a bunch of basic questions into ChatGPT and using the resulting bogus numbers to slap tariffs on essentially every country in the world, including a group of islands whose only inhabitants are penguins. Plagiarizing an AI chatbot's idea of a rational tariff policy and using it then to blow up the world economy would make a very funny movie--if real people's livelihoods weren't at stake. Trump's on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again tariffs are not encouraging businesses to develop plants in the United States. Instead, they have the opposite effect--they scare off investors. Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs won't bring back manufacturing jobs. Instead, companies are cutting manufacturing jobs, and factory productivity is declining across the country. These tariffs are job killers no matter the sector. As much as Trump loves taking credit for investments that were announced before he took office, the reality is, layoffs are now at the highest they have been since the start of the pandemic and first- quarter hiring plans are at a decade-plus low. Let me say that again. The tariffs are scaring off investors. They are not bringing back manufacturing jobs, and layoffs are on the rise. That is a lot of bad news all at once, and believe it or not, there is more bad news. Donald Trump's tariffs will also be used as an excuse by companies to jack up prices and rip off American families. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve said that Trump's tariffs will mean higher prices. Then he gave an example from the first term of the Trump administration when tariffs on washing machines led to companies hiking prices on washing machines. OK. We understand that, but the damage didn't stop there. Those companies also hiked prices on dryers even though there were no tariffs on dryers. Why? Because they knew American consumers would just assume those prices also went up because of tariffs. Now imagine what companies can get away with when the President is loudly yelling about putting 10 percent tariffs on everyone, everywhere, everything, all at once, and threatening to do more and at rates that make no sense, and he could change again at any moment. It is not just a killer for honest businesses; it is also going to be a field day for companies that want to juice their profits with just a little price gouging. CEOs are already talking about it. Here are some quotes: We have planned to raise prices to offset. Another: We will pass through that price. Can they be any clearer? They are already telling us that they don't just pass along cost increases that they face; they are saying they will use tariffs to push prices higher and higher. Right now, every economic indicator is flashing red. Every community around the country is ringing the alarm bell. People understand that if we do not put an end to this chaos once and for all, we are headed for an economic disaster. As it turns out, even Senators are raising the alarm. Senator John Kennedy said: Tariffs are like whiskey: A little whiskey, under the right circumstances, can be refreshing--but too much whiskey, under the wrong circumstances, can make you drunk as a goat. Go, John. Senator Thom Tillis said: Anyone who says there may be a little bit of pain before we get things right needs to talk to my farmers who are one crop away from bankruptcy. Senator Ted Cruz said he was not ``a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers.'' Yes, no surprises here. These Republicans all know what is happening. They just refuse to do anything about it. They sit on their hands while millions of Americans across the country are sitting at home wondering when Republicans in Congress are going to step up and do something. A few Senators have commented, but so far, we have seen no action-- none--from Republican leadership. Republican Senate leadership knows how bad the tariff situation is, but it is just the same old cowering before Donald Trump. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson could hold a vote immediately to shut off these tariffs and end the chaos. They could stand up to Trump and stand up for their constituents. They could demonstrate to the world that Congress has a role to play and can put some curbs on President Trump's tariffs by whim. But apparently Majority Leader Thune is in no hurry. He said earlier this week that he would just wait to see what is happening. Senator Mike Johnson has said: We are going to give [Trump] the space necessary to do it and we'll see how it all develops . . . it's only been a week. Yes, it has only been a week. And in that week, capital markets around the world have lost trillions of dollars in value, working people and seniors have seen their savings decimated, people have already started getting pink slips, prices are already going up. And Thune and Johnson's own constituents are urging their Representatives and their Senators to fight back, but so far, they do nothing. Farmers like Rodney Koch, who grows soybeans in Garretson, SD, are worried that tariffs ``will hurt our pocketbooks.'' Can Leader Thune explain to farmers in his home State why he is sitting on his hands while Republicans put their livelihoods at risk? Business owners in Louisiana say they are bracing ``for price hikes from Trump tariffs.'' Can Speaker Johnson explain to his constituents back home why he is sitting on his hands as their costs go through the roof? Republican leadership knows how bad this is, but they do nothing. Normally, that would be it. There is nothing that the minority party, the Democrats, could do about it. But with Senator Wyden's and my bipartisan resolution, Republicans cannot stop us. We can force a vote on the tariff question. Republicans cannot stop us from forcing a vote, but they can delay us, and that is what they are doing. Instead of passing a bill to save our economy, instead of reassuring both Americans and people around the world that there are some limits on what Donald Trump can do in terms of jerking tariffs up and down and sideways and on and off--instead of doing that, the Senate is about to vote to put a career Wall Street suit in charge of the SEC. But it is not just any Wall Streeter. This is a corporate guy, Paul Atkins, who actually has a track record on financial crashes. The Republican nominee for Chairman of the SEC was a member of the SEC during the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. His track record in the runup to the crash was impeccable: Mr. Atkins sat on his hands--no acknowledgement that the crash was coming, no steps to avoid the crash, no push to help out families or small businesses once the crash hit. Instead, Mr. Atkins took votes while he was on the SEC that directly contributed to the crash. Even today, despite all of the evidence about how loose regulations triggered a crisis that cost 10 million families their homes and put millions more out of work, Mr. Atkins has 20/0 hindsight about his mistakes. Apparently, he thinks that the only thing we did wrong in the runup to the 2008 crash was not to remove more rules from the giant banks so they could have loaded up even faster on more risk, taken more profits, and then needed a bigger bailout. Once he left government, Mr. Atkins moved to a long career helping billionaire scammers like Sam Bankman-Fried get even richer. Getting Mr. Atkins confirmed instead of stopping the economic chaos-- this is the priority for Republicans in Congress right now. Put another fox in charge of the henhouse while the whole farm could burn to the ground. So that is the Republican plan: Ignore the economic chaos happening around us, confirm a guy who helped cause the last crash, and then go on vacation for 2 weeks. If the Republicans do that, it will be a month before Congress can vote to reverse the President's disastrous tariffs and demonstrate to the world that there are some limits on his ability to cause economic chaos. The Republican approach is reckless, it is dangerous, and most of all, it is cowardly. Trillions of dollars in wealth evaporated last week. Who knows how much irreversible damage will be done to our economy in a month or in 90 days when Trump decides to put these tariffs back on, back off, back on, and back off. Does anyone want to find out? I certainly don't. This kind of uncertainty is enormously damaging to our economy. In the meantime, all that happens is that CEOs continue to bow and scrape to Donald Trump at black-tie galas, hoping to secure loopholes for their own companies. Congress has the tools to put a stop to this. We need to act now to stop the chaos. Senator Wyden's and my bipartisan resolution would turn off the emergency, bogus declaration that Donald Trump is using. It would demonstrate that Congress is willing to stand up and say that Donald Trump will not have the magic wand to continue to turn tariffs on and off at whim. I urge my Republican colleagues to join us and to vote down the President's abuse of emergency authorities. Republicans in Congress have a choice to make. They can continue to bow down to Donald Trump while he sabotages our economy, or they can stand up for the American people who elected them. Every Democrat is ready to go. We are ready to vote to end this destructive tariff war, but we need Republicans to stand up and show some courage. If Republicans don't step up and our economy falls off a cliff, we will know who is responsible. If Trump's tariff games of ``on-again, off-again'' crash our economy, we know which Republicans will be responsible. If Trump's tariff games lead to layoffs around the country, we know which Republicans will be responsible. If Trump's tariff games force small businesses to close their doors, we know which Republicans will be responsible. If Trump's tariff games hurt our farmers, we know which Republicans will be responsible. If Trump's tariff games force retirees to have to get out and find work, we know which Republicans will be responsible. We know who is responsible, and it is every single one of these cowards who will not take the blowtorch out of Donald Trump's hands. These Republican Senators understand that what is happening is not normal. They understand that we are in an extremely dangerous moment. They understand that if Congress does not act, Americans of every class, every race, every age, every religion, every region of the country, and every political party will suffer. This is the time for Republicans to act. Donald Trump's friends at Mar-a-Lago may flatter him over candlelit dinners and tell him he is all powerful, but Donald Trump is not a King, and Congress is not powerless. We can act to stop him, and that is exactly what we should do. I yield the floor.

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I ask for consent to speak for 5 minutes.

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize a true public servant, Cameron Ricker, the chief clerk of Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, who is leaving the Senate after 8 years. And I am glad to recognize today Cameron's loving family, who is here in the Gallery: his wife Zaida, his daughter Zona, and his parents Don and Peggy, who flew all the way from Idaho to be here with us, as well as current and former banking staff. It is not an exaggeration to say that Cameron is the backbone of the Senate Banking Committee. As chief clerk, Cameron is the person who makes sure that hearings go off without a hitch; that we are able to review paperwork from White House nominees and to fulfill our constitutional duty to advise and consent on Presidential appointments; that we are able to mark up important legislation. In short, Cameron is the reason that the Banking Committee can do the work of the Banking Committee. I would like to ask for permission to bring Cameron to the floor while I finish my remarks.

Ms. WARREN. Thank you. Can you join us, Cameron? Cameron demonstrates public service at its very best. The role of the chief clerk on the Banking Committee is nonpartisan. A chief clerk serves both the majority and minority fairly and equally. To this day, I don't know if anyone could tell you what party Cameron belongs to and how he votes--and that is no small feat in today's Washington. All we know is that he approaches his work with the utmost professionalism, competence, and kindness every single day. Need to know the answer to some arcane rule in the committee handbook? Cameron's your guy. Need to know how many people are in the hearing room at any given moment so your boss doesn't miss their question time? Ask Cameron. Need some help brokering peace with the chairman's team across the hallway? Go to Cameron again. I am personally very grateful for Cameron's support in the early months of my tenure as ranking member of this committee. He spent hours meeting with my staff to make sure that they were prepared for new decisions and responsibilities, impressing every single one of them with his preparation, his thoughtfulness, and his commitment to public service. Generations of Senators and staff who have served on the Banking Committee have been inspired by Cameron's work ethic, hypercompetence, and religious devotion to his favorite pen. It is a Zebra F-701, for those of you who are wondering. Cameron is humble and hard-working, but don't let his humility fool you. He is also a trailblazer. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, no one knew how the Senate was going to conduct its committee business. How the heck was an institution that was still firmly stuck in the 18th century supposed to hold hearings or mark up legislation when it was dangerous for people even to be in a room together? Cameron was the first to figure it out. And thanks to his persistence, the Banking Committee was the first in the Senate to hold a virtual hearing during the pandemic, laying out the roadmap for every other committee to follow. My respect for Cameron is broadly shared. I want to read quotes that two recent leaders of the Banking Committee sent to me--one Democrat, one Republican--so that we can hear in their own words how much Cameron has meant to the Banking Committee. Former chairman Sherrod Brown said: Cameron Ricker served 8 years on the Banking and Housing Committee, 6 of those years as chief clerk when I was Chairman and Ranking Member. The committee couldn't have asked for a more fair, hardworking, and forward thinking colleague during a time full of transitions and challenges. We were lucky to serve with him and wish Cameron and his family all the best in the next chapter. Then there is former ranking member Pat Toomey, who said: Cameron Ricker's departure from the Banking Committee is a huge loss for the Senate. For over 8 years, he's gracefully kept the trains running on time at the committee, which is no easy feat. And he's always done it with a smile. As Ranking Member, I observed firsthand Cameron's can-do spirit, [his] tireless work ethic, and [his] attention to detail. He was invaluable to me, my staff, and the entire committee. I thank him for his dedicated service in the Senate and wish him and his family all the best as he starts the next chapter of his professional career. I want to close with a story about Cameron that is close to my heart. Marking up legislation is one of the most important things any Senate committee does. What people may not know is how much work it is behind the scenes and especially how much work it is for Cameron and his team on Banking. By tradition, the Banking Committee requires that any member wishing to file an amendment to legislation being considered in a markup print out 50 copies of that amendment, sign each one, and drop the stack off to Cameron's office by 4 p.m. and not a second later lest Cameron nicely slam the door in your face. In a markup last Congress, before I was the ranking member, my office had an army of outstanding interns racing stacks of amendments over to Cameron as fast as the printer would shoot out the 50 pages so that we could get them in before 4 p.m., the deadline. Drop off a stack of amendments to Cameron; run back to my office; pick up the next batch; run back to Cameron--over and over and over again. It was the middle of the summer, and let's just be blunt: There was a lot of sweat. Cameron offered them kindness and encouragement the entire way, and they were deeply touched. When our interns ferried over the last batch just in the nick of time, they sheepishly asked Cameron for a photo. Cameron obliged, and that picture of sweaty people who were committed to getting their jobs done on behalf of the American people has been hanging in our office ever since. Work on the Banking Committee can be difficult, maybe even more than on other committees. Democrats' and Republicans' views on the issues under the committee's jurisdiction are often diametrically opposed. Things get heated, and sometimes they get personal. But Cameron is a demonstration of decency and exemplary nonpartisan public service. He has made the Banking Committee better, and I am grateful for his service to the committee and to our country. Cameron, we will miss you. Best wishes to you and your family on your next adventure. I yield the floor.

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I want to say thank you to the Senator from Oregon. I am grateful for your leadership in making sure that America understands exactly what the Republicans are up to and how they have just got one central mission; and that is, cut services for everybody else, cut all the things that ordinary folks depend on, so that they can deliver tax cuts for a handful of billionaires. It is obscene, and I appreciate how you point it out. I am here because ``co-Presidents'' Donald Trump and Elon Musk are taking a chain saw to our Federal Government, hurting families in Massachusetts and all across the country. You know, it is almost like they drew up a list of every program that families rely on, everything that is valuable to families, and then went through the list and said: Let's cut that. Let's cut that. Let's cut that. And why? To pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Thanks to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, Grandma will have to drive hours if she has a problem with her Social Security check and needs someone to help her straighten it out. Why? Because Trump and Musk are closing the Social Security office in her neighborhood, and while they are at it, make it even harder by shutting down the phone lines. Thanks to Trump and Musk, the afterschool program that gives kids a safe place to be after classes are over and before mom and dad get home from work, they want to cut those programs--the same with the aides that sit in classrooms with kids who need a little extra help learning how to read. Thanks to Trump and Musk, critical medical research came to a screeching halt--research that could help save lives and find cures for all diseases. Musk and Trump say that these cuts are about ``efficiency.'' That is a lie. Let's be clear. Trump and Musk are creating this sandstorm of chaos while they make these cuts because they want to distract us from what is really going on. They want to grease the skids for giant tax giveaways for their billionaire buddies and pay for it on the backs of working people. Now, today, Republicans in Congress are putting forward a proposal to deliver these tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected, and they are asking us to vote on it tonight. This bill--and Trump and Musk's cruel agenda--isn't good for Massachusetts, and it isn't good for our country. I am hearing from families at home in Massachusetts who are feeling the pain right now. Start with medical research. Medical research powers our economy in Massachusetts, and it is the reason we have had incredible breakthroughs like vaccines and cancer drugs that save lives. So how did Donald Trump and Elon Musk thank the doctors and the researchers who are doing this work? By canceling tens of millions of dollars in Federal funds that support medical research at Massachusetts hospitals, universities, and healthcare providers on everything from clinical trials to pandemic readiness. And they did it just weeks after Trump tried to cut the funding that keeps the lights on at our community health centers. So to anyone--anyone--who believes in science and believes in investing in cures for horrible diseases, now is the time to fight back. That is why I am filing amendments to the Republican bill to keep Federal support for Massachusetts medical research institutions and healthcare providers, including our community health centers. It is why I am filing another amendment to fight back against Trump and Musk's National Institutes of Health funding cuts, because we are a country that believes that we should invest in finding a cure for Alzheimer's, for diabetes, for cancer, and for other diseases. On education. Education levels the playing field. It gives every kid a fighting chance. It doesn't matter to Trump and Musk. Just this week, they slashed millions of dollars in funding for K-through-12 education in our Commonwealth, shut down a regional office in Boston that helps administer Head Start, and canceled millions of dollars in funding that was helping pay for kids' school lunches. To them, that was the cherry on top of Trump's Executive order to ``abolish'' the entire Department of Education--throwing schools all across this country into chaos. So to students, to parents, to teachers: Now is the time to fight back. We are fighting for an America where it is not just the kids of billionaires who get a good education but every kid in every community all across our Commonwealth. It is why I have an amendment to the Republican bill to protect education funding in Massachusetts and to protect services like Head Start that lift up our kids and make sure we are not leaving families hanging out to dry. I am fighting for our workers. Last week, Donald Trump signed an illegal Executive order attacking Federal unions and stripping workers of their rights. It is the definition of union-busting, and it is an attack on the workers who make sure that our food is safe to eat, who make sure that it is safe for us to fly in airplanes, who make sure that we take care of our veterans, who try to help us and protect us from viruses and diseases and so much more. So to workers in Massachusetts and all across America: Now is the time to fight back. We need to amend this Republican tax cut bill to affirm Federal workers' right to unionize and to collectively bargain because the labor movement is bigger than Donald Trump and his unelected billionaire ``co-President.'' We believe that every worker deserves the freedom to join a union and to negotiate for a fair contract. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are sawing through the programs that help working families breathe a little easier every day. They are doing it so that their billionaire buddies and giant corporations get trillions of dollars in tax giveaways, paid for on the backs of everyone else. So here is the big question: Are we going to hand our country over to ``co-Presidents'' Donald Trump and Elon Musk and a handful of other billionaires and make everyone else pay for it or are we going to be a country that says: No. We want to make these investments so that everyone in this country gets an opportunity, so that everybody at least has a chance to build something for themselves. That is the fight in front of us, and that is the fight I am fighting every single day for people in Massachusetts and all across this country. Our public schools are the foundation of our future, but Donald Trump and Elon Musk are trying to end public education as we know it. Trump fired one out of every two Federal education workers, and then the next day, the application for Federal financial aid for millions of students went down. Then he signed an Executive order to abolish the Department of Education. So he fires the workers at the Department of Education, the Federal financial aid for millions of students goes down, and then he just tries to end the entire Department of Education. States are already ringing the alarm bell that funding for little kids' school lunches is at risk. Kids with disabilities could lose their classroom aide. High schoolers who are already panicked enough about college are now even less sure about what their future looks like. My very first job was as a public school teacher for kids with special needs. I have seen with my own eyes what the Department of Education does for families. So this week, I launched a campaign to save our schools and to bring everyone into the fight for our public schools. One of the best ways to fight back on behalf of our schools is to share stories about what matters to us in this country. We know the power of telling stories and the power of organizing people and bringing them into this fight. So I asked people all across this country to share a story about a public school teacher who made a real difference in their lives. In the first 24 hours after I put out that call, we got a flood of messages from people in communities all across this country who just wanted a chance to tell a story about a teacher who made a difference in their lives. I want to read some of those into the Congressional Record here. I'm visually impaired. My high school teacher consultant defended my rights in the classroom. I was able to graduate and now am on my way to a Master of Public Policy at Georgetown because of him. That is how teachers make a difference. Another: Mrs. Butler, 4th grade, Bourne, Massachusetts. 1996. Had us bring in newspaper stories, taught us chess. She spoke to us like we were little adults and treated us with respect. Someone who remembers that many, many years later. Ms. J! I went to high school in Wisconsin and she was my AP Psychology teacher. She made me feel special and I found out later that I wasn't the only one. I bumped into her years later and she inspired me to go on to grad school. I didn't even know a masters in Higher Ed was a thing without her. Teachers making a difference not just in the classroom but years and years later. School was better than home. A teacher made sure I applied for college. I went. Graduated. Again, changing lives. My daughter was born with disabilities. She was told she was powerful. She has an MBA. Pretty impressive. I was a struggling student. One teacher always paid attention and helped me after school. My high school culinary arts teacher played a pivotal part in my life, which has led to a lucrative career. My son's music teacher went out of her way to create a spot in the school band for him to play his electric guitar. Now he is an accomplished musician who LOVES to play music. The ways in which teachers change our lives. My 5th grade teacher taught us to knit which allowed us kids with different learning needs to thrive! Someone who is grateful to this day. My husband works for a high school in Alabama and teaches teens coping skills. It has prevented suicides. Truly, truly the importance of what our teachers do. I was raised by a single parent who didn't go to college and with the expectation that due to cost, college would not be possible for me. One of my teachers repeatedly told me I was smart and capable and that I should go to college and then helped me apply. Now I have a PhD in Materials Chemistry and work at a defense lab. A reminder that teachers don't just contribute to the lives of their students, they contribute to the growth in the future of our entire Nation. My high school Spanish teacher inspired me to be brave and explore the world outside my small, rural town. Good for you. Here is one: I was bullied a lot as a kid. My 6th grade teacher finally got my bullies to leave me alone. There is something life-changing for a sixth grader. My 8th grade social studies teacher, Mrs. Gifford! Made me want to be a Social Studies teacher too! I was a struggling student. One teacher always paid attention and helped me after school. Had the public school system not worked for my child, she wouldn't be where she is today. My American Studies teacher's enthusiasm inspired my love of politics and history! Here is one from a teacher: I am a public school teacher for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. I became one because I had an [Individualized Education Program, or an] IEP. I continue to be inspired by Mrs. Baumler who showed me what project-based learning and collaborative education can be. My daughter's Kindergarten teacher seeks grants on her own time to help kids adjust. Mrs. Snyder is the only person who told me I could have a career in the arts. Mrs. Tollel, my sewing teacher. She was very kind to me at a moment in my life. We remember those moments. Both my kids have been in special education. One has a PhD. [The] other is in law school. I have my own story. Nobody in my family went to college. It was a second-grade teacher, Mrs. Lee, who scooped me up and whispered in my ear that I was special and that I could be a public school teacher. At that moment, my entire life changed. For all the rest of my growing-up years, whenever someone asked me anything about my future or what I was interested in, I would stand a little taller and say, ``I'm going to be a teacher.'' It guided my entire life. I am grateful to have an opportunity to say thank you to Mrs. Lee. The Federal Government has invested in our public schools and keeping class sizes smaller and making sure there are teacher aides for the kids who need extra help and in after-school programs so that working parents can know that their kids are in a safe place where they can do their homework or have some fun. Taking that away from our kids so that a handful of billionaires can scoop up some tax giveaways and be even richer is just plain ugly, and I will fight it with everything I have got. Next, I want to talk for a minute about Social Security. Right now, Donald Trump and his unelected, billionaire, ``co- President'' Elon Musk, are trying to rip away Social Security benefits from millions of Americans. You know, two people who do not have a clue about how important Social Security checks are and what they mean to families--two people who just don't understand that at all--are Elon Musk and Donald Trump. That is why they are willing to attack Social Security--so that they can pay for tax cuts for a handful of billionaires. Now, let's be clear: Social Security is not charity. It is not some giveaway. It is not something by which a few rich people hand out coins to old folks. Social Security is a program that people pay for all of their working lives. There are 73 million Americans who depend on Social Security, and they pay for those Social Security benefits. Out of every paycheck, they were putting money into the Social Security system on the sacred promise that, when the time came that they were no longer working, they would be able to count on Social Security for food, for a roof over their heads, and for some real financial security. Elon Musk and Donald Trump are breaking that sacred promise, and they are breaking it so that billionaires can get a tax break. Now, here is the thing: Elon Musk and Donald Trump know that they can't just go in and reduce Social Security benefits. They would like to. Remember, Elon Musk is the guy who called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. He is the guy who has said: Look, you know, we are going to get this done. We need to cut Social Security. The problem is, Elon Musk didn't establish Social Security. The problem is, Donald Trump didn't establish Social Security. No. It was Congress that passed the laws that created Social Security, and it is Congress and only Congress that can cut those Social Security benefits. So you would think Elon Musk and Donald Trump--I mean, shoot. Republicans are in the majority right here in the Senate and over in the House of Representatives. If they really want to cut Social Security, then do it out in the open and introduce a bill. Have your Republican buddies introduce a bill to cut Social Security benefits, and let's see where that goes. But, no, they know that cuts to Social Security are deeply unpopular, deeply unpopular. They know that people who answer to the voters are very hesitant to do that. So what have they figured out? A backdoor way to come in and cut Social Security. And how do they do that? They just make it harder and harder and harder to get the Social Security benefits that people have paid for year after year after year; make it harder to correct an error; make it harder to apply; make it harder to get any help if your check doesn't arrive. All of that has the effect, just a little over time, of cutting more and more people out of the system, fewer and fewer people who will get what they paid for. How do they do that? Well, they shut down the phone system. So, if you have got a problem and you try to call to get it straightened out, no. Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to just shut that down so that that is not available. They are closing Social Security offices. So, instead of being able to go to the office near your home, you may have to drive an hour or 2 hours or 3 hours to get to a Social Security office. What if, in your sixties, in your seventies, in your eighties, in your nineties, you are not able to drive, and you can't get to that office? Well, you either give up or you find somebody who will be able to take you there. But even after you get there, you can't get the problem solved because there aren't enough people. We are already hearing about lines that are 50 people long and that it takes 4 and 5 hours to make your way through a line, which is a pretty tough burden on many of our seniors. If the Social Security office closes before you can actually get to the front of the line, too bad. See if you can get a ride and come back another day. So what will that mean? Some people won't start their benefits when they are legally entitled to do it. Some people won't get problems corrected. Some will just give up without getting what they are legally entitled to, which is another way to cut Social Security benefits and cut them and cut them. Again, why do that? Why impose that kind of misery on people around this country? Only so that Elon Musk and Donald Trump can pay for tax giveaways to a handful of billionaires and billionaire corporations. This is fundamentally wrong. We need to get our priorities straight. We need to honor our sacred promises under Social Security, and we need to tell those billionaires and billionaire corporations they can pay their fair share to make this country work. That is the fight that we are having on the floor of the Senate today, and that is the fight between Republicans and Democrats right now in Washington. I know which side I stand on, and I see which side the Republicans stand on. This is, ultimately, what our entire debate is about right now, and that is, Who does this government work for? Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their Republican enablers here in the U.S. Senate are making that clear through their budget. If you want to understand somebody's values, take a look at their budget, and that is true for the budget of the United States of America. Because Republicans are in the majority, they are the ones who put the budget forward, and that is what we are debating today. It is a budget that is about tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and the pricetag for these tax cuts keeps going up because instead of being embarrassed about the cuts to Social Security, instead of being embarrassed about the cuts to medical research, instead of being embarrassed about the cuts to public education, Republicans are in the business now of doubling down and doubling down again. The first version of this budget that they put out would have given away about $4.7 trillion--an amazing amount of money that would have been soaked up mostly by millionaires, billionaires, and giant corporations. Then, next round, the price went to $5 trillion. As of this morning, the best independent estimates of the costs of the Republican plan are $7 trillion in giveaways, paid for by our public school kids, paid for by our seniors who need healthcare, paid for by people who rely on Social Security, paid for by cutting medical research, paid for by our Veterans Health Administration, paid for off the backs of the work that is done for families all across this country. This is a moment in American history when it is put in front of us in the starkest terms: Who do you think government should work for? The Republicans, with their budget, have made clear: They think government should work even better for a handful of billionaires and billionaire corporations. When they worry about the costs, they say: We know how we can fix the cost problem. We will just cut the funding that goes to public education. We will just cut the funding that goes to medical research. We will just cut the funding that goes to the Veterans Health Administration, which helps our vets. We will cut the funding that Americans rely on all across this country. That is where we are right now, and Democrats are fighting back. Look, we don't have the votes. I get that. Democrats only have 47 in the Senate--Democrats plus Independents. Republicans have the majority of votes. But what we have are people across this country who are saying: That is not what I want. That is not what I voted for. I don't want to see our country do giant tax giveaways for billionaires. I want to see our country continue to support public education. I want to see our country continue to invest in medical research. In fact, a lot of people around this country think we ought to be doing more of that. Let's put more investments in for Alzheimer's, for example. We are getting closer and closer to a cure or at least to a treatment. If we don't find that treatment, we are going to be spending billions more down the line to take care of people who have fallen prey to the ravages of Alzheimer's. Let's invest in research now. It saves a lot of families a lot of heartache. Frankly, it saves us a lot of money--but not Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the Republicans. They say: No. Let's just cut those research dollars in half. If that means ending clinical trial programs, they don't care. It is not their problem. They are doing just fine. Cut those programs. It is bad for our families, and it is bad for our economy, but Trump, Musk, and the Republicans basically just don't care. It is the same kind of problem with public education. You know, I love Save Our Schools, which we launched just a little over a day ago. The stories have flooded in from people of all ages, people from all different parts of the country, people with all different kinds of jobs right now, who say: Oh, yes, I remember that teacher. I remember my second grade teacher who changed my life. I remember that sixth grade teacher who taught me how to deal with the bullies. I remember the high school teacher who told me I really could do something more and encouraged me along. Parents who wrote in said they had children with real challenges, and it was a public school teacher who stepped up and helped move them forward. We focus on the teachers here, but it is those in the whole group that have committed their lives to our public education system. It is the busdriver. It is the folks who work in the cafeteria. It is the people who order the supplies to keep it all going, and they all do it because they believe in investing in our future. They believe in an America that we build, an America that gives every kid a fighting chance. Now, I started out as a public school teacher with kids who had special needs. I really saw firsthand what it means to believe in the worth of every child and to invest in those children so that every child can do his or her best so that children have an opportunity to grow, to learn, to live independently. All of that is the commitment of our public schools and our public school educators. Everybody is a part of that team because they believe in our kids and believe that this is how we build a future. No nation builds a great future by shortchanging its children. That has been a core part of our American values for a long, long time. Now Donald Trump and Elon Musk come along with a chain saw and say: We are just going to lop those programs off. We are just going to cut them off. They already tried to fire half of all the people who work at the Department of Education and then decided that wasn't enough, so they turned around and said: Let's just shut the whole Department of Education down. It is already having an impact on people, and the schools are scrambling to figure out what their budgets will look like. Whom are they going to lay off? Class sizes are likely to get bigger. That hurts every one of our kids. As to the kids with special needs who need aides sitting beside them, they are likely to have to go away. They can't do that work anymore. It is the whole notion as a nation that we care more about a handful of billionaires getting--listen to those numbers again--$7 trillion in tax giveaways from the Republicans while we just starve or completely eliminate the programs to support public schools all across this country. Budgets are our values, and the values of Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the Republicans that are reflected in this budget-- billionaires over our kids--are the wrong values. Those are not America's values, and now is the time to fight back. It is a hard time right now. I understand that it feels like we are in a sandstorm, that there is something every single day. We have new tariffs announced yesterday that make no sense at all; the stock market is plunging; renaming the Gulf of Mexico; invading Greenland. There is so, so much going on. But understand this: There really is direction here, and that is what is happening right now between Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Republicans in the U.S. Senate. That is why all this noise and swirl and speculation are going on very quietly--try to tiptoe into the U.S. Senate and offer $7 trillion in tax giveaways, mostly to folks like Elon Musk and his fellow billionaires; offer them all the money and then tell our schoolkids, tell our seniors, tell everyone else in America: You have to pay for it because the billionaires are the special people in this country. They are the ones who are catered to here in the U.S. Senate. Well, I get it. That is what Trump wants. That is what Musk wants. That is evidently what the Republicans in the Senate want. It is not what Democrats want. We are fighting back. We believe that billionaires and billionaire corporations ought to pay their fair share. They ought to pay taxes. And we ought to use some of that money to invest in medical research, to invest in our public schools, to invest in expanding Social Security, to invest in the Department of Veterans Affairs so that we are honoring our promises to our vets. This is about who the government works for. Trump, Musk, and the Republicans want a government that works even better for billionaires. Democrats are fighting for a government that works better for everyone else. I yield the floor.

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 1647 and ask that it be reported by number.

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, Trump and the Republicans can tell lies about what they are doing, but votes don't lie. Republicans just voted to say that there is no billionaire rich enough that they don't need a new tax break. So what about giant corporations? The year after Trump's last tax giveaway, Amazon paid zero dollars in taxes. The typical Boston public school teacher paid about $10,000. Can we agree that no billionaire corporation--like Amazon, Tesla, or Exxon--that makes over $1 billion a year in profits should get another tax handout? Yes or no? I yield, and I reserve the remainder of my time.

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, Exxon paid nothing. A Boston public school teacher paid $10,000 after those tax cuts. I will take that as a no. I am ready for a vote, and I will accept a voice vote. Vote on Amendment No. 1647

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?

Ms. WARREN. I am very grateful to the Senator from New Jersey for coming to the floor for such an extended period of time to give voice to all of those around this country whose voices evidently are not heard by the Republicans in the U.S. Congress. I wanted to ask a question for the 73 million people who are beneficiaries of the Social Security System and for their families--for the people whose grandmas are getting Social Security, for the people whose cousins or whose dads died who were getting Social Security benefits, about what is happening right now between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, our current co-Presidents, and what they are trying to do to the Social Security System. So I start this question with just a basic observation. Social Security is not charity. It is not something we give away to those who are less fortunate and we do this out of the goodness of our hearts. Social Security is a contract that people who work in America pay into; it is the system for all of their working lives. When the time comes that they retire or something happens to them and they are not able to do that work, they can count on the Social Security System and the payments they are legally entitled to. I want to underscore here ``legally.'' Now, if America wanted to change that contract, the place they have to go is right here, to Congress.

Ms. WARREN. They have to come to the U.S. Senate or they have to go to the U.S. House of Representatives, and they have to say: We actually want to change benefits for Social Security recipients. By the way, that has happened dozens and dozens of times in our history, up through the late 1980s, when we made adjustments in the Social Security benefits--for example, for the fact that people lived longer, for the fact that people worked longer, and so we made minor adjustments in the system. We also made adjustments to make sure that there were cost-of-living changes in how much Social Security would pay out. So anyone who wants to change the benefits that people are legally entitled to has to come here to Congress and make that happen. But it appears that Elon Musk and Donald Trump have tried to figure out an end run, and the end run is to say: OK. We can't directly change benefits, but what we can do is we can effectively cut off benefits. Now, how can they do that? Well, one way is to fire all the people who help people get their Social Security benefits. Think of it this way: There is someone who wants to collect Social Security. Let's just say, at age 66, they decide, ``I am ready. It is time for me to retire. I can't do this anymore. I want to collect my Social Security benefits,'' and they try to fill out the form. It turns out it gets rejected. There is a number off somewhere in the system. Somebody has gotten confusion on what the name is or where somebody worked or an employer from decades back failed to fill out the right form, so now there is a problem in the system. So what does a person do? Well, first, they might try calling, but if you fired the people who answer the phones, that is not going to work. OK. So what is the next thing you do? You go to your local Social Security office. Oh, but if they close the Social Security office near you, that is not going to work. So what do you do? You go to the Social Security office that you can find that is 2 hours away, 3 hours away, 4 hours away. You finally get through to that Social Security office, and when you get there, if they have fired most of the people, you may encounter what? Two people working the desk to help straighten out problems and a line that is 50 people long. By the way, these come from real stories. People are telling us what is happening out there. So by the time the day is over, our example here hasn't even made it to the front of the line. So he doesn't get the question answered. He doesn't get the problem resolved. He has to go back home again and has to find somebody who can maybe take him to the Social Security office that is hours away and start this process over and over and over. If this person--let's just say for example it takes 3 months to get this problem ultimately resolved by the Social Security Administration. They don't get the money. That money is lost. It just simply is gone. They do not get the money they are legally entitled to, and they have no right to go back and collect it, even pointing out that it was Social Security's error. So the failure to correct these errors or to give people an opportunity to correct these errors is effectively the same as having cut their benefits. When you do that for 1 percent of the people, you drive up your error rate. When you do that for 5 percent of the people or when you do that for 10 percent of the folks who are getting Social Security--and, man, those cuts really start to add up--they really start to add up for the people whose benefits are cut. They really start to add up for Donald Trump and for Elon Musk. Let's look at another possibility here, and that is just simply delay. Checks don't go out on time. When checks don't go out on time, then the promise that people relied on that that check would come on the 3rd of the month is what they count on for rent. That is what they count on to put groceries on the table. That is what they count on to support themselves. It is gone. So maybe he will get the check next month. Another billionaire Republican, Howard Lutnick, said: Don't worry about it. His mother-in-law would simply count on the fact that they would straighten the problem out, and maybe next month, she would get her payment. I suppose if your son- in-law is a billionaire, you can count on the fact that somebody will make sure your rent gets covered and groceries are on the table, but for the 70 million Americans who rely on that check coming in every month, it is not so clear what you are going to do. So what do you do? Do you borrow money to make rent? Do you call on relatives if you have them? Whom do you go to to be able to make it to the end of this month and, if the problem persists, to the next month and the next month? Where do you go? That is, in my view, as much a benefit cut as Congress's having voted to say: We are just going to give a 10-percent across-the-board cut to everyone who receives Social Security benefits. There are a lot of ways to cut benefits, and breaking your promise to 73 million Americans is a benefit cut. It is not a legal benefit cut, but it is an effective benefit cut. I admire the Senator from New Jersey for being here today to speak out for those Americans who face these kinds of cuts and have no recourse. I admire him for standing up and saying to the Republicans who won't go do townhalls and who won't go out and meet with these people and listen to them: Listen to their concerns. Listen to their fears. Listen to their stories about what happens as thousands and thousands more Social Security employees are fired. Correcting problems and straightening out your benefits gets harder and more out of reach for more and more Americans. That is what we face right now. So the question that I want to pose to the Senator from New Jersey is this: At a time when Donald Trump and Elon Musk are looking for an indirect way to cut Social Security benefits--and let's just pause here, if I can, to say, Why?

Ms. WARREN. Why go out of your way to cut Social Security benefits? Come on now. There are 73 million Americans who rely on this. This has been the backbone of America's promise to its own people that you did the work, you put in the money, and now you are entitled to the benefit on the other side. Why are they doing this? Because they want to reduce the amount of money that is available for Social Security and instead take that money over so that they can advance tax cuts for billionaires and billionaire corporations. They are just trying to grease the skids here for the billionaires to get even richer and ask the 73 million Americans who rely on Social Security to pay for it out of their own hides. So the question I have for the Senator from New Jersey is, When Elon Musk and Donald Trump are determined to try to use a backdoor way to cut Social Security benefits, A, are they acting legally, and B, how do we put a stop to this? (Mr. SHEEHY assumed the Chair.)

Ms. WARREN. That is true.

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Connecticut for his work today in defending the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and highlighting again the importance of this work from CFPB to help level the playing field just a little between the billionaire banks and our hard-working servicemembers and families that are living paycheck to paycheck. I also want to thank Senator Booker for coming here and talking today about how people from New Jersey have been directly affected by overdraft fee abuses and appreciate his work on this. President Trump and Republicans promised the Americans that they would lower their cost of living. Instead, they are now linking arms with some of the biggest banks in the country to impose billions of dollars in fees on working families. Today, Republicans are voting to overturn a CFPB rule that prevents big banks like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo from saddling customers with hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees when a customer overdraws a checking account by only a few dollars. Let's be clear: This rule covers only the biggest banks, those with more than $10 billion in assets. Community banks are completely exempt from this. All this rule does is ensure that overdraft fees are reasonable. Under the rule, banks are allowed to recoup all of their costs and all of their losses associated with providing overdraft. That is, typically, under $5, which is why the CFPB's rule generally caps overdraft fees at $5. But if the bank can show its costs are higher, then they charge the full amount of their actual costs and losses. What the banks cannot do is play a game of gotcha in which the bank manipulates the customer's account to hit the customers with hundreds of dollars in overdraft charges. Today, a handful of giant banks are charging about $35 per bounced payment, squeezing families for far more than what it typically costs to offer this overdraft. And consumers carrying the vast majority of these fees are disproportionately low-income Americans, with the typical customer who gets caught with overdraft fees ending up paying more than $400 a year. Now, $400 can be the cost of a mortgage payment or rent for someone with a modest income; $400 can be the difference between their kid's medication or just going without; $400 for some families can be several weeks' worth of groceries. This money matters to millions of families. Altogether, the CFPB rule saves American families up to $5 billion a year. Republicans claim they care about lowering costs, but overturning this rule will make big banks richer and hard-working families poorer. The Republicans are deeply sympathetic--deeply sympathetic--to giant banks. They worry about poor little Wells Fargo. They shed a tear for JPMorgan's extra billion dollars in profits that they make from overdraft fees on top of $27 billion they make in their other banking services. Yes, the Republicans worry about those giant banks and that $5 billion that they would have to forgo if they could only charge $5 on an overdraft fee. Look, banks can survive with limits on overdraft fees. How do we know that? Because they are already doing it. In fact, many banks, including Capital One and Citibank, have eliminated overdraft fees entirely, and they are still making billions of dollars in profits. No, these fees are about kicking hard-working Americans when they are down. My constituent April from Massachusetts shared this: During the years of my life when money was always tight, nothing was more stressful than overdrafting my account by $1 only to lose $35 due to overdraft. More than once, that additional $35 loss tangled up my budget for multiple paychecks or made the difference between getting groceries or not. Joan, also from Massachusetts, talked about how insidious these fees can be. Several times when money was tight, I refilled my account a bit too late. I was charged an overdraft fee that then itself caused the next check to bounce, causing another fee. On top of that, there were daily fees because overdraft charges kept me behind even as I added money to the account. To make matters even worse: These abusive, anti-consumer practices often target servicemembers and military families. Last year, the CFPB ordered Navy Federal Credit Union to refund $80 million in illegal surprise overdraft fees, which they had charged servicemembers, even when the servicemembers' accounts showed enough money to cover the transactions. Cracking down on abusive overdraft practices, particularly when they harm servicemembers, has bipartisan support. A year ago, my then- colleague JD Vance and I launched an investigation into another credit union that had preyed on servicemembers with extortionate overdraft fees. I hope to see the same bipartisan concern now and support for the CFPB rule that puts a stop to this squeeze on military families. Look, finally, I just want to mention: I know that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and on this side of the aisle are concerned about debanking. Now debanking is something that happens when a bank closes someone's account without any real explanation. Overdraft practices have been the reason for tens of millions of account closures, shutting out far too many Americans from our banking system. So for everyone who has concerns about debanking, consider that the CFPB rule eliminates one of the main excuses that banks have used for debanking their customers. Look, our job is to lower costs for American families, not boost profits for giant banks. A vote against today's CRA is a vote to protect those families and save them $5 billion a year. I urge my colleagues to vote no. I yield the floor.

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, Donald Trump and ``Copresident'' Elon Musk are shutting down the Federal Government one piece at a time: shutting down the Agency that stops banks and payday lenders from cheating working people; shutting down children's cancer research; shutting down key parts of the Department of Transportation, the Agency responsible for keeping people safe when they are flying airplanes; even shutting down parts of the Social Security Administration. Now Republicans in Congress are laying out their blueprint to shut down the entire Federal Government. A budget is a reflection of our values, and this proposal makes clear where the Republicans' values lie. After months of bipartisan talks, they are walking away from the negotiating table and offering a nonstarter House bill that forces us to the brink of a full government shutdown. Who would be hurt the most? Working people. Billionaires win; families lose. Republicans' values are clear. Their shutdown bill does two terrible things. First, it wipes out the guardrails that Congress wrote for how to spend taxpayer money. That means that ``Copresidents'' Trump and Musk can hold everyone under their magic spell. They can spend taxpayer money or they can shut off taxpayer money exactly how they want. Perhaps Trump and Musk want to shovel $75 million of ALS treatment funding to anti-vaccine research instead. That would be OK under the Republican deal--or maybe they want to shift $300 million or more from the FAA's telecommunications funding bucket toward contracts to Elon Musk's Starlink. The budget the Republicans have sent over would permit that as well. And if Trump and Musk decide to fire another 25,000 Americans or kick a million old people out of nursing homes, this package from House Republicans would say: Sure. In addition to giving ``Copresidents'' Trump and Musk the power to spend taxpayer money wherever they want, House Republicans also propose general cuts--cuts from programs that help families put food on the table, afford childcare, and keep our communities safe; cuts from local communities for projects like improving hospitals, teaching facilities, and childcare centers--dollars that the House and the Senate had already agreed to. But the House Republican package isn't just about cutting out veterans and old people. No. It is also about spending more money. Republican House Members want to pour an extra $6 billion over the next 6 months--yes, that is $1 billion a month--directly to the Pentagon, with no explanation and no justification of why this money is needed. Nope. There are cuts everywhere else in government, but there is a funding increase for the one government Agency that has never, never passed an audit. That Agency, the Department of Defense, gets $1 billion a month. House Republicans want to give 6 billion more dollars to make sure that defense contractors continue to get their fat paychecks. Look, Republicans in Congress don't care whether the government shuts down because they don't care about hurting working families. All they care about is getting back to jamming through their true agenda--$4.6 trillion worth of tax handouts for millionaires, billionaires, and giant corporations, paid for by gutting healthcare for millions of people. Donald Trump looked Americans in the eye and said he would ``lower costs on day one.'' Those were his words. And now we are 7 weeks in, and he has done the exact opposite. He is raising costs for families. More people are losing their jobs--sky-high childcare, housing, and food costs. And it is open season right now for banks and credit card companies and shady student loan outfits to scam the American people. The Republican shutdown playbook is dangerous, and it will hurt working families. Democrats are right to oppose the House bill, and people all across this country are right to expect us to stand up and fight back. I yield the floor.

Ms. WARREN

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

Ms. WARREN

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

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, today's vote on this Congressional Review Act resolution could not be more straightforward: Vote yes if you want more Americans to get scammed. Vote no if you don't. Vote yes if you want Elon Musk to have a get-out-of-jail-free card when he scams people on xMoney. Vote no if you don't. Three-quarters of Americans use digital payment platforms like Venmo and Cash App, and reports of scams on those sites have skyrocketed. So CFPB investigated and then stepped in with a new rule to help prevent this fraud. The CFPB's rule also helps protect consumer privacy, and it combats deep banking on these platforms. Now, ask any American how much they like getting scammed and whether they think there should be stronger protections against it. Listen to how angry people get over these scams. Look, nobody wants to be scammed, and no one wants fewer protections against getting scammed. In fact, the only people who want weaker rules against scamming are the guys who run the scams, and that may explain why Elon Musk is hoping that the Senate kills this new rule today because Elon's new xMoney digital payment platform would be subject to CFPB review. Elon wants to take the cop off the beat. He wants what amounts to a ``get out of jail free for Elon'' card, and that is what the vote today would actually give him. Look, I think it is pretty clear what Elon's play is here. He wasn't very subtle when he tweeted ``CFPB RIP.'' The next thing you know, his DOGE team then locks the CFPB staff out of their own building. That was act one. Now is act two: He wants Congress to block this CFPB rule. Now, what will Elon get out of it if the rule is blocked? Well, he will get a clear runway for his payment app without having to worry about whether there is a cop on the financial beat who would catch him if he rips off customers who use his new app. But this is really a three-part play, not just a two part play. Act one was closing down the CFPB so that the financial cops were shut out, at least for a while. Act two is the part we see now, with Elon rolling back a rule that, when cops are back on the beat, a financial cop could use that rule to go after Elon if he breaks the law. Act three comes next week, when Republicans try to move forward with legislation that will clear the decks for Elon to issue xMoney as his own stablecoin, without any guardrails to protect consumers, to protect national security, or to protect the financial stability of our economy. Put simply, Republicans are setting the stage for the richest man in the world to issue his own currency that competes with the U.S. dollar. Act one protected all the scammers. Act two protects the cash app scammers, in particular. And act three, as currently drafted, will roll out the red carpet for Elon and Jeff and Mark and maybe a few other Big Tech billionaires to seize control of our money and payments, which underpins the entire economy. So the question is, Will Congress go along? Will Congress protect Americans from getting cheated out of their money? Or will Congress give Elon Musk a get-out-of-jail-free card so he can scam whoever he wants to scam and know that the CFPB can't touch him? Look, this may feel like just one more vote on a busy day, but rewarding Elon Musk and a handful of billionaires will mean real cons go forward in this country. I urge my colleagues to vote no. I yield the floor.

Ms. WARREN

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

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, today's vote to proceed on this Congressional Review Act resolution should be renamed the ``Elon Musk `Get Out of Jail Free' Card.'' This resolution gives Elon Musk the ability to launch his xMoney site without worrying about breaking the law and getting caught. Of course, this is also a ``get out of jail free'' card for others like, Apple Pay and Google Pay and other online platforms that handle people's money, and there is a good reason to oppose it. This bill is another example of how Republicans in Congress, in conjunction with President Trump and Elon Musk in the White House, are sticking it to families and middle-class consumers all over America and declaring it open season for fraudsters. In fact, just a few hours ago, Trump and Elon dropped the Agency's lawsuit against Zelle and the big banks that own Zelle for failing to protect consumers from being scammed out of nearly $1 billion on their app. Now Republicans are trying to roll back the CFPB's ability to protect Americans from getting scammed on payment apps like Venmo and Cash App, and they are making it easier for unelected billionaire Elon Musk to cheat American consumers and line his own pockets. So here is the back story: Musk bought Twitter, lost buckets of money, then decided he could recover and make more money by setting up a new financial services arm called xMoney. Now, in ordinary times, he could do that, but the CFPB would be responsible for enforcing consumer financial laws for xMoney. It would also be authorized to examine the books and records to prevent illegal practices and make sure that consumers are getting a fair shake. But co-President Musk doesn't want that, and Donald Trump and Senate Republicans are willing to do Elon's bidding, and that is what brings us here today. They want to roll back a rule called the larger participant rule that was put in place to protect consumers from abuses on these apps and to ensure that these apps are being monitored for following the law, just like banks get monitored for doing the same kinds of things. The rules protect consumers' privacy when they use digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay. The rules also help companies get their money back when they get defrauded on PayPal or Cash App or Venmo. Frankly, the rule is great for consumers. It cracks down on tens of millions of dollars of fraud--fraud that has surged in recent years. It protects consumers' privacy, ensuring that apps are not taking your private spending data and selling it to anybody who comes along. It helps prevent debanking, a problem that my colleagues on the opposite side of the aisle have spent a lot of time talking about. The CFPB rule protects consumers' peer-to-peer accounts from being closed or frozen without notice or justification. It prevents these apps from unfairly depriving consumers of funds that they need to be able to buy stuff. Three-quarters of all Americans have used these peer-to-peer apps, and millions of Americans have had the sad experience of getting ripped off on peer-to-peer payments apps like Venmo and Cash App and PayPal. Now, if you think that you are dealing with a legitimate person on the other side and then the next thing you know your money is gone and you are left without any recourse, that is wrong, and it is even worse if it happens because a payment app isn't meeting its basic responsibilities of preventing fraud on its own platform. The CFPB rule helps to protect those millions of Americans who use payment apps, making sure that both their personal data and their money are safe. This is a rule that is good for consumers, but it is not good for billionaires, who have figured out how to make money by defrauding those consumers. It is a very familiar story now. President Trump and the Republicans are on the side of the billionaires. They are acting to help out their pals Elon and Jeff and Mark. Hard-working people who just want their payment apps to work and who don't want to get cheated as part of the deal are the ones who will lose. Never mind that this is the Agency that works so hard for the little guy. Never mind that the CFPB has returned more than $21 billion directly to American consumers who were cheated. Never mind that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are trying to kill this rule, and they are trying to kill the entire Agency. Musk and Republicans in Congress are moving quickly to take the financial cop off the beat. They are hoping that people across this country won't notice or that people are so distracted and overwhelmed by everything else that is going on that they won't try to stop them. But your eyes are not fooling you. It is happening in plain sight. Ahead of Donald Trump's speech tonight at the Capitol, Republicans are voting to hurt millions of American consumers. Why? Just to protect Elon Musk's business ventures from a financial cop on the beat who would make sure that he follows the law. I hope the American public is paying attention tonight. I hope my Republican colleagues are paying attention here in the Senate as well. It is not too late for them to reconsider this vote. Make no mistake, Elon Musk locked the CFPB's staff out of the building to protect his own payment app boondoggle, and now he wants Congress to block this rule to legalize his boondoggle. And, next week, Republicans intend to mark up legislation that would clear the decks for Elon to issue xMoney as his own stablecoin without guardrails to protect consumers, to protect national security, or to protect the financial stability of our entire country. The line between right and wrong is clear. On one side, Senate Democrats are standing up for Americans who just don't want to get cheated when they use a financial app, and on the other side, we have got con men, rip-off artists, Elon Musk, and Big Tech billionaires. Which side will our Senate Republicans choose? I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Colorado for your energetic leadership in this area. I am very grateful for your voice on this and for the work you do for the people of the country and, also, for everybody around the world. We have got to deal with this problem; so, thank you. I rise today in support of Senator Kaine and Senator Heinrich's resolution to terminate Donald Trump's Executive order declaring a national energy emergency. I just want to start by being clear about what is going on here. Donald Trump promised to gut our environmental laws if Big Oil CEOs gave him a billion dollars for his campaign. He was quite open about this. How could he do that? Well, he has figured it out. He declared an emergency that he has focused on that emergency will give him a chance to pay those oil executives CEOs back. Now, this order is not a serious attempt at lowering anyone's energy costs. And you know how I know this? Because a true strategy to lower people's costs would include clean energy sources like wind and solar, which this order deliberately excludes. So what does this Executive order do? It lets big oil and gas companies off the hook on following our environmental laws and regulations. And those are the rules that make sure that you have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. Why would Donald Trump do this? It is simple. He does not care about lowering anyone's costs or helping create good jobs. All he cares about is his rich as hell--those were his words--his rich as hell donors and helping them make more money. Let's be clear. Energy prices are too high. Americans are feeling those high prices. Energy prices have been on the rise for the past decade. And last year, one-third of Americans had to cut back on necessary spending in order to pay their energy bills. Americans are looking for real solutions. And that is why Democrats got to work and passed the biggest climate package in the history of the world to unleash American innovation and to support a clean energy future. Now, America is producing more energy than ever before, including through offshore wind projects off the coast of Massachusetts, and we are creating good jobs while we are doing it. Clean energy jobs are now over 40 percent of all the energy jobs in the United States. They are growing twice as fast as other industries, but Donald Trump is now trying to unravel all of that progress. Why? In order to please his big oil and gas donors. And this sham will have real consequences for our communities-- raising energy costs and cutting American jobs. Look no further than Somerset, MA, to see what is happening. At Brayton Point in Somerset, there is an old coal-fired powerplant that closed down years and years ago. But a private company called Prysmian had decided that they want to turn part of this plant into a factory to build undersea cables to support American offshore wind farms. They want to build the cables so we can bring that power in and use it, that clean power in and use it here in the United States. That project would be transformative for Somerset. It would create about 250 to 300 good manufacturing jobs and would deliver more than $10 million in annual tax revenues. That is a big deal for a small town. So for the last few years, local officials and our Massachusetts Federal delegation has been working hard with the Federal Government to help turn that idea into a reality. But last month, the company suddenly announced they are ending the project. No more jobs, no more tax revenue. And why? Because of Donald Trump's attacks on clean energy. Somerset's experience is just one of the experiences felt by many communities all around this country. Yes, Somerset will bounce back. But Donald Trump is cutting jobs and raising energy costs on communities all across this country just to please his oil and gas donors. And it is communities like Somerset that are paying the price for that. Make no mistake: We will fight back, that is why Democrats are here today. That fight starts with ending this sham of an Executive order. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on Senator Kaine and Senator Heinrich's resolution. I yield the floor.

Ms. WARREN

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 734 and ask that it be reported by number.

Ms. WARREN. As we begin the budget process, Democrats are asking Republicans questions about the basic principles of what they are planning to do. The first question is whether there is anyone who is so rich that Republicans think they don't need a tax giveaway. My amendment says that anyone who earns more than $10 million a year won't get a tax cut in the new Republican budget, and I want to know if Republicans will agree to that. I urge everyone, Democrat or Republican, to say yes. I yield the floor.

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, how much time do I have?