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Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, over the last few days, the American people have felt the painful consequences of Trump's disastrous funding freeze.

Seniors who count on Meals on Wheels have wondered whether they would have dinner this week. Head Start teachers in red States and blue States have panicked over whether they would have the funds needed to keep their doors open and take care of kids. Disaster relief for people who have endured the unimaginable and have been knocked off their feet was thrown into jeopardy. Grant programs to help firefighters do their jobs, to combat the fentanyl crisis, to get families healthcare--and so much more--have been, in an instant, at risk of evaporating into thin air.

I heard from a Tribe in my State concerned they would have to lay off hundreds of staff providing essential services for the Tribe. That could mean putting everything from providing healthcare to housing in jeopardy because of the President's freeze.

A shelter for homeless youth in my State still--still--can't access its HUD funding and is staring down a $3 million deficit, forcing them to hold an emergency board meeting to figure out what, if anything, they can now do.

Hospitals in my State are worried that programs which are appropriately focused on someone's gender or race are in jeopardy, like how pulse oximeters don't work as well as on dark skin, so they need other pathways to be found.

The chaos and the confusion, the needless stress and distraction are the result of having a President who is more focused on the billionaires who now fill his administration than on the plight of regular people all over this country. But yesterday, because the American people spoke up loud and clear, Donald Trump retreated from his devastating blanket funding freeze.

However, make no mistake, there is still far too much chaos on the ground, and Trump is still blocking billions of dollars for communities across the country--in every one of our States--through these Executive orders. We are talking about critical funding to rebuild our roads and bridges, resources that are already creating thousands of good-paying, new clean energy jobs in every State of this country, and critical global investments that help keep America safe.

This is so completely unacceptable. So, today, I am calling on President Trump to take four simple, commonsense steps.

First of all, he needs to ensure that every last dollar--down to the last penny--that was caught up in this disastrous blanket funding freeze gets out the door.

Secondly, he needs to rescind his Executive orders that are still, at this very moment, ripping funding away from American families and communities.

Third, he needs to withdraw Russell Vought's nomination to oversee our Nation's budget. It is clear that the person who masterminded so much of this chaos doesn't belong anywhere near the Office of Management and Budget.

Finally, President Trump needs to abandon, once and for all, his illegal scheme to skirt around our laws and block funding that American workers and families are counting on.

I am not asking for a lot here: Ensure every dollar held up by this illegal freeze is restored; stop the ongoing effort to block funding; withdraw the mastermind of this chaos; and simply follow the law.

The American people deserve better than the catastrophe we have witnessed this week. They deserve to know that the investments Trump is currently holding up--to rebuild the highway they drive to work on or to lower their energy costs or so much more--will make it out the door.

If the President is so intent on opposing funding for infrastructure projects and good-paying American jobs, he needs to sit down at the negotiating table and make his case to Congress. I will not let the President rip up the Constitution or rip money away from our communities.

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