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Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues in urging all of our colleagues to vote against Russ Vought's nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

The Senate should not vote to confirm as the head of OMB or to any important role, for that matter, someone who does not respect the constitutional authority of the Senate and thus the people we represent.

We should not entrust someone to implement our laws who made clear time and again through his past actions in this same role during President Trump's first term, through his work as the head architect of Project 2025, and through his own words in hearings and meetings that he will not follow the laws and that he will not send our communities the funding we all work together to pass.

Why on Earth would any one of us confirm someone whose entire game plan is to break the law and then dare the world to stop him? That is it. That is how Russ Vought plans to run the OMB. It is not a secret. It is a very public fact. He has put this on the record time and again.

Just look at what happened last time Russ Vought served as Director of the OMB. He tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to hold up security assistance to Ukraine and override the spending decisions of Congress. And he has not given up on that idea. He has written about it many, many times in the years since.

As a chief architect of Project 2025, Vought doubled down on lawlessness and charted a blatantly unconstitutional plan for the President to ignore the will of Congress, which led him to being named in the first Articles of Impeachment against President Trump.

He mapped out a lawless path that, as I will detail shortly, President Trump is already barreling down at full speed.

But if you still aren't convinced that Russ Vought will trample all over the separation of powers, will ignore the authority of Congress, and will hurt the American people by holding back funds they rely on, well, you are in luck because at our hearing with him, I asked Vought directly, point blank, ``Will you follow the law?'' That should not be a hard question. Even if you disagree with the law, you don't ignore it. Maybe you don't like the 25-mile-an-hour speed limit in a school zone, but unless it is changed or struck down, you still have to follow it. It is true for speed limits, and it is certainly true for the Constitution.

That is something that almost every single American understands-- except, apparently, Russ Vought and Donald Trump, because today, the Impoundment Control Act is the law of the land. Despite Vought's own wishes and his own feelings, it has not been changed, and it has not been struck down in court.

Despite what Vought pretends is true, the reality is, the Constitution gives Congress, not the President, the power of the purse, and yet Russ Vought will not say he will follow the law.

Look, Vought is not just lawless; he is extreme. Let me drive that home for a second. Let's take abortion for example. Project 2025 already calls for ripping away birth control, allowing States to deny women lifesaving emergency care, and effectively banning all abortion nationwide. That is already a dangerous Republican fever dream--far out of line, by the way, with the American people--but Vought wants to go further.

On abortion, he is for ``abolition.'' ``Abolition.'' Do you know what that means? It means a national abortion ban without any exceptions even in the case of rape or when a woman's life is at risk. That is as far right as it gets.

Of course, abortion is not the only issue where Vought has made statements that are deeply alarming. He has stated that he believes the 2020 election was ``rigged.'' That is just not out of touch with America, that is dangerously out of touch with reality.

He has said he wants to traumatize our Federal workers. That means all the people who work really hard to help in our communities, whether they are inspecting food or reviewing the safety of drugs or keeping our travel safe; maybe they are strengthening our infrastructure, fostering innovation and small business or getting care to veterans or supporting our Tribes and so much more.

Vought has said we live in a ``post-constitutional time.'' It doesn't get any clearer than that. A post-constitutional time? That is what he believes we are in. Do my colleagues agree with that? Do they think it is time to shred the Constitution? That is what is at stake with this confirmation vote because Vought has made it all too clear that as OMB Director, he will put everything on the chopping block, from programs that people rely on to the checks and balances our democracy is founded on. Again, he has put it down on paper in black and white.

We know he wants to cut Medicare and, in particular, Medicaid, by hundreds of billions of dollars. We know he wants to find significant savings from eligibility changes to veterans' healthcare and disability benefits. We don't even need Project 2025 to see that. He laid some of that out in his budgets from Trump's first term.

Vought's goals are not secret, nor are they subtle. We do not have to decipher anything here. There is no mystery. We know he is planning for cuts beyond anything this country has ever seen. And we know, if Russ Vought gets his way and gets his hands on the Nation's funding again, he will not just draw blood; he will cut programs families rely on-- families rely on--down to the bone: SNAP cuts that leave families hungry, policies to cut people off from their healthcare, cuts to disability benefits that veterans have earned through their service to America, thousands of public servants forced out of roles serving the American people--all while he works with Trump to dole out more tax breaks to billionaires and the biggest corporations.

And here is another thing. We don't have to imagine just how painful and chaotic Vought's lawless ideas would be in practice because Vought is actually already putting his agenda in place, which, frankly, raises another question: Why should the Senate vote to confirm someone who is already secretly doing the job behind our backs?

Because--guess what--those Executive orders that Trump still has in effect, those orders which are right now illegally blocking money our communities need--that is right out of the Project 2025 playbook. Or the effort, now, to get rid of thousands of Federal workers through illegal firings; and, now, scam buyout offers that have no basis in law to carry out; or trying to illegally abolish entire Agencies with the stroke of a pen--that has Project 2025 written all over it.

And it is not just a parallel in ideas here. When OMB issued its blatantly illegal guidance and attempted to block trillions in Federal dollars Congress--all of us--passed, there were digital fingerprints all over that document linking right back to Project 2025.

And in the chaos that followed, do you know who reportedly met with OMB staffers about how to respond? Russ Vought.

So let's not pretend we have no idea just how lawless this guy is. Let's not pretend we have no idea what sort of damage he will cause if he is put back in power. The chaos that Vought and Trump caused last week alone was unlike anything I can recall. Never in my time in the Senate have I seen a President cause as much chaos, panic, and damage in 48 short hours--chaos, panic, and damage which continues even now. President Trump inflicted serious harm when he implemented Vought's reckless vision to brazenly and illegally freeze Federal grants across the government and across the country.

My phone has been ringing off the hook because, unlike billionaires like Trump and Musk, unlike hyperpartisans like Vought, the American people actually have a painfully clear sense of how this will hurt our communities. After all, they are the ones who would actually suffer the consequences of the reckless policies like this.

And let's remember that the Trump administration's first half-hearted attempt to clean up the massive mess they made with this new guidance essentially boiled down to: We will let some funding go, but we are still going to hold up everything else. And while, later, they finally admitted they were disastrously wrong and revoked the entire guidance, they are now, still today, illegally holding up other funds, which I will say more about later.

And the chaos alone they caused with their cruelty and incompetence is utterly unacceptable. The explanations the Trump administration offered throughout that saga last week--freezing seemingly trillions of dollars that families rely on--created no clarity or certainty for many panicked families and businesses and nonprofits and towns and States. And nothing they said changes the basic fact that Trump was and is still holding up funding that our communities need, funding that is the law.

But let's talk about the effect. Let's talk about the chaos and alarm they caused, the damage done to communities and families that all of us represent, and the collision course we were on before Americans spoke out and forced Trump to retreat--because, in terms of chaos, the Trump administration was trying to say a lot of programs were not affected even when we had firsthand accounts making clear that was not what organizations across the country were experiencing.

I will give you one example. Head Start providers were locked out of their reimbursement portal, meaning folks taking care of our youngest kids were suddenly not sure how they were going to keep their doors open or pay their teachers and staff. And, by the way, some providers in my State are still locked out, not getting the funding.

Let's talk about rental assistance. That is the payment system for housing providers. It was down for over a day, with rents that were due at the end of the week.

Seniors who count on Meals on Wheels were left wondering whether they would have dinner last week.

Grant programs to combat the fentanyl crisis, to get families healthcare, and so much more were, in an instant, put at risk of evaporating into thin air.

The panic and confusion were absolutely widespread because there was a long, long list of programs President Trump tried to put on the chopping block here--programs that, by the way, help red States and blue States alike.

Funding to address the opioid use epidemic could have been paused. This is a longstanding bipartisan priority, and Trump wanted funding frozen for an indefinite period that would absolutely upend prevention efforts and cut people off from the treatment that is helping them beat addiction.

COPS hiring grants, which help our States and communities hire career law enforcement officers--Trump was freezing those too. These investments increase community policing capacity, and they prevent crime. Without this money, our streets and our neighborhoods would be less safe.

And let's not forget about other crucial DOJ grants: funding for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, for AMBER Alert, for safe havens that support victims of human trafficking. Or, in my State, there are 25 child advocacy centers that were trying to figure out how they would be affected by the freeze. Think about that.

Funding for firefighters. You know what doesn't stop when Federal funding stops? Fires. And speaking of fires, Trump's move also threw funding for recovery and relief efforts into uncertainty. In Eastern Washington, in my State, $44 million was announced weeks ago to help Spokane County rebuild from wildfires. We were left with big questions about the future of that badly needed funding last week.

And while it was just 2 weeks ago that Trump visited communities in both North Carolina and California that are still reeling from disaster, the very next week, he sent them reeling himself, throwing funds that they were counting on into limbo with his initial OMB guidance because, for a while there, the system that all of our States use to get disaster relief funding was shut down.

And let's not forget grants from the Violence Against Women Act. I heard from organizations in Washington State that support survivors of violence that they were trying to figure out what to do because their Federal payment site went down. Without that vital funding, survivors would be left with no way to access the legal aid and services they deserve. Like so many other organizations, they were ringing the alarm bells because they were not going to be able to pay their staff or pay their bills.

This illegal freeze left domestic violence centers wondering how long they could keep their doors open and pay their staffs.

And our Tribes were thrown in chaos as well. The Puyallup Tribe was told they couldn't move forward with a critical road project, and our Tribes in general were all concerned that housing and healthcare and education and so much else was getting caught up in this funding freeze. One told me they were left trying to determine if they were going to have to lay off 400 people because of this. Causing layoffs with an illegal funding freeze would be a profound breach of the Federal trust responsibility to our Tribes.

Here is another alarming one: One of Trump's Executive orders was set to cut funding used to help detain nearly 10,000 ISIS militants in Syria--to detain them in Syria. That funding was about to be cut off altogether, potentially leading to prison guards leaving the job and risking ISIS militants getting out of jail, until this administration was alerted to how reckless that would be and they carved out that funding.

But trust me when I say there are many other funding streams that help keep us safe that are still at risk, especially because of the illegal Executive orders that are, today, still blocking foreign assistance--and the absolutely lawless effort to dismantle USAID, which does lifesaving relief work around the world. I will have more to say on that in just a bit.

And, by the way, how does undermining health, which will mean diseases run rampant, particularly at a time when bird flu is on the uptick and impacting many of our producers and workers and States--how does that make any sense? Because when it comes to healthcare, this attempted freeze posed a huge threat to our families.

Set aside the fact that the Medicaid payment portal went down in my State and in every State--something we are told was a coincidence. That doesn't change the fact that all Federal healthcare grant reimbursements stopped. It doesn't change the fact that community health centers were blocked from getting the funds they needed to pay their staff and continue providing care in our communities, including rural areas where they are often the only option for miles. It doesn't change the fact that title X providers who support care like family planning services and cancer screenings and more couldn't draw down their funds.

I also heard from HopeSparks. It is a healthcare provider in my State. They warned that, without Federal support, kids in the South Puget Sound would lose access to mental healthcare and crisis services.

Biomedical researchers were suddenly left dealing with questions not about how to save lives but about grant freezes and how these vague, broad actions might stop research programs and clinical trials across the country. Chaos alone presents a huge risk of derailing crucial studies. Scientists at the University of Washington and Washington State University told my office they were deeply alarmed. A freeze like Trump ordered would have meant research projects collapsing and staff being furloughed or laid off.

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center moved to bridge the gap to keep research from being derailed, but not getting this fixed would have meant putting them in the hole to the tune of over $1 million a day. That sort of unexpected burden would have had a huge impact on lifesaving cancer research.

And agricultural research was faced with uncertainty as well. WSU is a national leader in this important work: research to help our farmers grow more crops, grow more resilient crops, fight challenges like pests and plant diseases. WSU was deeply concerned funding for that research could be cut off, undermining important work supporting our Nation's farmers.

And the threats didn't stop there for those who are in food and agriculture. One organization which works alongside our local growers told me losing funding would mean a reduced capacity to grow and distribute fresh local food to our communities. Now, that would hurt both the farmers and the families who rely on those programs to put food on the table.

Meanwhile, a group in Washington who are addressing youth homelessness warned it would have to kick kids out if the funding issue wasn't resolved.

Let me repeat that. A homeless youth group was pushed to the brink of having to kick kids onto the street because of President Trump's illegal freeze.

I was also deeply concerned about how the freeze might halt an important diaper pilot program, as well as the reports I got from multiple housing providers in my State, worried that tens of thousands of people would be at risk of homelessness thanks to this illegal freeze.

And don't let me get started on infrastructure. These are projects that take years--years--to plan, to build, to complete, and do an awful lot of good for our communities.

In my State alone, there were big questions about what was going to happen to electrical grid upgrades that are happening in Okanogan and Pierce County, improvements that were planned at the Ports of Seattle and Everett and Whitman County, or Sea-Tac Airport's plan to deploy new trucks.

And, by the way, some of those questions remain till today, because, as I will detail in a minute, there are still many other ways programs are being put at risk by Trump illegally blocking funds with his Executive orders.

I will continue fighting for the Federal funding Congress already provided to keep all of those projects on track, but that can only get us so far if President Trump illegally blocks it all, and our Republican colleagues could let that happen.

The list goes on and on; the calls keep coming in. Even now that OMB has reversed course, the chaos has not died down. The questions, the uncertainty, the fear, from families and communities that Trump will pull the rug out from under them is still there, because even though after the intense outcry from the American public, Trump has now admitted this was a colossal mistake because he rescinded the guidance; but the threat, the chaos, the panic, cannot just be wiped away-- especially while some funds are still today being blocked.

No one feels any sense of calm after this. People aren't feeling lasting relief. They are wondering: How could something like that ever happen, and what in the world is going to happen next?

The Trump administration, through a combination of sheer incompetence, cruel intentions, and a willful disregard of the law, caused--and is still causing--real harm and chaos for millions of people over the span of just a mere 48 hours.

But we did learn something extremely important: When the American people speak out with one voice, when regular people stand up, it makes a difference. That victory belonged to everyone who raised their voice. But I want everyone to know--make no mistake--this fight is not over.

As I said before, we still have a lot of work to do right now to make sure all that funding actually does get moving again. This is not like turning on a light switch. We just saw through the chaotic rollout this is complicated stuff. So I want you to know I will be watching closely to make sure funds get where they belong as soon as possible. I already know that in many cases, this has not been what is happening at all, so this is a very serious concern.

I actually spoke with a constituent last week--Mike. He runs a nonprofit supporting military families and helping servicemembers transition back to civilian life. And even days after the OMB guidance was reversed, he was still unable to access Federal funding, so he used his own line of credit to pay his staff in the meantime. And if this didn't get fixed, his organization wouldn't have been able to help military families or pay its employees.

The homeless shelter that I mentioned a few minutes ago, short $5.1 million--$5.1 million because of Trump. They still have their funds frozen. They are still looking at reducing beds and facing layoffs. And as I mentioned earlier, some Head Start programs are still not able to get their grant funding.

So the chaos of this OMB saga is far, far from over.

And let me make one thing perfectly clear, even before this latest whirl of chaos, President Trump was already--already--illegally blocking billions of dollars. And even after that OMB guidance was reversed, he is still holding back all of those funds through his illegal Executive orders. You don't have to take it from me, you can take it directly from the White House press secretary.

This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. . . . The President's [Executive orders] on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.

So that was the chaos of last week. I want to talk about how that chaos remains, what we are still seeing this week, and what it means for folks back home and across the country, because there is still significant confusion. And the remaining freezes are still causing significant pain.

For example, I have heard from cities in my State and from the Washington State Department of Transportation--now, it is still hard to get a clear picture, given the chaotic rollback and more, but they are telling me they are concerned about infrastructure projects all over my State that are already getting delayed now and could get derailed entirely because President Trump is still illegally blocking funding we passed with his Executive orders.

If this illegal freeze continues, people will lose jobs, communities will lose out on projects that have been in the works for years. Trump is blocking money to repair electric chargers, to install heavy-duty chargers for trucks, to make critical repairs to bridges in order to protect the safety of millions of drivers, and to install new chargers along major roads in my State, like I-90, US-97, US-2, US-195, and US- 395.

Stopping these projects is just pointlessly--pointlessly--hurting commuters and businesses. It is costing construction workers; it is killing jobs. Trump is holding up road projects to make streets safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers, like a safer streets project in Richland, WA, and critical safety barriers in Spokane, not to mention the Liberty Park Land Bridge in Spokane--which would reconnect communities and provide more green space for families to enjoy, or funds for the City of Lakewood--they are planning to revitalize their downtown and bring in more retail space and restaurants and healthcare services and financial services and make upgrades to roads and provide a new festival area and park areas and more.

Trump's freezes are also a concern for the Samish Indian Nation as it works to improve safety and access to their land at the Campbell Lake Road intersection, which has seen growing traffic in recent years, and for a project led by the Tulalip Tribe to improve the interchanges along I-5 exits; the congestions on these ramps can get so bad it backs all the way up to the main highway.

We want to get those projects done. We want to get them done, and the last thing we need is uncertainty about these stalled funds.

There is also a project underway to upgrade the technology at our border with Canada, replacing and improving the outdated wait-time system to improve accuracy and help our inspection and our transportation Agencies.

This will help travelers who are headed to Canada avoid long wait times at the border and help fans from around the world, by the way, who are traveling between Seattle and Vancouver for next year's World Cup move quickly--but not if Trump's Executive orders stop all of this funding.

Same for the efforts to update our statewide planning with a new electronic system that would make the process for planning and specifications and estimates more efficient. And, of course, in Washington State, we can never forget about fish, which are crucial to our culture and our economy in many ways.

Trump's ongoing funding freeze is putting projects to improve fish habitats on ice: replacing the culvert at Thornton Creek; replacing the failing culvert at Wapato Creek, which is right underneath the Pierce County terminal at the port of Tacoma; or removing the fish barrier culverts at Johnson Creek, which will open up nearly 3,000 meters of upstream habitat; not to mention other wildlife preservation work like an undercrossing structure and wildlife barriers east of Winthrop and work on our waterways. Funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law is still not restored, still not restored today for some projects on the Lower Columbia River, projects like a stormwater infrastructure that will help keep toxins out of our water and restore our wetlands and protect our ecosystems.

Our ports, our ports, so critical for not only Washington State's economy but for the entire country, are caught up in this too. There are port projects now on hold across my State, including for electrical infrastructure and shore power for vessels.

These impacts are being felt from Anacortes to Port Angeles to Vancouver, frozen funding is hurting working families in Washington and across the country, and it is making our economy less competitive.

And we cannot forget our ferries, which are so crucial to many commuters in my State. Washington State ferries are looking to improve their data with a better system for collecting and analyzing and reporting wait times at all of our terminals. That would help give them some information so they can improve their efficiency and make life better for the people they serve.

Losing that funding means more people will miss ferries, and it means long waits in line for Washington State commuters who cross the water for everything from work to school to medical appointments.

We also have absolutely essential electric transmission and distribution projects that are on hold now, and they are in jeopardy. These are projects that are necessary, helping reduce our wildfire risks, ensuring grid reliability, improving resilience to natural disasters, and lowering costs for ratepayers across my State of Washington.

Those are all funded under the bipartisan infrastructure law; that is a bipartisan infrastructure law that Members of Republicans and Democrats worked on and passed. It is a program that Republicans thought was important enough to provide $10.5 billion. After what we have seen in recent months and years, I don't know how you could say with a straight face that modernizing our grid isn't absolutely vital to the future of our country.

You don't have to listen to me; Secretary Burgum and Secretary Wright said as much in their confirmation hearings.

But this project, all of these projects and many more, have been thrown into complete uncertainty because of President Trump's Executive orders.

It is completely unclear when or if those projects are going to get the funding they were counting on and that they were owed from bills that Congress passed and signed into law.

And that is not just causing chaos, it is causing delays. It is causing harm and alarm, because it could mean construction grinds to a halt, workers lose jobs. It means the work will go unstarted or, perhaps, in some cases, unfinished. Plus, it would mean increasing costs, increasing costs for our cities and counties and States and Tribes for those projects that somehow make it through all of this.

And while there are many more infrastructure projects in my State I haven't touched on, not to mention the other projects across the entire country, there are so many other projects and organizations and people who are being harmed right now by President Trump's reckless funding freeze.

I know there are medical researchers still worried their work will somehow be considered woke, when, in reality, it is actually pretty darn important that we do understand the risk of health disparities, things like why the maternal death rate is so much higher for Black or Native American women. Yet now researchers are being told that their research is at risk of being defunded if they are examining issues of equity or barriers to care, or even if they are specifically studying females.

And there are hospitals in my State and across the country who are worried that some of these programs, which are appropriately focused on someone's gender or race, are in jeopardy.

For example--give you a good example--we know that pulse oximeters are less accurate for people with darker skin tones. Making sure that these clinical measurements are accurate will save life, and it has life-and-death consequences for patients.

We know women have much higher rates of autoimmune disorders than men. We need to look at why that is. We need to invest in training the next generation of scientists, including from diverse backgrounds. Studies actually show us that diversity in the scientific workforce leads to greater innovation and productivity, but there is a serious concern that lifesaving work is going to get caught up in President Trump's sweeping, illegal Executive orders.

Another impact of Trump's actions: The National Park Service has rescinded all of its employment offers for our summer seasonal staff. Now, that doesn't just mean people are going to be facing longer wait lines or dirtier bathrooms--though they will--it could mean park closures throughout this entire summer. It will mean delayed responses to emergencies, making people less safe. And outside our national parks, Trump is also freezing regional cleanup efforts, things like stopping illegal dumping and improving air quality in our communities.

And let's talk about foreign assistance, because for decades now, there has been widespread, bipartisan understanding that promoting stability abroad, promoting democracy, improving health, strengthening trade, building partnerships, is crucial to U.S. leadership.

But Trump's Executive orders put all of that at risk by illegally freezing funds.

I have heard from organizations that operate all over the world about how they were unable to deliver the lifesaving aid that millions of people rely on due to the stop-work orders. That meant millions of doses of lifesaving drugs sat unused on shelves; time-sensitive prevention methods against diseases like malaria were not carried out, putting millions at risk; training for more than 64,000 healthcare workers was put on hold; and hundreds of millions of metric tons of U.S.-grown commodities are sitting, at the risk of spoiling, in transport instead of reaching their final destinations across the world to feed people in need.

Despite a so-called waiver from the U.S. State Department to resume work, much of this lifesaving aid is still today on hold. Without a start-work order, those organizations fear they are taking on significant risk now in continuing operations.

Put simply, this was already unacceptable, and now over the weekend, President Trump and Elon Musk have decided--against all reason, against all evidence, and against the law, mind you--to completely dismantle USAID, and that is on top of the illegal funding freeze that has already been pushing U.S. businesses and nonprofits and international aid groups to make tough choices for truly pointless reasons.

It should be obvious that these cuts will hurt people across the world. These cuts are going to mean that people starve. These cuts will mean that people don't get clean water. These cuts will mean more disease outbreaks with higher death counts. These cuts will mean less help for victims of violence and higher death rates for pregnant women.

Anyone with an ounce of humanity can see this freeze will get devastating fast. It is important to note that it will get devastating in ways you cannot just make up with more money later once that damage is done. That is just not how it works. When people are starving, you cannot just feed them money; you need to have already made the investments to grow food. When democracies are in crisis, you can't just cut them a check; you need to have helped them build strong institutions. When a deadly disease outbreak strikes, you are going to learn very quickly that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

These are not lessons we need to learn the hard way by letting people die. We know it all painfully well right now. So to freeze that funding is asking for disaster, and not just for other countries across the world but for us, for the United States and for our families here at home.

Freezing foreign assistance is not putting America first; it is guaranteeing America comes in last because every funding gap we leave is an opportunity for our adversaries to step in, fill that gap, and play the hero while casting us as the villain.

How are we supposed to lead the world if we are unwilling to invest in it? I will tell you right now, China is not holding back. They are investing constantly because they know they aren't just building infrastructure across the world, they are building stronger partnerships. We just counted ourselves out of that competition.

You want to end U.S. global dominance? You want to tell the world the United States is done being a leader? You want to tell other countries we cannot be trusted to keep our word? Because that is exactly what we are doing if we let Trump get away with illegally cutting off global aid with the stroke of a pen and let the richest man in the world cut off help from some of the poorest people in the world.

Let's be clear. It is not just U.S. leadership on the line here; there are U.S. jobs at stake. That reality is hitting home hard this week. Back in my home State of Washington, there are some world-class organizations that I know may have to lay off people this week, hundreds of people, all because of President Trump's funding freeze. It is a scene that is not isolated to Washington State. I know it is playing out across the country as well with thousands of layoffs across 38 States and Canada. I know that so long as President Trump's lawless war on foreign aid continues, so will those layoffs. We will see hundreds, if not thousands, more every week.

International aid organizations may make a difference around the world, but they support American jobs too, people who have a paycheck and a family, people who work incredibly hard and who are incredibly proud of the work they do to make the world a better place and reaffirm U.S. global leadership. But they are being sent packing, not because they have done anything wrong, not because this work is not important, but because President Trump and Elon Musk are listening to wacko conspiracists and ultra-isolationists while ignoring the experts, ignoring the obvious realities, and, again, ignoring the law. We should all stand against this.

I know we are here tonight to discuss the Vought nomination, but I want to talk about someone who has not been nominated to anything. He has not been elected to anything. Yet he is serving as de facto co- President--Elon Musk. Arguably, he is more important and more influential than the elected, sitting President, and he has proven himself in lockstep with Russ Vought--whom we are voting on tomorrow-- when it comes to slashing programs that matter to American families and ignoring the laws of our Nation.

In recent days, Musk has been busy illegally shuttering USAID, cutting off foreign assistant programs, which I said will lose jobs for Americans, lose lives in countries around the world, and lose leadership as adversaries like China fill that gap. Shockingly, Musk has even had people fired--fired--for denying his lackeys classified resources that they had no authority to access.

Last weekend, we all learned that Elon Musk essentially commandeered access to the Treasury Department's most sensitive payment system, handling $6 trillion every year and managing nearly all of our Federal reimbursements. It is a system that contains extremely sensitive personal and commercial information.

I have been hearing from people across my State who are truly alarmed about what Musk and his associations having access to this system could mean for their data and for funding they count on.

Let's not mince words here. An unelected, unaccountable billionaire with expansive conflicts of interest, deep ties to China, and an indiscreet ax to grind against perceived enemies is highjacking our Nation's most sensitive financial data system and its checkbook so that he can illegally block funds to our constituents based on the slightest whim or wildest conspiracy--funds, mind you, that Congress on a bipartisan basis passed.

Some Republicans are trying to suggest that Musk only has viewing access to Treasury's highly sensitive payment system--as if that is acceptable either--but why on Earth should we believe that, particularly when Musk himself is saying the exact opposite loudly and repeatedly for everyone to hear?

What funds will Elon target next? Lifesaving medical research? Homelessness assistance? Food banks? We already know he has falsely attacked faith-based organizations that help folks and is promising to cut off funds based off conspiracy theories. In other words, the world's richest man has vowed to cut off funding that helps the least among us. Think about that.

Next, think about how many dollars he himself makes from government contracts. I mean, seriously. The richest man in the world, with countless government contracts, ties to our adversaries, is taking over the Treasury in the name of fighting corruption? The irony is almost as rich as Musk himself.

Let me underscore just how dangerous this is because now that Trump has handed over Treasury's checkbook, what if Elon decides he doesn't like how Rivian is getting Federal funds to build an EV manufacturing facility? So what next? All Elon has to do is say ``Oh, they are woke,'' and he can convince Trump to illegally cut off those funds. Is that how this works now?

Maybe Elon will decide he doesn't like Blue Origin and not SpaceX getting a contract, so he wants to gum up the works on their payments. Is that how this works?

Maybe Elon decides he wants to get into electronic healthcare systems, and maybe he wants to punish hospital systems that don't take him up on whatever he is selling.

Private corporations and competitors need to take note. The potential for abuse and corruption by Elon--especially considering his track record--is pretty much limitless.

And it is not just Treasury. Musk and his henchmen are launching a full-scale invasion of sensitive data systems across government. We are talking about the Small Business Administration. We are talking about NOAA. We are talking about Medicare. The reporting is now clear. They are not just looking either; they are directly making changes to some of those critical systems.

This is not Silicon Valley, where you can just move fast and break things. When you break things here, people don't get their healthcare; they don't get their Social Security check; they don't get crucial warnings and lifesaving information.

Anyone who thinks ``Well, that surely won't happen'' has not been paying attention because just this week, Elon Musk and Donald Trump put Americans in danger. We have citizens in dangerous corners of the world who were suddenly locked out of their emails, and they were cut off from an app that is meant to help address threats like kidnapping.

So no one should be shrugging this off and just saying ``Well, what is the worst that could happen?'' because this can get really, really bad, really, really fast.

If anyone is thinking ``Well, it is OK. We have guardrails. We have laws,'' make no mistake, even though Trump and Musk have absolutely zero legal authority to hold up any Federal payments that are law, this has not stopped them so far. As we have seen, they are already halting other funds illegally. They are already firing government watchdogs and officials left and right regardless of our laws. They are already putting forward blatantly unconstitutional Executive orders.

The fact of the matter is, Trump and Musk have yet to find a law they think applies to them. They think because they are rich and powerful, they get to call all the shots regardless of the courts and regardless of Congress. That is not how things work in this country. Billionaires are not above the law, and neither are Presidents. We do not have a monarchy where a President is king. We do not have an oligarchy where the richest people get the largest say. We in this country have a democracy--if we can keep it--where each citizen has a vote. We have checks and balances where the President is accountable to the Congress and to the people, where he has to follow the laws we pass.

But some of my colleagues across the aisle seem to be forgetting that our democracy doesn't work by magic. We have to do our part--our part-- here to hold Presidents accountable. Our job is not to say yes to everything the President does, no matter how lawless or harmful. Our job is not to shrug our shoulders or cover our eyes. It is to fight for the people who sent us here and to defend the Constitution.

So Democrats will be pushing back with the tools we have. We will speak out. We will press this administration. We will open investigations, and we will demand accountability. But one tool we do not have is the majority in this Congress. So that means our Republican colleagues have to say: Enough. We need them to join us. We need them to stand up to the corruption and the lawlessness and stand up for the people they represent.

While I am on the subject, I want to talk about another scheme Elon Musk cooked up. We are approaching the deadline that is set in the Trump administration's ``Fork in the Road'' message, which claims--and I have to emphasize that it merely claims--to give Federal workers the option of a deferred resignation that would allegedly allow workers to retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30.

I want to speak directly to all of our Federal workers about this because they deserve better than to be pushed out the door with a 9-day pressure tactic that comes with no clarity, no details, and a lot of questions left unanswered.

So here is what is important for everyone to know. First, there is no guarantee workers who accept that offer will get paid through September 30, as they have been promised. Not only is there no funding for that timeframe right now, but I personally am deeply skeptical of any offer from a President like Donald Trump, who has so consistently shown he will try to stiff workers at every opportunity.

Being given only 9 days to decide something like this should set off alarm bells. That is a short amount of time to consider all of the financial impacts of potentially accepting this offer--including, if you were able to find another job, how would this impact your benefits like health insurance, retirement, and a lot more.

And we all know, scammers often pressure people: Act immediately.

Additionally, information being provided continues to change and includes a lot of caveats. It claims you can rescind your resignation if you change your mind. But your job may no longer exist if that happens--tough luck.

It claims you aren't expected to work if you accept this offer, except in cases determined by each individual Agency.

It claims you can stay in your current role. However, there is no guarantee your position will be needed.

The lack of clear information and research about exactly what will be allowed is rightfully creating confusion for the more than 56,000 Federal workers in my State alone. To me, this leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

Finally, I want to express a real gratitude for our Federal workers who power so many essential services provided by our government. The American Government is not Twitter. People rely on our Federal workers, and sometimes their work can be the difference between life and death.

Federal workers help inspect meat processing facilities. They make sure baby formula is safe. They approve lifesaving drugs and treatments. They manage air traffic. They help ensure clean drinking water. And there is so much more.

Where this administration continues to show outright hostility toward many of our Federal workers, I want you to know I will continue to fight for our Federal workers--everyone from Hanford workers, scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Lab, to the people making sure you get your Social Security check.

Mr. President, I got a letter this week from a Hanford worker. They started last year, hoping it would be a stable job that would let them provide for their family while making a difference in their community. This employee has already been recognized several times for hard work. And then Elon Musk tried to push them out the door with this scammy buyout, and now they are on the list of employees who are at the threat of being terminated for no good reason.

That is an utter betrayal. It is a betrayal of a hard-working parent who did nothing wrong and a betrayal of my Hanford community, where Trump is undermining important environmental cleanup work, because at Hanford alone, which is already understaffed, there are nearly 30 people now on the chopping block. They are nuclear safety engineers. They are facility safety representatives. They are procurement and contracting personnel. They are attorneys. They are labor relations staff. They are accountants.

How is firing nuclear safety engineers supposed to make anyone safer or better off?

Mr. President, there are so many stories like this already happening or just around the corner. I have heard that Musk and Trump plan to cut workers at the Department of Energy in half. These are Federal employees who put in long hours to support their families and to strengthen our country. And for all their years of service, for all their sacrifice, Elon Musk is showing them the door and saying: Don't let it hit you on the way out.

This is wrong, and it is ungrateful. And for God's sake, we are talking about nuclear security here. Why on Earth would anyone think it is a good idea to cut corners?

Here is my message to our Federal workers: You do so much for our communities. You deserve so much better than to have a billionaire with no understanding of what you do come in, belittle your work, suggest he can do it better, and push you out the door. I hope you will all keep up the good work for the American people. I want you to know we will keep fighting for you as well.

Mr. President, before I conclude, I just want to state once more what is at stake with Vought's nomination. We are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars in Federal spending that Congress--us--passed that our communities are counting on and that Mr. Vought has made painfully clear he will not think twice about illegally blocking it.

Giving this man the power to enact his illegal schemes will do real harm to folks back home. It will cut people off from getting groceries and making rent. It will cut our families off from childcare and healthcare. It will cut veterans and their survivors off from disability and education benefits they earned through their service to our country. It will cut off breakthrough medical research and help for people who are struggling with opioid addiction. It will cut off communities that are working to build bridges and improve roads and strengthen their energy infrastructure. That will have serious consequences we cannot overlook.

We are here to fight for our families, but there is also another serious consequence here, one that cuts to the heart of what makes this Senate work and what makes our democracy work. Confirming Russ Vought to OMB makes it that much harder to negotiate our spending bills. It is much harder to reach a bipartisan deal with my colleagues, whom I respect and trust and have worked with for years, if that deal is going to be implemented by someone in whom I have zero trust; someone who has made clear that despite our laws, he is going to block any funding we pass. Why should any Senator vote to confirm someone who has made it perfectly clear he will undermine their authority to help their constituents?

Mr. President, as I have said, our system of checks and balances does not work on its own. We have to actually do our part here in Congress to be the check of Presidential abuse of power. And we have an opportunity--actually, it is an obligation--right now, to do just that. Before us right now is a nominee who has made it very clear he will not respect the authority of Congress--of all us and the people who voted us in--nominated by a President who is not respecting the authority of Congress and the people who voted us in.

We have to say we can't stand for that. We have to say from here that the law is the law. And a simple way we can send that message is by rejecting Russ Vought's nomination outright.

Mr. President, I am here today to strongly urge my colleagues to join me in doing just that.

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