Alex Padilla

Floor Speech

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Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, I have to say this week stood out for me personally with some positive notes and some real downers.

The week didn't start great. We saw the President of the United States--for the first time, I think, in possibly my lifetime--send troops without a request from the Governor into a State because people were protesting.

And, sure, some could make an argument that maybe a few protesters got over somebody's perceived line, but they were largely peaceful protests.

What the President did is beyond his authority. It is illegal. And it was not a good start to the week, I have to say.

I also have to say there was some positive things this week. I got to meet your grandson. I think he said he was 15 years old. He got to go to the Air and Space Museum, a place that I love, a place that makes our country stand out in the best of ways. It shows what we can do when we work together, when we bring the full force of the United States behind doing things that are positive.

We sent people to the Moon in the 1960s. Your grandson got to see some of that hardware over at the Air and Space Museum.

But I also have to say that the end of this week was rather outrageous and horrific, and it was brought to the American people, I strongly believe, because of the attitude of this President and his ability to just work outside of the boundaries of what most Americans feel are in accordance with our values and our ethics.

What happened today to Senator Padilla was outrageous. It was violent. It is a scary thing to see happen in the United States of America.

Alex Padilla is a great guy. He is thoughtful. He is passionate. He is just trying to serve his constituents in the best way he knows how by doing the thing that is in our Constitution--freedom of speech, article I--by exercising his constitutional rights and his rights as a U.S. Senator to ask some questions of government officials. He was doing his job.

His job is oversight, oversight of the Department of Homeland Security. This is in a Federal building, and this didn't happen in isolation. The Trump administration has arrested a mayor and a Member of Congress and a labor leader.

The other day, I think, I mentioned the one highlight of this week, which was your grandkid, and the low light--besides this, at the end of the week--is what happened at Fort Bragg the other day: the President of the United States going to a U.S. military base and using soldiers as political props.

That is not who we are as a country. And I have to say, what I saw today is leading us down a dangerous path, and we cannot retreat to partisan corners. Senator Schatz mentioned that, other than the Presiding Officer, I don't think there are any other Republicans showing outrage for one of their colleagues on the other side of the aisle being violently handled by law enforcement.

This is wrong. This is not putting our country first. And I have to say, I hope we can turn things around here in the coming weeks. But in my lifetime, and certainly in my time in public office and in my time serving this country, I have never seen anything like I have seen this week.

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