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Eleven bills and four resolutions were introduced, as follows: S. 5384-5394, S.J. Res. 213, and S. Res. 850-852.
Pages S4670-71
Measures Reported
S. 236, to amend the Act of August 9, 1955 (commonly known as the ``Long-Term Leasing Act''), to authorize leases of up to 99 years for land in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation and land held in trust for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). (S. Rept. No. 119-134) S. 1513, to take certain Federal land in the State of Washington into trust for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. (S. Rept. No. 119-135) H.R. 681, to amend the Act of August 9, 1955 (commonly known as the ``Long-Term Leasing Act''), to authorize leases of up to 99 years for land in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation and land held in trust for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). (S. Rept. No. 119-136) H.R. 2388, to take certain Federal land in the State of Washington into trust for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. (S. Rept. No. 119-137) S. 1962, to amend the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from granting a license or United States market access for a geostationary orbit satellite system or a nongeostationary orbit satellite system, or an authorization to use an individually licensed earth station or a blanket-licensed earth station, if the license, grant of market access, or authorization would be held or controlled by an entity that produces or provides any covered communications equipment or service or an affiliate of such an entity, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. (S. Rept. No. 119-138) S. 3257, to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to revise regulations for certain individuals carrying out aviation activities who disclose a mental health diagnosis or condition, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. (S. Rept. No. 119-139) S. 3258, to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to publish the list of medications that the Administrator has compiled for purposes of the medical certification of airmen and air traffic control specialists, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. (S. Rept. No. 119-140) S. 3404, to require a report on Federal support to the cybersecurity of commercial satellite systems, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. (S. Rept. No. 119-141) S. 3618, to require the Federal Trade Commission to submit to Congress a report on the ability of minors to access fentanyl through social media platforms, with amendments. (S. Rept. No. 119-142) S. 3700, to establish an expert review panel to make recommendations for a comprehensive agency-wide safety management system at the FAA, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. (S. Rept. No. 119-143) S. 3791, to reauthorize Regional Ocean Partnerships, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. (S. Rept. No. 119-144) H.R. 323, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 80 Prospect Street in Avon, New York, as the ``Officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz Memorial Post Office Building''. H.R. 1008, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 298 Route 292 in Holmes, New York, as the ``Sheriff Adrian `Butch' Anderson Post Office Building''. H.R. 1009, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 86 Main Street in Haverstraw, New York, as the ``Paul Piperato Post Office Building''. H.R. 1372, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 300 Macedonia Lane in Knoxville, Tennessee, as the ``Reverend Harold Middlebrook Post Office Building''. H.R. 1431, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2407 State Route 71, Suite 1, in Spring Lake, New Jersey, as the ``James J. Howard Post Office''. H.R. 1706, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1200 William Street, Room 200, in Buffalo, New York, as the ``William J. Donovan Post Office Building''. H.R. 1830, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 840 Front Street in Casselton, North Dakota, as the ``Commander Delbert Austin Olson Post Office''. H.R. 2175, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 130 South Patterson Avenue in Santa Barbara, California, as the ``Brigadier General Frederick R. Lopez Post Office Building''. H.R. 2466, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 5225 Harrison Avenue in Rockford, Illinois, as the ``Jay P. Larson Post Office Building''. H.R. 3350, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 340 East 1st Street in Tustin, California, as the ``Ursula Ellen Kennedy Post Office Building''. H.R. 3393, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 12208 North 19th Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona, as the ``Officer Zane T. Coolidge Post Office''. H.R. 4635, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 890 East 152nd Street in Cleveland, Ohio, as the ``Technical Sergeant Alma Gladys Minter Post Office Building''. H.R. 4662, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6444 San Fernando Road in Glendale, California, as the ``Paul Ignatius Post Office''. H.R. 4707, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1019 Avenue H in Fort Madison, Iowa, as the ``Martin L. Graber Post Office''. H.R. 5058, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 46164 Westlake Drive in Sterling, Virginia, as the ``Firefighter Trevor Brown Post Office Building''. H.R. 5235, to amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit minimum educational requirements for proposed contractor personnel in certain contract solicitations. H.R. 5773, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service at 1300 East Northwest Highway in Palatine, Illinois, as the ``Bernie Bluestein Post Office Building''. H.R. 5831, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 306 South Main Street in Waupaca, Wisconsin, as the ``Master Sergeant Melvin O. Handrich Post Office Building''. H.R. 6020, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14855 South Van Dyke Road in Plainfield, Illinois, as the ``Staff Sergeant Jose Duenez Jr. Post Office Building''. H.R. 6247, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 13355 North Lon Adams Road in Marana, Arizona, as the ``Mayor Ed Honea Memorial Post Office''. H.R. 6310, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3570 Olney Laytonsville Road in Olney, Maryland, as the ``Edward L. Ramsey Olney Post Office Building''. H.R. 6317, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 12109 New Kent Highway in New Kent, Virginia, as the ``Patricia Paige Post Office''. H.R. 6332, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 10660 Page Avenue in Fairfax, Virginia, as the ``Congressman Gerald E. Connolly Post Office Building''. H.R. 6808, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 417 West 7th Street in Columbia, Tennessee, as the ``Pharmacist's Mate First Class John Harlan Willis Post Office Building''. H.R. 6995, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 825 Highway 198 in Beaumont, Mississippi, as the ``Jeremy Malone Post Office''. H.R. 7809, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 201 East Grant Avenue in Georgetown, Ohio, as the ``Ulysses S. Grant Post Office Building''. S. 24, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 154 First Avenue East in Jerome, Idaho, as the ``Representative Maxine Bell Post Office''. S. 58, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 107 North Hoyne Avenue in Fritch, Texas, as the ``Chief Zeb Smith Post Office''. S. 164, to amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for en bloc consideration in resolutions of disapproval for ``midnight rules''. S. 252, to increase access to agency guidance documents, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. S. 829, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 840 Front Street in Casselton, North Dakota, as the ``Commander Delbert Austin Olson Post Office''. S. 917, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 620 East Pecan Boulevard in McAllen, Texas, as the ``Agent Raul H. Gonzalez Jr. Memorial Post Office''. S. 2394, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 505 East 9th Avenue in Amarillo, Texas, as the ``Mayor Jerry H. Hodge Post Office Building''. S. 2432, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6444 San Fernando Road in Glendale, California, as the ``Paul Ignatius Post Office''. S. 2733, to require the Comptroller General of the United States to analyze certain legislation in order to prevent duplication of and overlap with existing Federal programs, offices, and initiatives. S. 3175, to establish a pilot program for ZIP Code boundary changes, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. S. 3211, to require the Office of Management and Budget to consider revising the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. S. 3270, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3570 Olney Laytonsville Road in Olney, Maryland, as the ``Edward L. Ramsey Olney Post Office Building''. S. 3294, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 10660 Page Avenue in Fairfax, Virginia, as the ``Congressman Gerald E. Connolly Post Office Building''. S. 3296, to amend chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, to cover, for purposes of workers' compensation under such chapter, services by physician assistants and nurse practitioners provided to injured Federal workers. S. 3331, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 50 East 100 North in Moab, Utah, as the ``2nd Lieutenant Mitch Williams Post Office''. S. 3373, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14855 South Van Dyke Road in Plainfield, Illinois, as the ``Staff Sergeant Jose Duenez Jr. Post Office Building''. S. 3444, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service at 1300 East Northwest Highway in Palatine, Illinois, as the ``Bernie Bluestein Post Office Building''. S. 3630, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 46164 Westlake Drive in Sterling, Virginia, as the ``Firefighter Trevor Brown Post Office Building''. S. 3835, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 10 East Main Street in Mahaffey, Pennsylvania, as the ``Robert Allen Bishop, Sr., Post Office Building''. S. 4052, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 203 North Clay Street in Marshfield, Missouri, shall be known and designated as the ``Edwin P. Hubble Post Office''. S. 4079, to establish in U.S. Customs and Border Protection a pilot program to adopt dogs from local animal shelters to be trained as support dogs, with an amendment. S. 4523, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 111 South Tremont Street in Tremonton, Utah, as the ``Sorensen-Estrada Post Office''. S. 4623, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 12109 New Kent Highway in New Kent, Virginia, as the ``Patricia Paige Post Office''. S. 4745, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 201 East Grant Avenue in Georgetown, Ohio, as the ``Ulysses S. Grant Post Office Building''. S. 4830, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 86-014 Farrington Highway in Waianae, Hawaii, as the ``United States Representative Colleen Hanabusa Post Office Building''. S. 5163, to amend title 39, United States Code, to prevent the awarding of bonuses to the Postmaster General and Deputy Postmaster General for a fiscal year in which the United States Postal Service does not meet or exceed each on-time mail delivery target, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
Pages S4669-70
Measures Passed
Patriot Week: Committee on the Judiciary was discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 849, expressing support for the designation of the week of September 11 through September 17, 2026, as ``Patriot Week'', and the resolution was then agreed to.
Page S4690
Message from the President
Senate received the following message from the President of the United States: Transmitting, pursuant to law, a report of the continuation of the national emergency that was originally declared in Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, with respect to persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism; which was referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (PM-66)
Pages S4654-55
Removal of Injunction of Secrecy
The injunction of secrecy was removed from the following treaty: Tax Convention with Croatia and Protocol Amending the Tax Convention with Croatia (Treaty Doc. No. 119-2). The treaty was transmitted to the Senate today, considered as having been read for the first time, and referred, with accompanying papers, to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed.
Pages S4689-90
Mitchell Nomination: Cloture
Senate began consideration of the nomination of Kasdin Miller Mitchell, of Texas, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas.
Pages S4640-41
A motion was entered to close further debate on the nomination, and, in accordance with the provisions of Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a vote on cloture will occur upon disposition of the motion to proceed to consideration of H.R. 3633, to provide for a system of regulation of the offer and sale of digital commodities by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to amend the Federal Reserve Act to prohibit the Federal reserve banks from offering certain products or services directly to an individual, to prohibit the use of central bank digital currency for monetary policy.
Pages S4640-41
Prior to the consideration of this nomination, Senate took the following action
Senate agreed to the motion to proceed to Executive Session to consider the nomination.
Page S4640
Byrne Nomination: Agreement
Senate resumed consideration of the nomination of Matthew R. Byrne, of Ohio, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio.
Pages S4645-48
During consideration of this nomination today, Senate also took the following action
By 47 yeas to 46 nays (Vote No. EX. 232), Senate agreed to the motion to close further debate on the nomination.
Page S4645
A unanimous-consent agreement was reached providing for further consideration of the nomination, post-cloture, at approximately 10 a.m., on Tuesday, September 15, 2026; and that notwithstanding Rule XXII, Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination at 11:15 a.m.
Page S4690
Nominations Received
Senate received the following nominations: Samuel D. Adkisson, of Tennessee, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Christopher Abbott, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Commerce. Philip Axt, of North Dakota, to be United States District Judge for the District of North Dakota. Richard Breckenridge, of New Hampshire, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Daniel Lewis Ballou, of Kentucky, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Francis Browne, of the District of Columbia, to be an Under Secretary of the Treasury. Richard Wesley Bennett, of Texas, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas. Hung Cao, of Virginia, to be Secretary of the Navy. Courtney Leigh Coker, of Texas, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas. Catherine Eschbach, of Texas, to be General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for a term of four years. Bradford J. Kelley, of Louisiana, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Kimberly Greenwood, of Tennessee, to be Ambassador to Barbados, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador to the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Robert E. Long, Jr., of Florida, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida. Austin Holmes, of Florida, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti. Peter M. Mansfield, of Louisiana, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Elliott Hulse, of California, to be Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Challenge Corporation. Claire McCusker Murray, of Maryland, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission for a term expiring October 31, 2031. Wesley Hunt, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Jesus A. Osete, of Missouri, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. Stephen Husk, of Virginia, to be a Commissioner of the United States Parole Commission for a term of six years. Trevor Scott Pemberton, of Oklahoma, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Christopher Walter Inabinett, of Alabama, to be United States Marshal for the Middle District of Alabama for the term of four years. James Lewis Quinn, of Virginia, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for the term of fifteen years. Matthew Jones, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Kyle Frederick Reardon, of Alaska, to be United States District Judge for the District of Alaska. Devin Kennington, of California, to be Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Somalia. Luis Felipe Restrepo, of Pennsylvania, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission for a term expiring October 31, 2031. Samuel King Lee, of Tennessee, to be United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee for the term of four years. Lee Philip Rudofsky, of Arkansas, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit. Jane Lynch, of North Carolina, to be Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom. Zachary Paul West, of Oklahoma, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Junaid Munir, of Michigan, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Djibouti. Heidi Overton, of New Mexico, to be Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Department of Health and Human Services. Asa Pitt, of the District of Columbia, to be United States Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, with rank of Ambassador. Simon Peter Serrano, of Washington, to be United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington for the term of four years. Joshua Shoemaker, of Virginia, to be Chief Financial Officer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Robert Stebbins, of New York, to be General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury. William Toti, of Florida, to be Under Secretary of the Navy. Anny Vu, of California to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Emerging Threats). Paul Watzlavick, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Suriname. Jeremy Wiggins, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. 3 Air Force nominations in the rank of general. 2 Navy nominations in the rank of admiral. Routine lists in the Air Force, Army, and Navy.
Pages S4690-97
Statements on Introduced Bills/Resolutions:
Pages S4673-77
Record Votes
One record vote was taken today. (Total--232)
Page S4645
Adjournment
Senate convened at 3 p.m. and adjourned at 7:11 p.m., until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. (For Senate's program, see the remarks of the Acting Majority Leader in today's Record on page S4690.)
Every speech and line is the Congressional Record's own text, read from GovInfo. Speakers are matched to members by GPO's own metadata. Referandom places each turn on the Clerk's video by matching its words: 15 of 84 spoken turns were found. Turns without a time are still listed; they just can't seek.
25th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Attacks
Madam President, this past Friday, our Nation marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
I will never forget that day. That morning, after my weekly interview with Iowa radio networks, the U.S. Capitol was evacuated, and I remember officers pounding on my door here in the Capitol office: You have got to get out of here.
No one knew right then that nearly 3,000 lives would be lost in that morning's attack or that more than 8,000 people would die from post-9/ 11 illnesses.
Now, a quarter of a century later, more than one-third of the U.S. population is too young to remember the terrorists' attacks. So we need to carry history forward so that we never forget and keep our country safe.
We all know that, under the Constitution, national security is the No. 1 responsibility of the Federal Government. As a Federal policymaker, I have worked to ensure that we don't repeat the mistakes that led to the intelligence failures preceding 9/11 and that the missions of the intelligence community, the U.S. military, and Homeland Security are effectively and efficiently serving the American people.
On this solemn 25th anniversary, let's recommit ourselves to the spirit of America and never forget the lives that were lost on 9/11 and in the years that followed. We honor the memory of those who have passed and carry forward the legacy and uncommon courage of the heroic first responders, survivors, servicemembers, and their loved ones.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Madam President, on Friday, our Nation paused to observe the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The passage of time has only emphasized the need for remembrance.
For many of us, the events of that day are as fresh and clear as they were yesterday. But there are so many young Americans--young adults even, now--who were not alive then and who do not remember the grief of that day, the evil we saw, and the patriotism and resolve that rose from the ashes. There are young men and women who have never heard the stories of the heroes--the firefighters, the first responders, the men and women of Flight 93, the ordinary Americans who placed the lives of others above their own.
In the darkness of that day, the very best of America stood up, and I pray that we will never forget their example.
Madam President, it is hard to believe that we are in the last few months of the 119th Congress. Two years ago at this time, Democrats were still in charge, and the country was dealing with the two defining legacies of the Biden administration: a historic inflation crisis and a historic immigration crisis.
And I don't use the word ``historic'' lightly, but those two crises were truly historic. Democrats presided over the worst inflation crisis in 40 years, with inflation reaching 7, 8, and 9 percent. And they presided over 4 straight years--4 straight years--of recordbreaking-- recordbreaking--illegal immigration. Republicans' priority when we came into office was dealing with the effects of these crises, and that started with preventing a massive tax hike on hard-working Americans.
As everyone knows, during the first Trump administration, Republicans passed a historic reform of our Tax Code. We cut tax rates across the board, doubled the child tax credit, and nearly doubled the standard deduction. But that tax relief was scheduled to expire at the end of 2025.
The standard deduction, which is claimed by 90 percent of Americans on their taxes, would have shrunk, increasing the amount of Americans' income the government could tax. Tax rates would have increased. The child tax credit would have been reduced by 50 percent.
For a typical family in my State, that would have meant sending an additional $2,500 a year to Washington. Well, Republicans were not going to let that happen.
And so in 2025, we passed the Working Families Tax Cut--sometimes known as the One Big Beautiful Bill--to prevent this massive tax hike on hard-working Americans.
We made the increased standard deduction permanent; we made the lower tax rates permanent; and we made the increased child tax credit permanent. In other words, more money in American families' pockets permanently.
But we didn't stop there. We were well aware that Americans had had a very rough time financially under the Biden administration and so we took action to put additional money in hard-working Americans' pockets.
In 2017, we had doubled the child tax credit. In 2025, we not only made that increase permanent, we boosted the child tax credit even further and indexed it to inflation so its value will never go down.
We also implemented no tax on tips and no tax on overtime, substantially lowering the tax bills of millions of hard-working Americans, from Uber and Lyft drivers to hairdressers, to police officers. And we added a new bonus deduction for seniors, making retirement more affordable for millions of older Americans.
And our efforts to help Americans keep more of their hard-earned money didn't stop with the Working Families Tax Cuts. We have also spent this Congress cutting burdensome regulations that have driven up prices for hard-working Americans, from the California electric vehicle mandate, which would have forced Americans into costly electric cars, to regulations that would have driven up the cost of appliances.
We passed landmark housing legislation in June to help keep hard- working Americans from being priced out of the housing market, and we took action to drive down costs at the pharmacy counter as well.
We passed a law to ensure that patients get the savings from any discounts or rebates from their purchases at the pharmacy counter in their healthcare plans. We removed incentives for pharmacy benefit managers to promote higher priced medications at the expense of seniors. And we improved access to more affordable generic drugs.
As I said, in addition to reducing taxes and working to lower costs, Republicans were also committed to dealing with the Biden border crisis.
President Trump took action immediately to get the situation at our southern border under control, and the reduction in illegal immigration has been staggering.
During the last full year of the Biden border crisis, which was fiscal year 2024, there were well over 2 million illegal immigrant encounters at our southern border.
Well, we are almost done with fiscal year 2026, and do you want to know how many encounters there have been at the southern border? Fewer than 120,000. We are looking at somewhere on the order of a 90-percent decrease.
And do you want to know how many of those illegal immigrants have been released into the United States? Zero. That is right, not a single illegal immigrant has been released into the United States during the entire 2026 fiscal year. Now, that has been the case for 15 straight months, in fact, under President Trump.
And I don't need to tell anyone what a massive turnaround that is from the Biden administration, which presided over the release of millions of illegal immigrants into our country's interior.
The dangers of the unchecked illegal immigration that we saw under the Biden administration are manifold. And to help prevent anything like that from happening again, the Working Families Tax Cut included substantial resources to help guarantee the security of our Nation's border from additional Border Patrol agents to security technology. We also boosted funding for our national defense and for law enforcement.
Safer communities and a safer country, that has been and will continue to be a Republican priority.
Our work isn't done, but I am proud of what we have been able to do this Congress to put more money in Americans' pockets and to help make our country more secure. And hard-working Americans will continue to be at the top of Republicans' agenda.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 830.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the nomination.
The senior assistant bill clerk read the nomination of Kasdin Miller Mitchell, of Texas, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas.
Madam President, on artificial intelligence, the warning signs about AI's rapid pace have never been clearer. But what is President Trump's response to the recent calls
Well, even if we had a high IQ President right now--and we surely don't--it wouldn't be enough. Congress cannot afford to turn a blind eye to AI.
Today, I am calling for an all-Senators classified briefing with top administration officials to address the dangers of unchecked AI development and hold the administration accountable for its lack of action to protect the American people.
I have long argued that we need to ensure that the United States remain the global leader in innovation and security.
We all know the transformational innovation that can come from AI for advances in medicine, science, education, research, and so much more. But I have also always said that if our economy and our society is to reap the potential benefits of AI, we need sustainable innovation as well. That means putting guardrails in to mitigate the risks of this technology and earn the public's trust, which is critical to American leadership.
In the last few months, the importance of these strong guardrails has become more apparent. Just this weekend, leading voices from the AI industry came together to sound the alarm and embrace a slower development of AI to avoid damaging outcomes.
This comes after weeks of revelations of AI going rogue and working together to hack websites, without human control, and of real concerns of the potential catastrophic risks of unchecked AI.
The American people want to see action. Industry leaders want to see action. Many of us on both sides of the aisle want to see action. That is why the Trump administration needs to address three key points in our classified briefing.
First, we need a full accounting of the administration's new framework for testing powerful frontier AI models, something that has been withheld from the public for weeks. We need to know exactly how this framework is identifying and countering potentially catastrophic risks before these AI models are released.
Second, we need to hear how the administration plans to defend our country against increasingly AI-enabled cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. How are we going to protect our power grid, our hospitals, our water treatment systems, schools, telecommunications, banking, and election systems from this new threat? They don't have the sophistication of much larger institutions. They are susceptible to attack. Americans need to know how we are going to protect these systems.
Finally, the administration needs to explain what it is doing to block China from accessing America's advanced AI chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and other cutting-edge tech that the Chinese Communist Party is using to accelerate their own AI development.
For years, I have stressed the importance of protecting this technology from being co-opted by the Chinese, and now there is growing bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress to do so.
We need immediate action, and the President should take it. The administration cannot, in one breath, say we need unrestrained AI development to win the race with China while giving away our AI crown jewels to the Chinese.
I believe preserving America's AI advantage over China and ensuring responsible AI development go hand in hand. We can--we must--do both.
Unless all the facts come out and come out soon, it will greatly hamper our ability to get anything done. That is why this classified briefing is of the utmost importance. I urge the administration to provide a classified briefing on AI to the entire Senate immediately.
Regardless, Senate Democrats will take further action on AI in the coming days and weeks. The U.S. Government cannot sit this one out.
Madam President, as our colleagues know, I serve as ranking member of the Rules Committee, which oversees Federal elections. I also serve on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration. And
At a time when many Americans feel discouraged by the Trump administration's unprecedented chaos and corruption, it is heartening to see a Federal Government employee with the integrity and the courage to expose potential illegal activity and abuse of power.
Today, Leader Schumer and I made the full disclosure public, and I am going to go over some of these highlights, which are incredibly disturbing. They are disturbing to me, and I think they should be disturbing to every Member of this Chamber.
First, leadership at the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has ordered hundreds of employees in USCIS's Fraud Detection and National Security Division to stop doing the jobs they were hired and trained to do and instead watch a short training video and immediately turn their time and attention to something called the Unlawful Voter Initiative. They were directed to stop their anti-fraud work. This administration makes a lot of claims about going after fraud. They were directed to stop their national security screenings. They were directed to stop all the things that this administration claims it cares about and instead go on a wild goose chase to find or manufacture evidence for the President's conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud.
This, without question, is a terrible waste and misuse of Agency resources, but colleagues, it is actually so much more worse than that. The whistleblower disclosure also includes compelling claims that USCIS officers are being directed to lie and to misrepresent themselves in order to search voters' sensitive personal information on State election officials' websites. Let me say that again. Federal officers are being told by headquarters to lie or to misrepresent themselves in order to access State voter data. It is a clear violation of State laws, and these violations have likely occurred thousands and thousands of times.
On some State websites, officers are being told to attest under penalty of law that they are the voter or the voter's representative.
On other websites, like the one of my home State of California, officers are being told to misrepresent themselves and enter voters' sensitive information like Social Security or driver's license numbers.
When USCIS officers expressed concerns with these practices, they have been told by Agency leadership to just go ahead, that they won't be ``personally liable.'' Think about that for a second. If what the Department is doing and if what these officers are being told to do was legal, it begs the question of, why would they need to be reassured by Agency lawyers that they won't be held personally liable?
The whistleblower disclosure also reveals that DHS is using their own unreliable data to target people for investigation. That is right--data that the Department and Agencies already acknowledge is unreliable. Agency leadership is then forcing USCIS officers to create Federal law enforcement records against people, many of them U.S. citizens, even though they have doubts about the accuracy of the data.
So let's take a step back. Why are they doing this? Well, the Trump administration has tried and failed to force States to hand over these voter rolls. President Trump tried it in his first term through a sham Commission which failed and then weaponized the Federal Government to try to accomplish it here in his second term. But guess what. They have been taken to court, and they have lost in court over 30 times. States represented by Democrats and Republicans have said no, so the proverbial front door is locked.
As much as Trump wants access to voter data, the front door is locked, and now they are trying to break in a back door. They are using something called supplemental magic. That is right--in the materials that have been uncovered, they are using this supplemental magic to create a list of people that they think are not eligible to vote. Remember, the Agency has already said they know the data is unreliable.
So, frankly, this disclosure raises a lot of questions. Why is this initiative happening now? Who are the potentially hundreds of thousands of people being investigated? Who are they? And what the heck is supplemental magic? We need answers. This Senate--Congress--deserves answers. The American people deserve answers.
Agency training materials for this initiative say that ``raw data includes a lot of U.S. citizens.'' Let me repeat that. The training materials acknowledge that the data includes ``a lot of U.S. citizens.'' So why would you target them when you are looking for noncitizen voters?
DHS and USCIS also admit that their data is unreliable, complex, and will have multiple ID numbers for various individuals. Nevertheless, officers are told to generate Federal law enforcement records against them, even if they suspect that they are relying on inaccurate or incomplete information.
It is already clear that this Unlawful Voter Initiative is inaccurate, not to mention likely illegal, but to make matters worse, it has also been rushed, and it is reckless because rank-and-file USCIS officers are given reckless quotas to review 40 people per day. Do the math. That is five people per hour or 12 minutes per individual.
Colleagues, you know as well as I that 12 minutes to review unreliable data and complex immigration history is not an adequate amount of time to conduct a thorough investigation--because these aren't that; these are sham investigations.
We all know that voting by a noncitizen is illegal. That is already the law. You know that. I know that. We also know that based on study after study, report after report, audit after audit, it is extremely, extremely rare. Our current safeguards are working.
This Unlawful Voter Initiative does not appear to be a legitimate effort, and we should not take anything that comes out of it at face value.
Just 12 minutes for an investigation, a lot of U.S. citizens, the unreliable magic data, and potentially thousands of violations of State and Federal privacy laws--saying that this is dangerous for our democracy is a huge understatement.
This is more than a reckless attempt to prove Donald Trump's election-denial talking points, like the ones he used in the White House speech this past July. Diversion of Federal law enforcement to break laws for political purposes is a clear abuse of power, and there is a very real danger that thousands of naturalized U.S. citizens and legal residents will potentially face negative consequences because of this sham investigation.
This isn't just about voting; this could lead to unwarranted secondary screening at airports, consequences for immigration benefits, referrals to HSI or the FBI for criminal investigation, and no clear recourse to undo the consequences of an erroneous Federal law enforcement record being created after a quick 12-minute review.
There is also the danger that Donald Trump will use false numbers of supposed votes cast by noncitizens to threaten to prosecute State and elections officials that he doesn't like. The President and his allies could even try using the unreliable results of this Unlawful Voter Initiative to undermine and challenge election results themselves.
That is right--January 6 was not the end of this.
So, today, Senator Schumer and I sent this whistleblower's disclosure regarding the so-called Unlawful Voter Initiative to Secretary Mullin and USCIS Director Edlow. We are demanding an immediate halt to these activities. We are demanding transparency from DHS. We are demanding the removal of unreliable law enforcement records, many of which are against U.S. citizens.
We will have more to say about this in the coming days.
I would remind the Department and USCIS that whistleblowers to Congress are protected by Federal law. Let me repeat: Whistleblowers to Congress are protected by Federal law.
This individual will remain anonymous, and any attempt at retaliation is illegal and wrong.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
Colleagues, the story broke today that the Trump family has confirmed that a Russian oligarch, a close ally of Vladimir Putin-- a man whose fortune was gifted to him by Putin--paid for the private island wedding of the President of the United States' son.
I am here on the floor because I am scared to death that this is all going to start just feeling normal. Let me say it again. A Russian oligarch, a close ally of our enemy Vladimir Putin, a man whose fortune was gifted to him by Vladimir Putin, paid for--secretly--the private island wedding of the President of the United States' son.
The President's son Donald Trump, Jr., tried to hide this fact. He posted pictures of his wedding celebration online. There was a public conversation about whether the President was going to attend or not. But the President's son made no mention that the whole thing, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, a private island, was bankrolled by the Russians.
In fact, the only face of the 50 guests that is hidden in the group photo that you can look at right now online, the only person's face that is hidden, is the oligarch. But he is there because he secretly paid for the celebration.
The Russians paid for the private island. The Russians paid for the fireworks show. The President's son even put this oligarch in charge of planning the logistics. This was a Russian party, organized and paid for by someone in Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
This has never happened before in the history of the United States of America. Never before has a foreign enemy of the United States paid for the family wedding of the President. Why? Because it is naked corruption, in plain view. It is as close to treason as you get, accepting lavish gifts, millions of dollars in gifts perhaps, from the enemy of this Nation.
Let us spend a minute on this oligarch. We just learned this today, so forgive me if we have scant details. I think we are going to find out a lot more about this guy in the coming days and weeks. But his name is Umar Kremlev. He is a convicted criminal. He runs a boxing company that is funded by Putin. More specifically, by Gazprom, Putin's state-run gas company.
He is not just some ordinary oligarch. He is one of Putin's favorites. In addition to running this boxing association, he runs the Russian lottery. He has a monopoly on Russian sports betting.
Shortly before financing and attending the Trump wedding, Kremlev and Putin were together in China. Putin brought him on a really important state visit to China. Putin has given Kremlev the highest Kremlin honor, The Order of Friendship. The Ukrainian government has sanctioned Kremlev because he is part of Putin's inner circle. All of Kremlev's money is Putin's money. He operates as an arm of Putin, as do all the Putin-made oligarchs.
Before today's disclosure of his secret financing of the Trump wedding, there was no record of Donald Trump, Jr., and Kremlev being great best buddies because they aren't. It appears that they just recently met. And shortly after meeting, this close ally of Vladimir Putin offered to pay for Donald Trump, Jr.'s wedding.
Here's what Eric Trump said today, when a reporter asks his office about Umar Kremlev, this close friend of Donald Trump, Jr.'s.
This is Eric Trump, Donald Trump, Jr.'s brother, his business partner, has never heard the name of the close associate, the close friend of Donald Trump, Jr.'s who paid for his entire wedding. Why? Because they are not friends. This is a business between the Trump family and the Russian Government.
This all fits two patterns. The first is the Trump family's reliance on Russian support for their business empire. Donald Trump, Jr., said this, prior to when his father became President. He is talking about his family's business.
More recently, those who have looked at the individuals who are buying Trump's cryptocurrency have noted that there is evidence that the Trump family's cryptocurrency is backed perhaps heavily by Russian buyers.
But the second and more significant pattern is this: Trump's sons, particularly Donald Junior, just brazenly profit off of their access to the White House. Donald Junior, he just basically stuffs money into his pockets from anybody who wants a favor from his father, and he just gobbles up government contracts as fast as he can.
Don Junior's net worth was $50 million before his father's second term.
In the first year that Trump was President, in his second term, Don Junior's net worth didn't double; it didn't triple; it didn't quadruple; it grew by six times in one year--$50 million. A year later, $300 million.
At least 13 companies tied to the Trump brothers have captured $1.8 billion in long-term Federal contracts and commitments and $103 million in direct cash from the Trump administration. Five of those companies got their first government contracts ever after the Trump sons invested. That is corruption. It doesn't matter whether this is a Republican administration or a Democratic administration.
Now, you could be offended at all of that, but you might say: Well, this isn't that. This isn't Trump Junior taking money from the taxpayers. This is just his taking money from the Russians. Isn't that better than his taking money from taxpayers?
Of course, it isn't because Putin doesn't pay for a wedding just to be nice. This is an arrangement in plain sight.
Donald Trump has done a 180-degree turn in U.S. policy on the Russia- Ukraine war. He has cut off funding from Ukraine. Even after we appropriate money, he refuses to spend it, which is illegal. As recently as this weekend, he said publicly that it is Ukraine's fault that the war continues, not Russia's. In addition, Trump has suspended sanctions on the export of Russian oil and gas, which, by the way, specifically helps Gazprom, the company that funds Kremlev. Trump has become one of Putin's most important allies.
And so, like everything else in Trump's corrupt world in his second term, it just becomes this mutually beneficial deal. Trump withholds support for Ukraine and pads the pocket of the Russian Government with sanctions relief, and the Russians funnel money to the family.
Doesn't everybody see this? Shouldn't everyone here be outraged today that the President of the United States' son just had his wedding--his multimillion-dollar wedding--paid for by the Russians, and he admits it?
I know that there are a lot of Republicans in the Senate who are aghast at what Trump has done to abandon Ukraine, and I know there are a lot of Republicans here who are furious at this spiraling corruption. I don't know that there is a single Member of this body, Republican or Democrat, who would go on TV tonight and defend the Russian Government's paying for the Trump family's private island wedding.
But at some point, there just has to be a bottom that the U.S. Senate unanimously recognizes. Does any Republican here think that you would say nothing if Hunter Biden's wedding or Malia Obama's graduation party were financed by Iranian allies of the Ayatollah? You guys would shut this place down if that were to happen.
And, of course, you can't even imagine that happening under a different administration because, despite all the histrionics over the ``Biden Crime Family,'' never before in the history of this country have we had a White House where the financing of a family wedding by a foreign adversary would pass as a minor scandal that barely makes the front pages.
Just because the corruption happens so routinely that, to some, it feels normal doesn't mean that it is. If we don't, on a bipartisan basis here in the Senate, draw a line in the sand soon, it will be the end of our Republic. It just will be.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. President, I rise today to speak about AI safety, a topic that is getting a lot of attention. But, in particular, I want to talk about something that may be overlooked.
As you know, we have seen several incidents of AI agents escaping confinement and hacking other systems recently. Most people--experts-- tend to attribute this to frontier AI models becoming too powerful. They warn of a process leading to superintelligence known as recursive self-improvement. This is where AI models finally become smart enough to start building better versions of themselves, and then these better versions of themselves will be able to build even better versions of themselves.
And the warning we are hearing from so many at this time is that we need to prepare for that rapid increase in the capability of the frontier models.
We are hearing that artificial superintelligence is coming, and this deep concern about the rapidly emerging artificial superintelligence is certainly well founded. But the capacity--even the advanced supercapability of any given model--is not the whole story. This isn't the only risk we face.
I want to call our attention to one specific aspect of the recent security incidents that have so alarmed experts and the general public alike. These attacks were carried out by AI agents networking with each other and working together in surprising ways to cause mayhem.
The AI agents most of us are aware of are autonomous or semiautonomous AI applications that can plan and execute a task. Agents are able to act on their own initiative with minimal human supervision. And when agents communicate with each other over a network, whether that is in a factory laboratory or on the open internet, those so- called swarms of agents have shown the ability to spontaneously self- organize and work toward common goals. And when they do, they become surprisingly powerful.
It appears something like Metcalfe's law may apply. Internet engineer Bob Metcalfe famously observed that when a network grows in a linear fashion, its value grows exponentially.
This phenomenon that powered the rapid growth of the internet--and I witnessed firsthand, in my days in the private sector--we now see how this extreme, powerful phenomenon might also apply to large groups of agents networking with each other, self-organizing and working together.
In recent examples, agent swarms have used this new form of power to gain unauthorized access into computer systems while skillfully evading detection.
Here is an illustration of how this works. Imagine 10,000 highly intelligent AI agents all working to solve a difficult, 10-step hacking challenge. Well, that is interesting, and some of them might also crack the code. But if each of these 10,000 agents takes its own approach to solving the problem, that is 10,000 possible solutions being tried at once. The first agent that figures out step No. 1 alerts all the other agents in the system about the solution, and now an entire swarm of agents stops working on step 1 and gets to work on step 2--again, each of their own individual approach, one of which is going to work. Repeat this until the entire group has raced all the way through to step 10, and then they are using what they learned to attack their targets.
This is what we are up against today, even before the next generation of highly intelligent models arrives.
Now, imagine yourself in a job, trying to manage 10,000 networked agents, perhaps as an experiment or perhaps you are going to use this power to accomplish a noble goal, such as finding a cure for a disease. It is your job to make sure that they aren't doing anything that you don't want them to do.
So these agents--networking of agents--are extremely well informed. They operate at the speed of light. And, as we are learning, they are also capable of creating their own goals, and they are highly capable of deception.
There are literally hundreds of billions of lines of communication for them and between them to monitor. This is exactly what frontier labs have been contending with.
Unlike powerful AI models designed to serve individual users individually, one at a time, which is the AI safety scenario I think most people still have in their minds, this situation with agents swarming is more difficult to manage, and it is far more dangerous.
And we are hearing about this from leaders throughout the industry right now. They are all speaking out, and several recently published lengthy formal statements on this subject. I think it serves us well to hear what they have said.
In the August 26 essay entitled ``The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical,'' Bill Gates stated:
When asked about the infamous AI Hugging Face incident, where swarming of rogue agents from one company hacked their way into another, Gates stated bluntly:
The CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, also issued a lengthy statement on this subject entitled ``We Must Pace the Frontier.'' In it, he expressed his concerns about ``the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident''-- these were his words--``in which a swarm of agents essentially acted as a fanatically devoted collective, conducting cybersecurity attacks on targets they were not asked to attack and that were unrelated to the task at hand, sacrificing themselves for the success of the group, and attempting to hack into the `grader' responsible for evaluating their performance.''
Well, he went on to elaborate:
He goes on to say:
So, on August 7, after the Hugging Face incident was first revealed, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, spoke about the company's upcoming release, known as Astra. He claimed that it attained what OpenAI called critical cyber security threshold. Well, he said:
Well, nevertheless, on September 3, OpenAI released Astra with the addition of certain security guardrails.
Then, in response to Dario's essay calling for extreme caution and a slowdown, he tweeted: ``I agree with Dario.''
So the problem here is we have a bunch of people within the industry calling out what are these technology developments, but we--we--need to do something about this. We need to be better informed. We need to do more.
Three years ago, we had a chance to get ahead of this issue. In 2024, when I chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, we passed the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act, which would have given the Federal Government the ability to work with industry to independently test most advanced AI systems for serious national security risk.
Now, some of these risks may not have been apparent in the last 2 years, but we would have stood up the muscle of our organization at the Federal level to better detect risks like cyber attacks; risks like chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons; or threats to our current infrastructure and our energy systems.
And we also passed Senators Lujan and Blackburn's TEST AI Act, which
Senators Hickenlooper and Capito's VET Artificial Intelligence Act would have established standards so that third-party auditors could test AI systems for safety and security--the very thing that the Anthropic CEO just called out over the weekend.
So at a time when we still had a window to get ahead of these dangers, the Federal Government and the people here were denying this opportunity, particularly my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. If we had passed these bills, we would have been more ahead of the game than we are today. Instead, we have lost 3 years.
The technology keeps advancing. The risks keep growing. And now the very dangers we have warned about--autonomous cyber attacks and biological weapons--are no longer theoretical.
It is time that we act and act aggressively. We must keep in mind that these AI models consistently lag about only 7 months, and the most powerful open models continue to come from China. So it is time for my colleagues to come together to act.
We know that these threats are real--cyber security, misinformation-- building on these AI agents that could be used in military applications. We need our colleagues to say ``Stop saying the industry can do what it wants'' and put together the infrastructure at the Federal level that not only has strong Federal standards but also has independent testing and real safeguards for the American people.
Now is the time to act.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the mandatory quorum call under rule XXII has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the nomination of Matthew R. Byrne, of Ohio, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio, shall be brought to a close?
The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Marshall), the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Schmitt), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).
Mr. President, tomorrow, the Senate will vote on a crypto bill that poses massive risks to our families, to our national security, and to our economy. And if that is not bad enough, while Americans across this country suffer from an affordability crisis, this bill will turbocharge President Donald Trump's ability to rake in billions and billions of dollars from crypto.
Late last night, we got the details of President Trump and the Republicans' final offer on ethics on this bill, and it reads exactly like what you would expect the most corrupt President in our history to bless: a weak fig leaf that will do nothing to stop him from making his next $1.4 billion in crypto profits.
First, it makes sure that the law could never be enforced against Donald Trump because it gives his political appointees the power to turn off enforcement of all of these ethics provisions.
Second, it contains major loopholes designed to allow President Trump to keep earning billions of dollars from his crypto business, including World Liberty Financial and his new bank. Yeah, you heard that right.
On August 14, World Liberty Trust Company received preliminary approval for a Federal banking charter. Donald Trump and his family own 38.25 percent of the bank. An investment fund backed by the UAE's National Security Advisor and brother of the UAE's President reportedly owns 49 percent of the bank. The bank charter was conditionally granted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a Federal banking Agency controlled by--wait for it--Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is now the first President in American history to own and oversee his very own bank. It may be the most brazen act of self- dealing that our financial system has ever seen. The bank can serve as the financial hub of the President's web of corruption. With a bank charter, World Liberty will be able to operate nationwide, offer families and businesses financial products and services, and enjoy the credibility that comes with having the Federal Government's stamp of approval.
The bank's primary product is the USD1 stablecoin, which is currently issued by a third party bank partner under a licensing agreement with World Liberty. The stablecoin arrangement earned President Trump $200 million last year. You know, that is a big chunk of the $1.4 billion that he earned from his various crypto ventures just in 2025 alone.
USD1 is already the fifth largest stablecoin in the entire world, and now, with the Federal banking charter, World Liberty can issue the stablecoin directly without a separately regulated bank partner. The charter could supercharge the growth of USD1, increase its interconnectedness with the U.S. financial system, and, as a result, drive even greater profits for President Trump and his family.
Donald Trump's bank is a new vehicle for billionaires, corporations, and
Look, this is not hypothetical. We already saw this play out last year in a trial run before World Liberty actually got its bank charter. MGX, which is a UAE state-owned investment fund, made a $2 billion investment in the crypto exchange Binance. Instead of using fiat currency--ordinary money like the U.S. dollar--to purchase stock in Binance, MGX paid Binance using USD1, cutting Trump in on the deal.
Coincidentally, President Trump pardoned the founder of Binance, who had pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. Trump has also provided an array of foreign policy favors to the UAE, including giving the UAE a special exemption from U.S. export controls and approving the sales of advanced AI chips to UAE companies despite repeated warnings from our own national security officials that the technology could be diverted to China. So now, with Trump's Federal bank charter, we could just see more of the same thing.
Even setting aside the clear conflict of interest and the corruption, World Liberty's charter application would have been flatly denied under any previous administration, Republican or Democrat, due to its national security risks, anti-money laundering vulnerabilities, and lack of competent management.
So consider this: A foreign intelligence official backed a minority investment in the entity behind Trump's bank. Companies affiliated with the bank--Trump's bank--reportedly sold millions of dollars' worth of tokens to buyers that conducted business with North Korean state- sponsored hackers, with sanctioned Russian money laundering entities, and with other illicit actors; partnered with a venture whose main project was led by individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Government; and accepted $100 million from a businessman reportedly under investigation for money laundering by the United Kingdom. That is who Trump is in bed with in order to do this banking deal.
Most of the executives in charge of Trump's bank have little or no experience in banking. The bank's founder and proposed president, Zachary Witkoff, also happens to be the son of President Trump's Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, and he has never worked before in a senior banking role.
One of the bank's board members was the chairman and CEO of an accounting company that was subject to multiple SEC and PCAOB enforcement actions, including for ``systematic quality control failures and violations of audit standards.''
In other words, there is one person here who has some experience, and that is the person who has already been called out for systematic quality control failures and violations of audit standards.
Then there is the chief compliance officer of Trump's bank, who previously served as the chief compliance officer of a large crypto platform that blew up in 2022 called Voyager Digital. The platform faced multiple enforcement actions from State and Federal regulators for compliance failures, including luring customers to store their money on the platform by falsely claiming that the money would be FDIC insured.
So that is who Donald Trump has pulled together. But Donald Trump owns the bank, and he controls the Federal banking Agency that is responsible for approving the charter of that bank, and the application miraculously was approved.
Now it is on to Congress to step in and terminate this corrupt bank charter, and that is exactly what the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act would do. The bill would prohibit Federal banking Agencies from approving various types of banking applications when the applicant is owned or controlled by a range of senior government officials. It would also require the termination of any such charters or applications that have been granted since January 20, 2025, which includes World Liberty's national bank charter.
Look, this is just common sense. It is the least that Congress could do to start unwinding President Trump's web of corruption.
Now, unfortunately, my Republican colleagues want to move in exactly the opposite direction. They seem intent on furthering President Trump's corruption. Look no further than the Senate's first order of business after the August recess. Here we are. We have been away for weeks. We come back, and what do the Republicans in the Senate put on the floor for us to work on? Is it a bill to make life more affordable for American families? No, not that. Is it a bill to end Donald Trump's dangerous war in Iran? Oh, not that. Is it a bill that would juice the value of President Trump's crypto empire and reward the crypto billionaires who have facilitated his corruption? Bing, bing, bing-- that is what the Republicans put on the floor. As if the latest glaring loopholes in the ethics provision weren't enough, it doesn't even apply to Donald Trump's new bank.
So here is the deal: Instead of further enriching the President, maybe Congress should curb this corruption--just clean up a little bit here--and let's start by passing my bill, the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act. Let's make sure that we do not pass a crypto bill that will let Donald Trump continue to rake in billions of dollars in crypto profits while working families across this country struggle to deal with higher prices and an economy that gets worse by the day.
Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 5389, introduced earlier today; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the immediate consideration of S. 5389, which the Senator from Massachusetts has requested, has given her an opportunity to blast again President Trump and his family.
World Liberty Financial is not his business; it is his children's business. This body has been very reticent, for good reason, to control the economic activities of the children of Members of the Senate. This is their business, and they have very good reason to choose to go overseas to do that business--because they were debanked in the United States for political reasons. If you have a business that has accounts in American banks and you are told you have got a week to get your money out of that bank and you are going to have to make payroll, you have got a problem.
The Trump kids had a problem because, during the last administration, they were debanked. During the last administration, oil and gas companies were debanked. Firearms companies were debanked. Digital asset banks that were banking digital asset companies and were completely solvent were forced out of business. That is what happens with people who are obsessed with bank surveillance and obsessed with power--that is what they do with it--and now we are seeing it again in S. 5389.
This bill has so many technical flaws that I don't know where to start. So let's start with the word ``control.''
Does the Senator from Massachusetts use the word ``control'' to mean control under the Bank Holding Company Act or the Home Owners' Loan Act or the Change in Bank Control Act? It is not specified in the text.
Does the Senator realize that there is a massive loophole in her bill that would permit a covered person to acquire a bank through a change of control application to purchase?
The Senator from Massachusetts may also not have realized that the Federal Reserve Board is not the legal decisionmaker for master accounts under 12 U.S.C. 2488. The Federal Reserve Banks are. Many times, including in the Custodia case before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Reserve Board directs an outcome to the Federal Reserve Banks, as is the case in Custodia, but the Board does not approve applications.
I would also like to remind the Senator from Massachusetts that she cheered on the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and the OCC when they weaponized their powers and terminated the bank accounts of many law- abiding Americans--those engaged in digital asset activities, firearms, and oil and gas. It was all part of Operation Choke Point 2.0.
On the Banking Committee, we finally saw the guidance documents that were being used by the Federal Reserve through its division of bank supervision, which is overseen by the Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve. They were using guidance, saying: If directors of a bank or the president of a bank is making inappropriate political remarks, that is a reason for a little bureaucrat to get after him.
That is what happened in Canada when the truckers had their bank accounts shut down because they were picketing the capital, and people who donated to their cause had their bank accounts shut down.
This is a surveillance state in the making, and the leader of that surveillance state in the making is in this room tonight. She is the proponent of S. 5389.
This is a stain on our country. We have to rid this country of this stain wherein we surveil our own people through their bank accounts-- how they spend their money--the seeing eye of the Federal Government on what you do.
This is wrong. This is un-American. This bill is un-American.
Mr. President, I just know there were some words I didn't hear in the objection. I never heard anything about the $1.4 billion in profits that Donald Trump made in his first year of crypto activities, and I never heard any words about the fact that Donald Trump now is the first person in American history to both regulate the bank and own his own bank. I didn't hear anything about that, and that is what this bill is all about.
It is about the corruption and the opportunity for Donald Trump to be able to run his own bank; to do it with partners who are, at best, shall we say, ethically compromised; and to be able to invite in whoever wants to come and leave whatever kinds of wealth behind for Donald Trump to be able to gobble up.
You know, I understand it is hard to stand up to a man like Donald Trump, but at some point, the folks in this Congress over on the Republican side are going to have to grow a backbone. The American people know corruption when they see it, and this is corruption. What Donald Trump is doing with cryptocoins and now with his own bank to be able to supercharge his crypto wealth and to do it at a time when the people who followed Donald Trump lost $4 billion in their Donald Trump investments--this is a President who is all about enriching himself and not about serving the American people.
The least we could do--the least we could do--in the U.S. Senate is say: The guy who is in charge of the regulations, who runs the whole country--he tells us how powerful he is--and the guy who can actually say to the bank regulators--and does--``back off or move forward'' should not have his own bank to enrich himself and to pump up his crypto ownings.
I get it--the Senator is here to object--but what she doesn't talk about is the Trump corruption that is on the front page of every paper that is talked about and in news stories. People see it; it is documented; and the American people, I think, are just damned sick of it.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. President, I am here, thinking about all the Americans who are working on manufacturing plant assembly lines, of all the Americans who are teaching our kids in school or who are patrolling our streets as police or who are working in our hospitals--all of the hard-working Americans who are just working to get by, to make ends meet, to know whether they can afford another $20 or $30 at the supermarket.
Then to think of Donald Trump's making $6 million per day last year-- a total of $2.2 billion just in the first year of his Presidency--I don't think there is a single person in America who thinks that he earned that money. And how could he? He is supposed to be devoting every waking moment to the public interest of the United States--to keeping us safe and our Nation secure.
The fact is that it was the result of corruption as $1.4 billion of it came from crypto. The point of this legislation is, essentially, to end that corruption. We will vote tomorrow on a crypto bill that is, sadly and tragically, riddled with loopholes that enable him to continue this same self-dealing and self-enrichment.
The failure to stand up to the President, I think, is going to be on our Republican colleagues because this amendment--ethics requirements for digital assets--is a sham; it is a charade. If nothing else, Republicans should take a stand and say: In crypto legislation that is supposed to stop wrongdoing, lawlessness, and the funding of terrorist organizations and money laundering, now is the time to also impose a strong conflict-of-interest rule--the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act.
Think of it for a moment, the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act, it bans the President and the Vice President and their immediate families from owning or controlling banks.
When I came to the U.S. Senate, if you had told me I would be supporting an Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act because it would be necessary to stop corruption and because the President would be twisting and ignoring and bending norms and precedents of the Presidency, I would have said: That would never happen in the United States of America.
But President Trump has been clear: There is no ethical line separating his role as President from his family's businesses. It is that simple.
Corruption has become the family business.
After President Trump issued an Executive order to assert control over the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, his control over that body--which approves bank charters--surprise, Trump's crypto company, World Liberty Financial, applied for a bank charter.
And, no surprise, on August 14, 2026, World Liberty Financial was granted conditional approval for a national bank charter.
Corruption has consequences. It has costs. That bank charter is worth millions--maybe hundreds of millions--to World Liberty Financial, but it will enable World Liberty Financial to exploit and take advantage of consumers that will cost them money out of those hard-earned wages that they make.
In fact, Donald Trump made $1.4 billion, including 636 million from his meme coin, but nearly a million Americans lost billions of dollars--more than $3 billion--while he was making his huge profits.
Corruption has consequences. It has costs. When the President of the United States is dealing with the Emiratis, who have bought a 49- percent share for billions of dollars in one of his enterprises, and then the Emiratis receive approval for the purchase of chips that have been refused them or defense equipment that is hugely valuable to them, it threatens our national security.
And when the President's son or his family go around the world establishing resorts, making deals, there is always a quid pro quo. There is always a quid to the quo. There is no free lunch. Our security is compromised. There are costs to our taxpayers.
And that plane that was supposedly a gift is already costing us hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention our being beholden to the Qatar Government. There is no free lunch.
After Donald Trump, Jr., became a partner of the venture capital firm 1789 Capital, its assets ballooned to $3 billion as its portfolio companies rapidly received lucrative government contracts.
Those government contracts impact the taxpayers when they are sole source, when they are granted without proper review and scrutiny and oversight of what the costs will be to taxpayers. There is no free lunch.
So this measure is not only important, it is necessary. And I have to say, the consequences of corruption are
Just this morning, ProPublica reported that Donald Trump, Jr.'s, lavish wedding in the Caribbean was, in effect, heavily bankrolled by a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin. His name is Umar Kremlev.
Umar Kremlev is also involved in an organization that reeducates Ukrainian children who have been abducted.
I have been to Ukraine 11 times. On a number of those trips, I have met with children who have been abducted and kidnapped by Vladimir Putin. It is the reason he has been judged and charged as a war criminal. And one of his henchmen, apparently, is Umar Kremlev in reeducating those children so that they will forget their past, forget their language, forget their culture, forget their religion.
This is truly criminal. And Kremlev has paid likely hundreds of thousands of dollars for Donald Junior's lavish wedding. He is in a photograph of the wedding party.
That picture haunts me. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. And the picture of a man who has, in effect, been complicit in abducting and reeducating children, separating them--and not just a few but literally tens of thousands, as many as 35,000, maybe 50,000 or more--separating them from their families. I wouldn't want to be caught on the same island with him, let alone having him rent the island for a wedding of a family member.
Let me put it another way: Those Americans who are working hard to make ends meet, wondering whether they can afford another $20 or $30 at the supermarket while Donald Trump averaged $6 million a day in 2025, ought to demand of all of us that we pass the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act.
It is the least we can do. It is a first step. And I hope that we will also pass a crypto measure that is worthy of this body and its name.
Mr. President, briefly, in response to the gentleman who just spoke, the digital asset bill we are voting on tomorrow, the Clarity Act, gives the Democrats exactly what they asked for on an ethics deal. It requires the President to divest or use a blind trust, disclosure of sales, a ban on promoting your own coin, and State AG enforcement power.
Take the win.
Mr. President, I would like to conclude my remarks. We will talk Clarity tomorrow, and I would like to move into closing the Senate for today and making announcements about tomorrow's schedule.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. President, I want to pay tribute to a friend and longtime supporter, who was a lifelong champion for the family farmer and highly respected leader for innovation and conservation that he put into practice on his own family farm in southwest Iowa. Today would have been his 74th birthday.
On Saturday, September 5, Ray Gaesser passed away unexpectedly after a farming accident, a heartbreaking loss to his beloved family and a big loss to the farming community.
Like many farmers across Iowa, Ray never stopped working. He started farming as a teenager alongside his dad in southern Indiana. When he married his wife Elaine, they began Gaesser Farms on a few hundred acres near Corning, the county seat of Adams County. With more than 50 years of farming under his belt, his farming operation eventually expanded to thousands of acres that he worked with Elaine and their son Chris.
A lifelong steward of the soil, Ray practiced what he preached. Conservation was central to his farming operation, and he was a tireless pioneer for sustainability, clean energy, and water quality. Decades ago, he implemented terraces, grass waterways, turn areas, 100- percent no-till planting, and cover crops to conserve the land and strengthen Earth's natural resources.
Ray was widely respected in his southwest Iowa farming community. To be sure, his voice and advocacy on behalf of American agriculture carried near and far, from podcasts to the policymaking table around the world and in Washington, DC.
Throughout his 73 years, Ray burned the midnight oil on the tractor seat and extracted every minute out of the day. He traveled around the globe, sharing stories with farmers about feeding the world, participating at UN Climate meetings, and testifying before Congress on Capitol Hill. A dedicated member of the Iowa Soybean Association, serving as its president from 2006 to 2007, Ray went on to serve as president of the American Soybean Association from 2013 to 2014. His resume reflects his commitment to conservation and forging consensus to address challenges facing the future of farming. Among his many hats, Ray held leadership positions on the Iowa Soybean Promotion Board, the Iowa Economic Development Agriculture Advisory Board, the Iowa Conservative Energy Forum, the North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance, and the International Soybean Growers Alliance. He served as cochair of the Iowa Conservation Infrastructure Initiative and was named Iowa Master Farmer in 2012 and American Soybean Distinguished Leader in 2018.
In 2014, Ray cofound Solutions from the Land and was a tireless crusader for renewable energy, including biomass, wind, solar, and hydropower. Ray understood that proper stewardship of God's natural resources can produce bountiful rewards for the Nation's food and energy security. Just like he never punted on hard work on the farm, he rolled up his sleeves to making things work when a solution seemed out of reach. From climate change to water quality and carbon sequestration, Ray didn't avoid political hot potatoes. He immersed himself and brought stakeholders together on transcendent issues of our time: feeding the world, conserving resources, providing clean water, and producing renewable energy takes a coalition of the willing. In his words, ``When we work together, we all benefit.''
In 2021, Ray was nominated by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to serve on USDA's Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade in grains, feed, oilseeds, and planting seeds. In this role, Ray brought decades of farming experience and dirt underneath his fingernails to the ears of the Nation's top ag and trade leaders to ensure Iowa soybean farmers were heard during global trade negotiations. He served as a commissioner on the Iowa Department of Transportation since 2022.
Ray was a gifted leader and communicator. He used his talents and work ethic to share a pragmatic vision for resiliency and sustainability in agriculture. A son of the soil, Ray wanted to ensure the land could feed the world and sustain livelihoods for generations of farmers yet to come.
From my annual county meetings and policy discussions in my office in Washington, I appreciated Ray's enthusiasm and expertise. He was an impactful problem-solver who effectively leveraged levity and bone deep passion for farming that connected stakeholders and made a difference.
Ray was a faith-filled servant leader, a family man, and a farmer who was called home to the Lord. I have no doubt he will continue doing the Lord's work among the angels, but as his friend, I will miss his advocacy for the family farmer, good-natured outlook on life, and warm, welcoming smile. Barbara and I extend our condolences to his wife Elaine and his two children Chris and Jennifer.
Mr. President, this year, we celebrate 150 years of the Capitol Guide Service. Since 1876, Capitol guides have welcomed visitors to the U.S. Capitol and shared with them the history, art, and architecture that
Over the last 150 years, their uniforms have changed, but the mission of the Capitol guides remains the same. Generations of Americans have passed through this building and learned about our Nation and our government from the Capitol Guide Service. And thanks to these men and women, visitors from around the world can see and understand this building and the business of the American people being done within its walls.
When the first guides began their tours in 1876, Constantino Brumidi was still at work, statues were still arriving from the States, and many States had not yet been admitted to the Union, my own included. The guides in this building are not only history-tellers; they are witnesses to history in the making. I congratulate them on 150 years of welcoming visitors to the Capitol, and I wish them the best in their continued service.
Mr. President, today I recognize Cruz Collin, an intern in my Rapid City, SD, office for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the State of South Dakota over the past several weeks.
Cruz is a graduate of the International School of Toulouse in Toulouse, France. Currently, he is attending the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, OR, where he is pursuing a degree in renewable energy engineering and applied physics. He is a hard worker who has been dedicated to getting the most out of his internship experience.
I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Cruz for all of the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.
Mr. President, today I recognize Morgan Schroeder, an intern in my Rapid City, SD, office for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the State of South Dakota over the past several months.
Morgan is a graduate of White Lake High School in White Lake, SD. Currently, she is attending Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD, where she is pursuing a degree in political science. She is a hard worker who has been dedicated to getting the most out of her internship experience.
I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Morgan for all of the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.
Mr. President, today I recognize Aiden Whitley, an intern in my Rapid City, SD, office for all of the hard work he has done for me, my staff, and the State of South Dakota over the past several weeks.
Aiden is from Edgemont, SD, where he graduated with his high school diploma from homeschool. Currently, he is attending Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD, where he is pursuing a degree in political science. He is a hard worker who has been dedicated to getting the most out of his internship experience.
I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Aiden for all of the fine work he has done and wish him continued success in the years to come.
Mr. President, I rise today in celebration of Bob and Celia Kirkwood, the Boys and Girls Club of Central Wyoming 2026 honorees.
Since 1969, the Boys and Girls Club of Central Wyoming has been inspiring young people to reach their full potential. Local boys and girls participate in educational and athletic programs that provide enrichment and help them become productive, responsible and caring citizens. From leadership development to a focus on healthy lifestyles, the club provides top-notch opportunities for each member.
For over 55 years, the Boys and Girls Club of Central Wyoming has connected youth with dedicated volunteers and mentors. The club serves over 13,000 youth each year across its four-county territory, helping each member become their best self. Each year, at its annual breakfast, the organization highlights an individual or couple for their commitment to giving back to the community. This week, they will honor Bob and Celia Kirkwood with this prestigious recognition.
On Wednesday, September 16, 2026, the Boys and Girls Club of Central Wyoming will host their annual awards and recognition breakfast in Casper. They will honor the Kirkwoods for their unwavering dedication to the Casper community. Bob and Celia's commitment to the youth of Natrona County is certainly worth celebrating. It is fitting that the Boys and Girl Club of Central Wyoming is publicly recognizing their legacy of service and strong investment in our next generation of leaders.
Bob and Celia have been married for 47 years and are the proud parents of Michael Kirkwood, Tom and Cassie Kirkwood and grandparents to Josie. They center their life on faith and are proud that Wyoming has always been home.
In 1982, Bob joined his father's business Kirkwood Oil and Gas. Alongside his brother Steve, they have diversified the company to include oil and gas operations, pipeline management, and real estate. He remains an industry advocate and trusted adviser to many around the State.
Celia focused her time on raising their sons. From volunteering throughout their education to serving as a Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year judge, she is committed to giving back to those who need it most. Celia shines behind the scenes, making sure to concentrate on faith, family, and community service.
Beyond the Boys and Girls Club, Bob and Celia passionately support Saint Anthony Tri-Parish Catholic School, the Wyoming Rescue Mission, and True Care. Our community is fortunate that, where there is a need, the Kirkwoods are willing to step up to help their friends and neighbors.
Bob and Celia are guided by their faith. They encourage the members of the Boys and Girls Club to ``make sure the path you are on leads to the life you truly want and do not be afraid to adjust along the way. Remember, God knows best; trust Him.''
For decades, the couple has led by example and have generously given back to the community they love so much. The Kirkwoods live their mission of meeting real needs and building lasting impact through consistent, practical action.
The Boys and Girls Club of Central Wyoming is instrumental in providing young people with a safe, nurturing, and inspiring space to develop and learn. The opportunities afforded to members allow them to become the future leaders we need. These impressive goals would not be possible without the passion and generosity of Bob and Celia. They are exemplary role models of selfless leadership.
It is with great honor that I recognize this incredible couple and their ongoing dedication to Casper. I encourage my colleagues to join me in celebrating Bob and Celia Kirkwood for everything they have done and continue to do to make Casper a better place for all.
Mr. President, on Friday, our country observed a solemn milestone: the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
I remember that morning vividly. I was just outside this Chamber in the Democratic leader's office, meeting with Senator Daschle. We had just heard the news that the first plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, and we watched in real time on the television as the second plane flew into the Twin Towers. Shortly thereafter, we were told to evacuate the Capitol Building.
From outside, we could see black smoke billowing up across the National Mall, and we knew something terrible had happened mere miles away from where we stood. But we didn't yet know that a third plane had struck the Pentagon. Nor did we know then about the heroic actions of the passengers aboard Flight 93 who lost their lives stopping the hijackers from crashing the plane into another target--likely
There were countless other unsung heroes that day across the country, who worked tirelessly, coordinating rescues, cleaning debris, serving meals, and more. And across the border to our north, Canadians opened their homes, schools, and churches to house and care for more than 30,000 stranded travelers from hundreds of flights that were diverted due to the closure of American airspace. Their hospitality, mobilization, and warmth were never in question and are fondly remembered today. Twenty-five years later, relations between the U.S. and Canada are strained due to the President's trade war, but we will never forget the generosity of our neighbors.
Ultimately, nearly 3,000 innocent victims were needlessly and cruelly killed that morning--leaving behind grieving spouses, children, parents, siblings, colleagues, and friends. More than 3,000 children lost a parent that day--parents who had left home that morning for work or the firefighter, police officer, and other first responder parents who were off duty but rushed to the scene to help.
The victims of 9/11 and their loved ones deserved justice decades ago. But a quarter of a century after 9/11, the trials of those accused of orchestrating the attacks have not even begun.
In the meantime, the children who lost parents on 9/11 have grown up. Countless family members of the victims have passed away. And many continue hoping and waiting for the closure of a trial that remains out of reach.
This injustice is the result of leaders discarding our Nation's highest values and the rule of law when we needed them most--turning instead to torture, indefinite detention, and makeshift military tribunals at Guantanamo. These fateful decisions tainted key evidence and led to years of avoidable litigation that continues to this day-- with no end in sight.
We cannot turn back time. But we owe it to those who lost their lives on 9/11 and their loved ones to salvage what justice remains possible-- not in another two and a half decades but now. At this time of division and turmoil, today's leaders should learn from these failures, not repeat them. It is upholding the rule of law and respecting universal rights that make a nation great.
Mr. President, on another topic, the Senate may consider an initial procedural vote on the CLARITY Act as soon as tomorrow.
Crypto enthusiasts and the crypto industry claim the Senate needs to pass this bill soon in the name of ``innovation,'' but I used to work for a fellow in politics who said, ``For every political issue there's a good reason and a real reason.''
And the real reason for this rush job is the crypto industry's willingness to spend millions against crypto-skeptic candidates and Trump's desire to continue to enrich himself and his allies.
Back in 2019, President Trump said that crypto is ``based on thin air'' and a ``disaster waiting to happen.'' But when he found a way to profit from it, he suddenly changed his tune.
In just the first year of his second term, the President and his family made more than $1.4 billion off cryptocurrency. And his allies, like Steve Witkoff and Todd Blanche, raked in hundreds of millions in crypto profits last year alone. President Trump has sold access to the White House through seedy schemes like his meme coin and pressured Federal banking regulators to grant his family's crypto firm--World Liberty Financial--a banking charter.
He even pardoned Changpeng Zhao, a convicted crypto criminal and founder of Binance, the same company that helped the Trump family's crypto firm launch its stablecoin.
However, my Republican colleagues want Senate Democrats to accept the CLARITY Act as written, even though it does not require President Trump to divest from his crypto fortune, which would allow the President to continue to profit off his crypto schemes.
My Republican colleagues' version of the bill also lacks meaningful consumer protections.
Although I am happy to see some provisions that regulate scandal- ridden crypto ATMs, the CLARITY Act does not do enough.
The FBI received nearly 13,500 complaints about crypto ATM scams in 2025, resulting in $389 million in losses.
Federal financial regulators have warned consumers about these scams, and it is high time for Congress to act.
However, unlike my Preventing Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act, the CLARITY Act fails to require verbal confirmation from consumers before processing transactions and does not allow the Federal Government to impose civil penalties on fraudsters.
That is why legislators need to go back to the drawing board to create meaningful consumer protections.
Congress also must ban the Social Security Trust Fund from investing in crypto and ensure the crypto industry cannot get one dime from a government bailout if and when there is a crypto crash.
Americans' wallets are hurting, and they want real economic reform, not crypto regulation. Polling shows that just 1 percent of Americans rank crypto as a top priority for Congress.
Congress should not help the President get richer or grant the crypto industry their wish list of deregulation. There is no reason to rush a vote on the CLARITY Act; let's take our time and get this right.
Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of myself, my fellow Senate cochairs--Senator Collins, Senator Klobuchar, Senator Murkowski--and the entire Congressional Fire Services Caucus to recognize the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001.
On that tragic morning, nearly 3,000 innocent lives--including 343 members of the fire and emergency services--were taken in acts of terrorism that shook our country to its core. As cochairs of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, we stand today, 25 years later, to remember every individual loss, every family forever changed by unimaginable tragedy, and every community that continues to carry the weight of that day.
As we reflect on the events of September 11, we pay special tribute to America's first responders. In a time of fear, confusion, and turmoil, members of the fire and emergency services rushed toward danger with unwavering resolve. They did not hesitate. They answered the call knowing the risks, guided by a profound commitment to protecting lives.
Mr. President, on 9/11, hundreds of firefighters and EMS providers made the ultimate sacrifice while carrying out their duty. Their courage became a defining symbol of American heroism, reminding us that the measure of service is found not in words, but in selfless action. The courage displayed by these first responders inspired millions and reminded us that hope is strongest when we stand together. In those moments of profound uncertainty, neighbors helped neighbors, communities rallied together, and Americans from every walk of life stood united in compassion and resilience.
We also honor the thousands of first responders who labored tirelessly in the days, weeks, and months that followed. Amid smoke, debris, and uncertainty, they searched for survivors, recovered the fallen, comforted grieving families, and helped a wounded nation begin the long process of healing. Many have since faced life-threatening illnesses and chronic health conditions resulting from their service. Their sacrifices did not end when the recovery efforts concluded, and our Nation's obligation to care for them remains as enduring as their commitment to us.
Mr. President, in the years since September 11, that obligation has taken many forms. The Congressional Fire Services Caucus has worked to ensure that the needs of America's first responders remain a priority in Washington, DC--advocating for the resources, protections, benefits, and support they need to serve their communities and return home safely. The work of the Fire Services Caucus reflects a responsibility that extends far beyond any single anniversary: to understand the needs and challenges of our local fire
Across our cities, towns, and rural communities, first responders answer emergency calls regardless of what awaits them at the scene. They respond to fires, medical emergencies, hazardous material incidents, natural disasters, and much more with the same dedication and sense of duty that defined those who responded on September 11. The work of the fire and emergency services is indispensable to the safety and well-being of every American.
Mr. President, to the younger generations who know September 11 only through history, we must preserve not only the memory of that day, but also the guiding example set by those who responded. The legacy of September 11 is one of courage over fear, service over self, and unity over division.
Today, we honor the individuals whose lives were cut short, the families who continue to bear their loss, and the first responders whose bravery became a lasting testament to the best of America. May we never forget their sacrifice. May we continue to support those who wear the uniform of the fire and emergency services. And may we strive each day to keep building a nation worthy of the courage they displayed on one of our country's darkest days.
Mr. President, today I rise to honor the life of Al Labelle, a dedicated servicemember who held an unwavering lifelong commitment to the advancement of veterans' services. Wisconsin mourns his loss, and his service and legacy will be remembered for years to come.
Mr. Labelle served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Okinawa (LPH-3) from 1965 to 1967. The USS Okinawa deployed to the Vietnam war zone in 1967, and during that deployment, Mr. Labelle participated in nine amphibious landing operations. Mr. Labelle was honorably discharged from Active service but continued his service in the Naval Reserves until 1972.
After returning home, Mr. Labelle's commitment to serving others did not waver. While his career was diverse, his work remained rooted in his desire to connect with and serve others. From caring for patients as a respiratory therapist, to working as an assistant manager of warehouse operations and even owning a bowling alley, Mr. Labelle's professional life reflected his tireless work ethic. Throughout these endeavors, he remained a steadfast advocate for his fellow veterans.
For more than 20 years, Mr. Labelle was a dedicated leader of the Disabled American Veterans DAV, at the local, State, and national levels. He joined the DAV in 2005, becoming a life member of Chapter 57 in Marshfield. He held numerous leadership positions, including benefits protection team leader and chairman of the national interim legislation committee. His advocacy often brought him to our Nation's Capital, where he fought to ensure that our country's veterans received the support and services they earned.
His lifetime of advocacy for veterans was nationally recognized when he received the DAV Outstanding Performance in Advocacy Award for 7 consecutive years. Mr. Labelle's determination to fight for veterans was easy to see, and his impact will be felt by veterans and their families for years to come. I was fortunate to see Mr. Labelle's dedication firsthand through my work with him, and I know Wisconsin's veterans were fortunate to have a champion like him in their corner.
Veterans in Wisconsin and across the country have benefited from Mr. Labelle's devoted advocacy, and I am grateful for his lifetime of service. His legacy will live on through the veterans and families he helped and the countless people he inspired throughout his life.
Mr. President, today I rise to honor John Yingling on his retirement after his distinguished service as chair of the Wisconsin State Fair Park Board. During his tenure, Mr. Yingling helped lead one of the most transformative periods in Wisconsin State Fair history, helping create lasting memories for millions of fairgoers.
In 2011, then-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appointed Mr. Yingling to serve on the Wisconsin State Fair Park Board. During his time as chair, the State fair expanded year-round operations, hosted the largest Clydesdale horse show in North America, and welcomed INDYCAR racing back to the historic Milwaukee Mile. These accomplishments, along with many others, have strengthened the State fair and helped spur investment in the greater Milwaukee community.
When Mr. Yingling became chair, the State fair faced significant financial challenges. He was instrumental in helping move the fair from the red into the black, and under his leadership, those gains were reinvested in the fair and the community.
Mr. Yingling also helped foster innovation and creativity that have become hallmarks of the Wisconsin State Fair. Through the annual Sporkies and Drinkies competitions, State Fair vendors compete to create unique foods and drinks that attract visitors from across Wisconsin and beyond.
As we celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Wisconsin State Fair, I am pleased to recognize Mr. Yingling's distinguished service and his many contributions to the people of Wisconsin. His leadership has helped ensure that the State fair remains a treasured Wisconsin tradition for generations to come.
I congratulate Mr. Yingling on his retirement and wish him all the best.
Mr. President, today I rise to honor the 75th anniversary of the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, WI. I am pleased to celebrate this hospital and to commemorate this historic milestone.
Since 1951, the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital has served Wisconsin veterans with care and compassion. When the hospital was first opened, it was the first of the VA's designated tuberculosis hospitals. After years of providing tuberculosis care, in 1960, the facility was redesignated to provide general medical and surgical care.
In 1976, the U.S. Congress renamed the hospital after Dr. William Shainline Middleton, an accomplished veteran, physician, and academic. Dr. Middleton served as an Army captain during World War I and served with distinction in the Office of the Chief Surgeon during World War II.
Following his military service, Dr. Middleton returned to the University of Wisconsin Medical School, where he taught generations of future physicians and served for 20 years as its dean. In 1955, Dr. Middleton was appointed as the Chief Medical Director for the Veterans Administration. Throughout his career, he was a tireless advocate for the advancement of veterans' healthcare and was a champion for medical research.
Over the past 75 years, the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital has continued to grow and evolve to meet the needs of the veterans it serves. Its longstanding partnership with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health supports medical education, research, and innovation that help advance the care available to veterans. Today, it is a state-of-the-art teaching hospital with many accreditations and achievements that allow the hospital to provide world-class healthcare to our Nation's veterans.
As we honor this significant milestone, I am particularly grateful for the doctors, nurses, and staff who are committed to serving our veterans every day. I look forward to the continued success of the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital and its important work on behalf of Wisconsin veterans for generations to come.
Mr. President, I rise today to recognize a living Hoosier landmark, Todd Family Farm.
For 150 years, seven generations of a single family have stewarded the same soil in Carroll County, IN. The Todd family first came to Carroll County as Baptist ministers and, in 1876, established their farm on what grew to be 4,500 acres of land. Subsequent generations of the family founded the Todd Hybrid Seed Company. From their homestead in Indiana, the Todds developed and distributed seed corn across America, strengthening the Nation's food supply and playing a key role in Indiana's agricultural economy.
It is very rare for family-run farms to endure for a century, let alone 150 years. This reflects the incredible and often difficult work of the Todd family across generations. Over that century and a half, the Todd family farm has survived transfers from one generation to the next, economic panics, a Great Depression, revolutions in agricultural technology, and, of course, fluctuations in commodity prices. Across those generations, members of the Todd family have also demonstrated a deep commitment to service, making sacrifices for their community, State, and country.
This endurance reflects a spirit of hard work and resourcefulness, as well as a commitment to community. This tradition began when the Todds first reached Carroll County and continues to the present day. Their contributions to Indiana, our Nation, and future generations represent a legacy worthy of recognition. Congratulations to the Todd family for earning the Hoosier Homestead Program's Sesquicentennial Award.
Mr. President, as the senior Senator from the great State of South Carolina, it is my pleasure to recognize and congratulate Saint James the Greater Catholic Church as they celebrate their 200th anniversary as a faithful parish in the Lowcountry.
Founded in 1826, Saint James the Greater Catholic Church has served as a beacon of faith, worship, and fellowship. Since its founding, the parish has been a steadfast presence in the community, offering spiritual guidance and contributing to the cultural and historical heritage of the Palmetto State.
South Carolina is blessed by the service, stewardship, and resilience of Saint James the Greater Catholic Church. Standing as one of the oldest historically Black Catholic churches in the South, they continue to build a legacy that embodies faith, hope, and love.
I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Saint James the Greater Catholic Church on celebrating 200 years of faith and service to the Lowcountry and all of South Carolina. The parish's passion to spread the good news and serve others in the community deserves our sincerest gratitude. I look forward to their next 200 years and the positive impact that they will continue to make in the lives of countless South Carolinians.
Mr. President, veterans' mental health is one of the most unspoken struggles our brave men and women in uniform endure after serving our country. Many struggle silently and alone, which is why suicide has become a leading cause of death among our veterans. Combating the mental health crisis for Alabama veterans has become the No. 1 mission of U.S. Army SPC Ashlie Combs of Rainbow City.
Ashlie enlisted in the Army in 2003 after graduating from Bay Minette High School. She grew up in a military family, so she knew the hardships of military life. But the September 11 attacks made Ashlie want to do her part to protect our great country. She deployed to Iraq in 2007, where her team carried out multiple search and rescue missions in order to make sure no soldier was left behind as the war was winding down.
Ashlie and her husband eventually relocated back to Alabama, where she realized there was a lot to be done in making sure veterans aren't left behind when it comes to their mental health. She got involved in various veterans' organizations from the American Legion to her local VFW post, where she connected with vets from all different walks of life. Along the way, she got involved in the local veterans treatment court, where she has spent countless hours helping set vets up for success. Ashlie goes to great lengths to see veterans through their treatment from start to finish.
She recently received her graduate degree in counseling from Auburn University so that she can do this kind of work full-time. Her goal is to bridge the gap between mental health care and affordability to receive care for those who truly need it. September is Suicide Prevention Month, and we are fortunate to have veterans like Ashlie who use their experience to help veterans struggling with their mental health. It is my honor to recognize Ashlie Combs as the September Veteran of the Month.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
S.J. Res. 213. A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security relating to ``Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media''; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
As if in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaty transmitted to the Senate on September 14, 2026, by the President of the United States: Tax Convention with Croatia and Protocol Amending the Tax Convention with Croatia, Treaty Document No. 119-2. I further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the President's message be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The message of the President is as follows:
With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Convention between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Croatia for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Tax Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, with Protocol, done at Washington on December 7, 2022, and the Protocol between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Croatia Amending the Convention between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Croatia for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Tax Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, done at Dubrovnik on April 28, 2026 (collectively, the ``proposed Treaty''). I also
The proposed Treaty would be the first bilateral income tax treaty between the United States and Croatia. The Proposed Treaty follows the current United States Model Income Tax Convention, with only a few divergencies that reflect particular aspects of Croation law and treaty policy. The proposed Treaty significantly reduces (and, in some cases, eliminates) withholding taxes on investment income and provides benefits to individuals engaged in cross-border activities between the United States and Croatia. The proposed Treaty contains Comprehensive provisions designed to address ``treaty shopping,'' which is the inappropriate use of a tax treaty by residents of a third country. The proposed Treaty contains robust mechanisms for the resolution of disputes between the United States and Croation tax authorities as well as rules that allow the tax authorities to provide assistance to each other through the exchange of information to facilitate the administration of each country's tax laws.
I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to the proposed Treaty and give its advice and consent to ratification.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 849.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows:
There being no objection, the committee was discharged and the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.
I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 849) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
(The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in the Record of August 8 (legislative day, August 7), 2026, under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, September 15; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Byrne nomination; further, that notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate vote on confirmation of the Byrne nomination at 11:15 a.m. and, immediately following the vote, recess for the weekly conference meetings until 1:50 p.m.; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Tuesday's session of the Senate, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
