Tuesday, July 28, 2026

The Senate met at 5 p.m. and was called to order by the Honorable John R. Curtis, a Senator from the State of Utah.

The Presiding Officer offered the following prayer: Let us pray. Give us the wisdom, the strength, and the faith to trust in You in all things above and all things. In Your Name, we pray. Amen.

The Presiding Officer led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows:

The legislative clerk read the following letter:

Mr. CURTIS thereupon assumed the Chair as Acting President pro tempore.

The legislative clerk read the nomination of Walter Clayton, of New York, to be Director of National Intelligence.

The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. President, now on mail-in voting, Trump's desperation--this is my opening statement since we just opened at 5 o'clock. Trump's desperation to avoid accountability at the polls this November grows every passing day. Yesterday, Trump begged the Supreme Court to help him block mail-in ballots in every corner of the country. Hey, Donald, did you also tell the Court that you yourself voted by mail just a few months ago? Everyone knows that mail-in voting is safe and secure, and apparently so do you. It is absurd. Trump is pleading for the highest Court in the land to make it harder for millions of Americans to vote using the same method he used to submit his ballot earlier this year. We all know why. Trump sees the writing on the wall for November and thinks he can escape accountability from voters. Trump knows just how bad a bind he is in. Trump can't defeat the crippling costs. Trump can't defend the crippling costs working families see every time they go to the grocery store or the gas pump. Trump can't defend the rampant corruption that has allowed his family to make billions of dollars off the American people. And Trump can't defend the unrelenting chaos he has unleashed in American streets. But Trump can't defend himself from Americans' wrath at the ballot box in November either. Senate Democrats are working around the clock to make sure that every eligible American voter can cast their ballot without interference, intimidation, or obstruction. You can hear in every lawsuit, Executive order, and desperate plea to the Court: Trump is afraid of the voters, not of voter fraud. I yield the floor.

Mr. President, what we have been hearing a lot about in our office and what Tennesseans are talking about is this issue of fraud. What we have seen is how some of these Democratic-run State governments have just gone crazy with committing fraud. There is fraud in Medicaid and immigration and elections. Elected officials have a responsibility to prevent fraud. Voters expect them to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. They expect them to uphold the principle of "one person, one vote." Instead, we have seen Democrats put fraudsters and illegal aliens and their issues ahead of any concerns that are expressed by taxpayers and by American citizens. We should all be grateful that President Trump and his administration are bringing this malfeasance to an end. Here are some examples: Last week, Health and Human Services froze $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota for allowing fraud to flourish in their States. Now, of course you heard the hue and cry about "This was not fair," but fraud has been persistent in their Medicaid Programs. Under Gavin Newsom's watch, government spending in California has surged from $209 billion a year to more than $350 billion. Those are your tax dollars that you are sending to the Federal Government. The Federal Government sends them to California and to Minnesota, and what do they do? They waste them. They allow fraud to take up those dollars that hard-working taxpayers have earned and sent to the Federal Government. Looking at how this Medicaid spending has exploded is unbelievable. The California State auditor has repeatedly flagged billions of these expenditures as questionable payments, including to potential fraud operations, but State Democrats have continued to push the money out the door. The administration noted that $221 million of the frozen funds would have gone to people with "unsatisfactory immigration status." That is illegal aliens, individuals that are not here legally. That is the California Medicaid situation. Governor Walz in Minnesota has similarly overseen billions of dollars in fraud--especially through their State's Medicaid Program. Fake childcare centers, fake autism therapy services, fake senior care facilities--all of it fake--billing millions for nonexistent services. This fraud could help explain why Minnesota has the second highest per-enrollee Medicaid spending under Obama Care--the second highest. California and Minnesota are far from alone. Dr. Oz, who serves as CMS Administrator, recently warned that Chinese organized criminal groups in New York have stolen millions of dollars through fraudulent Medicaid billings. Here is an example of what is happening in New York State: Within a single 1-mile radius in New York City, 64 adult care centers billed to Medicaid, which distributed--get this--$2.1 billion in 1 neighborhood. That is 64 adult care centers within a 1-mile radius. These centers must be door to door--so many of them. When I talk to Tennesseans, they cannot believe that this is tolerated, that it is allowed to happen. Where were the people that were supposed to be in charge? Why are these criminals allowed to continue to steal from the American taxpayer? The simple answer is that Democrats have allowed these schemes to happen. For whatever reason, they just look the other way. It is indefensible, so our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have tried to duck accountability. During a recent Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Medicaid fraud, just one of the committee's seven Democrat members showed up--just one. They don't want to know about it. While encouraging fraud in government programs, blue States have opened the door to fraud in Federal elections. Last week, New Jersey disclosed that the State registered 6,600 noncitizens to vote due to a "glitch." Among them, at least 400 cast ballots in Federal elections. This should come as no surprise. New Jersey is 1 of 14 States that do not require any ID whatsoever to vote, and it refuses to compare its voter rolls with the Federal SAVE database at the Department of Homeland Security, which verifies every person's immigration status. States that do use the SAVE database, including Texas and Ohio, have discovered thousands of noncitizens on their rolls. President Trump recently announced that DHS estimates that approximately 278,000 noncitizens are registered to vote nationwide, a figure that is likely an undercount because blue States refuse to cooperate with the administration's anti-fraud efforts. While Democrats are encouraging fraud, Republicans are working to root it out. Just this month, I joined several of my Republican colleagues in launching the Senate Anti-Fraud Task Force, which will work hand in hand with the administration to examine waste, fraud, abuse in Federal programs. I also introduced the Fraud Accountability Act to make clear that fraud counts as a deportable offense under the Immigration and Nationality Act and that any deportable offense can lead to denaturalization. Republicans are also continuing to fight to get passed the SAVE America Act, which would require individuals to present an ID to cast a ballot and prove U.S. citizenship to register to vote. It would also require States to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls. This legislation is good old common sense. If we need to break it apart and pass it piece by piece, then that is what we should do. The goal is to get it across the finish line. My Election Security Partnership Act, which I led alongside the late Senator Lindsey Graham, would incentivize States to submit their voter registration lists to DHS to identify ineligible voters, including noncitizens. The era of rampant fraud is over. It is coming to an end. Republicans are delivering accountability.

The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.

The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.

The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant executive clerk called the roll. Mr. BARRASSO: The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell). The result was announced--yeas 51, nays 47, as follows:

The nomination was confirmed. (Mr. BUDD assumed the Chair.)

The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows: We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the standing rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 454, H.R. 5334, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow early childhood educators to take the educator expense deduction, and for other purposes. John Thune, Darline Graham, John Barrasso, Tim Sheehy, John Cornyn, John Hoeven, Mike Crapo, James Lankford, Kevin Cramer, Steve Daines, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Tom Cotton, Roger Marshall, Thom Tillis, John R. Curtis, Jon A. Husted, Pete Ricketts.

The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk called the roll.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

The following joint resolution was discharged from the Committee on Environment and Public Works, by petition, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 802(c), and placed on the calendar:

The following joint resolution was discharged from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, by petition, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 802(c), and placed on the calendar:

The following communications were laid before the Senate, together with accompanying papers, reports, and documents, and were referred as indicated:

The following reports of committees were submitted:

The following bills and joint resolutions were introduced, read the first and second times by unanimous consent, and referred as indicated:

At the request of Mr. Cornyn, the name of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 65, a bill to allow reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 119, a bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to discontinue the collection by the Federal Government of firearm transaction records of discontinued firearms businesses, to require the destruction of such already collected records, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Tuberville, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 618, a bill to prohibit the purchase or lease of agricultural land in the United States by persons associated with certain foreign governments, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Young, the name of the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Peters) was added as a cosponsor of S. 691, a bill to amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to improve the administration of antidumping and countervailing duty laws, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1169, a bill to prohibit State excise taxes on firearms and ammunition manufacturers and dealers. At the request of Mr. Hawley, the names of the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito) and the Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Reed) were added as cosponsors of S. 1829, a bill to combat the sexual exploitation of children by supporting victims and promoting accountability and transparency by the tech industry. At the request of Ms. Warren, the name of the Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Reed) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2006, a bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to prohibit discrimination in the Armed Forces on the basis of gender identity, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Baldwin, the name of the Senator from Florida (Mr. Scott) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2195, a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the brave women who served in World War II as members of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2562, a bill to promote fair and equal treatment by the Administrator of the Small Business Administration with respect to certain firearms industry applicants for assistance, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Risch, the name of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2813, a bill to amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit capacity-based restrictions on firearm magazines, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Murkowski, the names of the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker), the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) and the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet) were added as cosponsors of S. 2903, a bill to amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require a group health plan or health insurance coverage offered in connection with such a plan to provide an exceptions process for any medication step therapy protocol, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Banks, the name of the Senator from Florida (Mrs. Moody) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2955, a bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to establish Federal penalties for the knowing and intentional administration of any abortion-inducing drug to a woman without her informed consent, if the abortion-inducing drug has been shipped or transported in interstate commerce, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Risch, the names of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) and the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) were added as cosponsors of S. 3085, a bill to ensure that certain operations, functions, and services of the Federal Government relating to enforcement of firearms laws and firearm export licensing continue during a lapse in appropriations. At the request of Ms. Collins, the names of the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Boozman) and the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice) were added as cosponsors of S. 3267, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for Medicare coverage of blood-based dementia screening tests. At the request of Mr. Cornyn, the name of the Senator from Hawaii (Ms. Hirono) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3332, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the exclusion of gain from the sale of a principal residence, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. McCormick, the name of the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Kim) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3524, a bill to amend title 54, United States Code, to modify certain cost-sharing requirements for grant programs under the American Battlefield Protection Program, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Daines, the names of the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego) were added as cosponsors of S. 3940, a bill to amend the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 to require the Secretary of the Treasury to testify before Congress, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Cornyn, the name of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4117, a bill to allow Federal law enforcement officers to purchase retired service weapons, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Collins, the name of the Senator from California (Mr. Padilla) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4172, a bill to amend the Animal Welfare Act to allow for the retirement of certain animals used in Federal research, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Rosen, the names of the Senator from Iowa (Mr. Grassley), the Senator from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin), the Senator from Montana (Mr. Daines), the Senator from Michigan (Ms. Slotkin), the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso) and the Senator from Washington (Ms. Cantwell) were added as cosponsors of S. 4318, a bill to amend title 39, United States Code, to extend the authority of the United States Postal Service to issue a semipostal stamp to raise funds for breast cancer research. At the request of Mr. Moreno, the names of the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly), the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith) and the Senator from California (Mr. Padilla) were added as cosponsors of S. 4429, a bill to prohibit the importation, manufacture, sale, resale, or introduction into interstate commerce in the United States of connected vehicles and related software and hardware associated with foreign adversaries. At the request of Mr. Banks, the names of the Senator from Florida (Mr. Scott) and the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons) were added as cosponsors of S. 4456, a bill to require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security to require a license for the export, reexport, or in-country transfer of certain integrated circuits, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Collins, the name of the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4641, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to count a period of receipt of outpatient observation services in a hospital toward satisfying the 3-day inpatient hospital requirement for coverage of skilled nursing facility services under Medicare. At the request of Mr. Cornyn, the name of the Senator from South Carolina (Ms. Graham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4775, a bill to amend the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act to clarify liability protections for firearms and associated manufacturers and retailers, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Moran, the name of the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Welch) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4801, a bill to amend laws relating to duty performed by members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Markey, the name of the Senator from Washington (Ms. Cantwell) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4814, a bill to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for temporary protected status. At the request of Mrs. Moody, the name of the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4905, a bill to authorize the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to conduct a pilot program for investment in infrastructure projects at NASA Centers. At the request of Mr. Merkley, the names of the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Sullivan), the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto), the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer) and the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) were added as cosponsors of S. 4942, a bill to create protections for financial institutions that provide financial services to State-sanctioned marijuana businesses and service providers for such businesses, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Armstrong, the names of the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Cotton), the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski) and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) were added as cosponsors of S. 4944, a bill to streamline permitting under the Natural Gas Act, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Duckworth, the name of the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4950, a bill to amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to codify the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, to direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to establish an initiative to support the development of emergency communication and tracking technologies, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Baldwin, the name of the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Wyden) was added as a cosponsor of S. 5126, a bill to amend the Competitive, Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act and the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to further plant cultivar and animal breed research, development, and commercialization, and for other purposes. At the request of Mrs. Gillibrand, the names of the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy), the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Kaine), the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Merkley), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Kim) and the Senator from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin) were added as cosponsors of S.J. Res. 181, a joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress. At the request of Mr. Padilla, the name of the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Hickenlooper) was added as a cosponsor of amendment No. 6694 intended to be proposed to S. 4784, an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.

(Ms. LUMMIS assumed the Chair.)

Thereupon, the Senate, at 8:12 p.m., adjourned until Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 10:30 a.m.

Executive nomination confirmed by the Senate July 28, 2026: