Senate
Page S2867 · Official textThe Senate met at 10 a.m. and was called to order by the President pro tempore (Mr. Grassley).
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Vol. 172, No. 102 · 119th Congress, 2nd session
Prayer
Page S2867 · Official textThe Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, offered the following prayer: Let us pray. Father of love, whose presence and power are revealed to the hearts that long for Your guidance, we thank You for the gift of this day. May our lawmakers use this borrowed time for Your glory. Give them wisdom beyond their own understanding, courage to uphold what is right, and humility to seek the common good. May they govern with integrity, act with compassion, and pursue justice with steadfast hearts. Bless our Nation and world with peace, strengthen our community with unity, and inspire each of us to be faithful stewards of the opportunities You provide. May our thoughts, words, and actions bring honor to Your Name as we trust in Your unfailing love. In Your unsurpassed Name we pray. Amen.
Pledge of Allegiance
Page S2867 · Official textThe President pro tempore led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows:
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I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Reservation of Leader Time
Page S2867 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Armstrong)
Under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved.
Conclusion of Morning Business
Page S2867 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
Morning business is closed.
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR (Executive Session)
Page S2867 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Michelle Steel, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Korea.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Iowa.
Tribute to Mary Elouise (Executive Session)
Pages S2867–S2868 · Official textMr. President, the first item I bring up should be stated tomorrow, but tomorrow I am going to be busy in the Judiciary Committee, as chairman of that committee, so I have to present this a day early.
Fifty years ago, on June 18, 1976, as a Member of the House of Representatives, I submitted an essay by a student from Dike, IA, in celebration of America's 200th birthday. I am once again submitting work by a student from Iowa but this time in celebration of America's 250th birthday.
As we celebrate America's birthday this year, students all across the country are participating in a national writing and artwork contest, answering the prompt "What does America mean to you?"
Mary Elouise, a fourth grader from Waukee, IA, was recently selected as a first-place winner for this contest. In Mary Elouise's first-place-winning poem submission, she wrote about the American flag, and she detailed in that poem how it represents America and her family's military service. She concluded her poem by saying:
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I look at our flag and I proudly say, God bless the USA.
Mary Elouise also was recently recognized by the Governor of Iowa Kim Reynolds for her second poem titled "People Behind the Flag." This poem was submitted to Iowa's America 250 student writing contest on America's founding principles.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have both of Mary Elouise's winning poems printed in the Record, and I urge my colleagues to read them.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
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Mary Elouise from Waukee, Iowa, first-place poem submission to the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission student writing and art contest reflecting on what America means to her:
Our flag flies high with freedom and pride, For all of the soldiers who stand side by side, Each stripe tells stories of courage so true, And stars shine bright for red, white, and blue.
The red is their courage, the blood they gave, The white is for honor, the strong and the brave, The blue holds stars for each soul who serves, Protecting our freedom and all it preserves. My grandpa in Vietnam, my dad in Iraq, My brother in the Army, they've all had our back, I look at our flag and I proudly say, God bless the USA.
Mary Elouise from Waukee, Iowa, contest winning poem submission (titled, "People Behind the Flag") to the Iowa America 250 Student Contest:
America is turning 250 years old, That's a really, really long time. My mom says it all started with courage, And that courage runs through my family line. A long time ago, in the Revolutionary War, Someone in my family stood up brave. They fought so we could be free today, So kids like me could laugh and wave. Then my Great-Grandpas went to World War Two, So far away from everyone. They missed their homes and wished for hugs, Until the hard days all were done. They helped the world when it was scared, They helped make things right again. Because of them, the flag still flies, For children now and children then. My Grandpa served in Vietnam, A place so far I cannot see. He carried courage in his heart, And brought it back to my family. My Dad went to Iraq to serve, Before I was even here. He helped protect tomorrow, So my today would have no fear. Now my big brother wears the uniform, And stands up tall and strong. Sometimes I worry, sometimes I pray, And I count the days he's gone. America is 250 years old, I'm only 10, but this I know: Freedom doesn't just happen--it's protected By families who love it so. When I see the flag wave in the sky, I don't just see red. white. and blue. I see Great-Grandpas, Grandpa, Dad, and brother, And a promise I will always honor too.
Prescription Drug Costs (Executive Session)
Page S2868 · Official textMr. President, now another short statement on something that is going on that is very important to the American people: the price of prescription drugs--something I hear quite frequently in my 99-county meetings that I hold around the State every year.
Prescription drug prices come up, and they want Congress to do something about it. So last year, the Senate Judiciary Committee marked up and passed out of committee six bipartisan bills that address the high cost of prescription drugs and the abusive practices that keep prices high for too many American families. The bills simply put a stop to anti-competitive tactics. Why? So cheaper drugs can enter the market.
These bills also increase transparency and accountability for the prescription drug supply chain. With these bills, we strengthen Agency collaboration and the patent process. We curb the use of sham citizen petitions to the FDA so it is easier for generics to obtain approval and get generics to the market quicker. We end the pay-for-delay deals to keep brand-name drug companies from paying generic companies to keep cheaper options off the market so they keep the price of the patented drug higher for a longer period of time. Lastly, we require the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, to finish the work it started in studying the impact of pharmacy benefit managers.
These bills will help make prescription drugs more affordable for patients who need them.
The Congressional Budget Office has reported that these bills collectively would save over $2 billion.
We need the Senate to act on these bills, and I will continue pushing to fix a broken system and lower drug costs.
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 ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Majority Leader (Executive Session)
Page S2868 · Official textThe majority leader is recognized.
National Defense Authorization Act of 2027 (Executive Session)
Pages S2868–S2869 · Official textMr. President, last week, a U.S. Army Apache helicopter went down off the coast of Iran. Within 2 hours, a rescue boat located the pilots. This was not an ordinary rescue boat. For the first time ever, an unmanned sea drone was sent to pick up the pilots and bring them to safety.
From the battlefields of Ukraine to the conflict with Iran, drones and other unmanned systems have become the weapon of choice. Yet the U.S. military has been dangerously behind in drone and counter-drone capabilities.
We have made considerable progress in just the last year, as evidenced by the rescue last week, but we still have more work to do.
That is where the National Defense Authorization Act comes in. I often say that if we don't get national security right, the rest is just conversation. And this annual defense bill is one of the most important bills we consider each year because it is where we make the policies that help ensure we do get national security right.
We pass this bill every year so that these policies are up to date--so that we are giving our men and women in uniform the very best equipment capabilities to do the job we ask them to do.
Last week, the Armed Services Committee reported out the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2027, and I am proud to say that this bill authorizes important investments to improve readiness and to provide the capabilities that we need to keep America safe today and into the future. That includes a heavy focus on unmanned systems.
This bill would create a new combatant command overseeing these technologies. It authorizes $1 billion in unmanned maritime systems, supports drone and counter-drone capabilities at military bases and at America's borders, and will ensure that we are able to produce and procure enough munitions for all of these systems as well.
Drones are just the beginning. There is a lot more in this year's NDAA to strengthen America's military, improve readiness, and keep our armed services on the cutting edge.
One of things is shipbuilding. The bill reported out of committee authorizes investment in a number of new ships, including accelerating procurement of amphibious warfare ships and supporting domestic shipbuilding and repair capabilities.
As for our airpower, this year's bill will help ensure we maintain a force of at least 1,800 fighters. It supports the new B-21 long-range strategic bomber, which is expected to land at Ellsworth Air Force Base, in my home State, sometime next year. And it allows for multiyear procurement for fighter planes, which will allow the Pentagon to do business more efficiently, with greater predictability, and save taxpayer money.
This year's bill builds on the significant reforms to defense acquisition we enacted in last year's NDAA in a number of ways. As I mentioned, it allows for multiyear procurement contracts for fighter aircraft, as well as for munitions and vehicles. And it accelerates the process for new software to come online, removing unnecessary redtape that delays getting new technology into the hands of the American soldiers.
And speaking of our men and women in uniform, I am pleased to be able to say that this bill authorizes a 3.6-percent pay raise for our military members. It also supports a number of quality-of-life improvements, including investments in education, healthcare, and childcare for servicemembers and their families.
As I have already said, this is an important bill, and drafting a bill of this size is not a simple task. I appreciate the hard work by our colleagues on the Armed Services Committee.
Thanks to the leadership of Chairman Wicker and Ranking Member Reed, we have, for the 66th year now in a row, a bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act. That, too, is no small feat.
When it comes to military capabilities, we just can't play catchup. We need to be the leader in the capabilities that will define the future--capabilities that will keep Americans safe by making our enemies think twice before crossing us. That is peace through strength, but you can't get there with a strong budget one year and a weak budget the next.
We ask members of the Armed Forces to be ready whenever we need them, wherever we need them, and for whatever we need them to do.
And we here have an obligation to make sure that when that call comes, they have what they need to answer it.
We need to make every concerted effort--every--to strengthen our military. There is never a time when we can afford to put this on the back burner. Try as we might, we simply don't know what is coming over the horizon, and we will eventually pay the price for failing to invest in a strong national defense today.
Mr. President, 251 years ago this week the Continental Congress created the Continental Army and appointed George Washington its Commander in Chief. For 251 years, Americans have bravely gone to fight our Nation's battles, and for 251 years, it has been Congress' job to stand behind them and provide what they need to execute the mission.
The face of the battle has changed, but the fundamental duty--theirs and ours--has not. As Washington himself said:
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If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace . . . it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.
We have to get national security right. I am glad this year's National Defense Authorization Act is up to the task, and I look forward to bringing it to the floor very soon.
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 ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Minority Leader (Executive Session)
Page S2869 · Official textThe Democratic leader is recognized.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Executive Session)
Page S2869 · Official textMr. President, Trump's actions last night make it crystal clear that he is the one standing in the way of FISA.
It was already clear that Trump was the one blocking FISA, but the fact that he withdrew Jay Clayton should erase anyone's doubts. Trump wants FISA to stay expired. Trump is twisting himself up in knots and jumping through hoops to make it impossible to reauthorize FISA right now, and he is embarrassing his Republican colleagues in the process.
Trump can blame Democrats all he wants, but no one is going to believe him. Trump just got caught redhanded undermining America's national security.
Withdrawing Clayton even shocked Trump's closest Republican allies. Trump also reasserted his demand to tie FISA to his radical SAVE Act, which would strip millions of Americans of their voting rights and resurrect the ghost of the Jim Crow south.
Trump is just so, so off base and should get it out of his mind that he can save SAVE by attaching it to FISA. It ain't happening; it ain't passing.
The SAVE Act is perhaps the most vicious piece of anti-voting rights legislation Trump has ever come up with and has absolutely nothing--nothing--to do with FISA whatsoever.
So every time Republicans find a path to negotiate on FISA, Trump slams the door shut on them. Every time the Republicans find a path to negotiate FISA, Trump slams the door shut on them, and you can hear the howls.
Trump is taking America's national security hostage to serve his own personal interests. This is Trump's hostage note. Here is what he said:
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I will not approve FISA . . .
He said:
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We are cancelling the Senate hearing . . .
He said:
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[B]ill Pulte will remain as the acting Director of National Intelligence.
Trump should know national security is not a pawn. It is not a pawn, and yet it is clear that he is holding our national security hostage, and it is absolutely disgraceful.
Trump is gleeful about undermining national security and leaving America vulnerable, saying it is simply to add a "slight bit of intrigue" when Americans' safety is at stake in a dangerous world with dangerous countries? And he says he is adding a "slight bit of intrigue?" Are you kidding me? Intrigue when it comes to America's national security, intrigue when it comes to the safety of our people?
Trump ought to add a slight bit of common sense as he does this. But, again, just to repeat what he said, he said:
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I will not approve FISA . . .
We are cancelling the Senate hearing . . .
[B]ill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.
All three sentences show that Trump is making national security a pawn to his own political and off-base interests.
There can be no other explanation for the choices Trump is making and his insistence on having a political hack like Bill Pulte serve atop our Intelligence Committee, other than he plans to order Pulte to abuse his powers as Director of National Intelligence.
The question for oversight now is: What exactly will Trump ask Pulte to do? Expose intelligence sources? Alter analysis? Target political opponents? Mess with elections?
Pulte has shown that he knows no limits and will do whatever Trump asks, legal or not, ethical or not, in American people's interests or not. Make no mistake, all of the consequences that come from undercutting our national security will fall on Trump and any Republicans who go along with his dangerous, partisan games.
Iran (Executive Session)
Pages S2869–S2870 · Official textMr. President, there is a lot going on this morning, and I want to speak about Iran. We have been told dozens of times that this war is over and dozens of times we have been disappointed. Three days after Trump announced his so-called understanding with Iran, the American people still have no understanding of what it actually is because Trump refuses to tell us. Now, more than ever, the administration must come clean and let people actually know what is in the so-called understanding because when details start to leak in the press, it only adds to the confusion. The administration still hasn't released the text officially and continues to send mixed messages about what the so-called understanding in future negotiations entail. One administration official told CNN:
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People shouldn't read too much into the language of the [memorandum of understanding].
Can you believe it? There is something out there, and they say don't believe it, but they won't tell us what it is. The American people have a right to know what it is. The Congress has a right to know what it is. And they said--another administration official: "What's more important than the actual document," he said, "is the understandings we have with each other." What are they? We need to know. It is just outrageous--outrageous--that the administration is saying that whatever is in the MOU is not the real agreement. This is foreign policy by clown car, except it is dangerous. The Trump administration insists that this understanding will bring peace, but they refuse to release the text officially and then say we shouldn't give the memo too much weight because there are secret side negotiations that are more important. How deceptive. How nasty. How dangerous for the American people. I call on Trump to brief Congress, release the official text of the so-called understanding to the public, and disclose any secret deals to the American people immediately. If there are secret side deals, we ought to know about them. The American people have a right to know about them in this dangerous world. So why is the administration deliberately deceiving the American people by saying: Well, what is in this agreement or what at least is published in this agreement is not true. The administration is deliberately deceiving the American people because they are afraid it will show that Trump has capitulated and been taken advantage of, that Iran has gotten the better of this deal because Trump didn't know what his goals were when he began it and kept going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth about what it should be, what it is, what is happening. So I say to Donald Trump: Stop keeping the American people in the dark. Your actions, President Trump, leave Americans wondering, Are our troops safe? What are you promising to Iran? How much longer will gas prices continue to skyrocket? Americans want to know, What has Trump's war gotten them? What was this whole blunder for? By every measure--every measure--Trump's disastrous war has left America worse off. No wonder they don't want to release the real details. They are probably--Trump is probably embarrassed. Iran has more control over the Strait of Hormuz than before Trump's war. The Iranian regime is more radical, more extreme, more hard-line than before the war. Gas prices are dramatically higher than they were before the war. Americans need to know when this war will end, not in Trump's imagination, not in some document that they discredit but in real life. Donald Trump, reveal the deal, stop hiding any secret negotiations, and end this war now. 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 ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Waiving Quorum Call (Executive Session)
Page S2870 · Official textMr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the Steel and Holding nominations.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The majority whip.
Wildfires (Executive Session)
Page S2870 · Official textMr. President, wildfire season is officially here. Across the West, wildfires are devastating many communities, and this certainly includes my home State of Wyoming. The past two wildfire seasons were some of the most destructive that Wyoming has seen in decades.
The drought we are experiencing makes conditions this year especially concerning. As summer continues, rural communities are bracing for another devastating wildfire season.
America is in a wildfire crisis, and the crisis isn't going to be one that will solve itself. Our Federal forests are in dire need of effective management.
The Federal Government must manage our Nation's forests in a serious way and a credible way. For too long, the Federal Government has ignored forest management, and this approach has failed to keep communities safe.
Today, tens of millions of acres of Federal land are at severe risk of wildfires. Overgrown forests have become a tinderbox for large fires. Wildfires threaten our homes, our air quality, our watersheds, and our wildlife.
Without proper forest management, we are going to continue to see costly and deadly wildfires.
We know that active forest management works. This includes the thinning of overgrown forests. It includes using prescribed fires, and it includes grazing. All of these are tools that measurably reduce the risk of wildfires.
Wyoming has led the way. We have shown that, when you treat more acres and work with local partners, you get healthier forests and safer communities. The rest of the country should follow our example.
At the Federal level, we have seen the Trump administration rightly return to forest management policies that work. Still, Federal Agencies need help. That is exactly why I introduced the Wildfire Prevention Act. The Wildfire Prevention Act is going to reduce the risk of wildfires in our communities. At the same time, it is going to restore the health of our Federal lands in Wyoming and across the rocky Mountain West.
My bill is a pro-first responder piece of legislation. Our Nation's wildland firefighters risk their lives to protect our forests and our communities from these wildfires. Hotshot crews are our heroes in Wyoming. They are highly trained, highly specialized, and their courage and ability keep us safe. My bill gives them the tools and the support that they need to better prevent wildfires and also to fight them more effectively.
My bill also gives Federal Agencies the clear direction that they currently lack to manage our forests properly. Now, this is good for humans, and it is good for wildlife. Our proactive measures are designed to prevent wildfires.
This bill will set real standards to increase thinning, prescribed burns, tree removal, as well as grazing. It will allow Agencies to sell more timber. It will cut unnecessary redtape and streamline management.
These are basic, bipartisan protections. Every responsible landowner follows them. We should expect nothing less from the Federal Government.
It is also important for Washington, DC, to collaborate effectively with States to prevent fires before they happen. That is why my bill includes an important update to codify the repeal of the so-called Roadless Rule. The Roadless Rule was put into place 25 years ago. It was put in place by President Bill Clinton. It has been called a midnight regulation because it was done in January of 2001. Clinton did it in the final week of serving 8 years as President. He waited until the very end, and then, as he was going out the door, he said: Hey, let's put this into place.
The Roadless Rule remains a one-size-fits-all, Washington restriction that obstructs responsible forest management on a State-by-State basis.
I have opposed the Clinton Roadless Rule from day one, and the Trump administration rightly repealed it. My bill makes the repeal permanent. At the same time, it protects the rights of each State to set its own rules. That is the right approach. It is the responsible approach. It is going to promote public access, wildlife health, as well as smart management.
Local control and local conditions should drive forest management decisions. We can't allow a Washington mandate imposed on States, a quarter of a century ago, to continue to undermine our ability to manage our forests.
Republicans and Democrats have talked about the need for better forest management. We have talked about it for years. Both parties know we need to do better.
The Wildfire Prevention Act builds on what works. It gives Federal Agencies the tools they need to succeed. Our shared forests and our local communities deserve nothing less.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Illinois.
Ukraine (Executive Session)
Pages S2870–S2871 · Official textMr. President, remember when President Trump announced he would end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office? Instead, over a year and a half later, President Trump and Vice President Vance have publicly humiliated Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and made embarrassingly friendly overtures to the man who attacked his country--who attacked Ukraine--Russian President Putin. It is hard to understand.
Mr. Putin's response has been to thumb his nose at the United States and any efforts toward peace. In fact, in recent months, Putin has launched some of the deadliest attacks on civilian targets since the Ukrainian war has begun. This invasion by the Russians of Ukraine has now lasted longer than World War I.
Let me repeat that. This invasion of Ukraine by the Russians and Vladimir Putin has now led to a conflict that has lasted longer than World War I.
On Monday, Russia fired a barrage of missiles at several major Ukrainian cities, killing at least 11 people and sparking a massive fire at one of the most important Orthodox monasteries, a UNESCO world heritage site.
And Russia has continued its acts of sabotage and provocation throughout NATO and Europe, not to mention its supplying of targeting information to Iran to hit U.S. interests in the region.
Imagine my surprise when, amid all of these Russian attacks on Ukraine and neighboring countries, the Trump administration sent a U.S. official to Putin's annual economic conference, earlier this month, in St. Petersburg, Russia. We had an official delegation to Putin's economic development conference for Russia, while we were trying to stop them from attacking Ukraine and other countries.
At this annual event, we had the U.S. Chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts representing the United States. His name is Rodney Mims Cook, Jr. He was at the event with President Putin, in St. Petersburg, to talk about economic development in Russia.
You may recall that Mr. Cook has been officially helping President Trump with his grandiose ballroom and arch projects.
Why would President Trump give any U.S. legitimacy to this Russia propaganda event, while Putin continues to bomb Ukraine and snub efforts to end the war?
Why would President Trump proceed with recently reported plans to significantly reduce air and naval assets available for NATO operations in Europe, while Putin continues such mayhem?
On Tuesday, President Trump went as far as to signal that the war in Ukraine was not a priority of the United States. President Trump told reporters at the G7 summit that we had "nothing to do" with a war that was "thousands of miles away."
I could not disagree more. It is long overdue that the Pentagon spend the $400 million in Ukraine assistance, which was appropriated by Congress and signed into law by the President, and the $200 million in Baltic security funds that this Congress passed several months ago.
I raised the point that we had appropriated these funds officially--signed by President Trump--at a recent hearing with Secretary Hegseth and Secretary Rubio. They indicated to me the funds were just getting ready, any day now, to be moved, which I hope is correct, as these should have been sent long ago and should not be delayed any further.
It is also long overdue for this Chamber to act on Russia- and Ukraine-related legislation.
A few weeks ago, the House of Representatives, overwhelmingly and on a bipartisan basis, passed a bill to provide additional security aid to Ukraine and to tighten sanctions on Russia. That is exactly what is needed to force Russia to finally negotiate peace and stop this attack on Ukraine and its people.
Here in the Senate, we have a broad, bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that has been pending for months without action.
So, while we send the President's ballroom representative to represent the United States of America in St. Petersburg, Russia, and talk about Putin's plans for rebuilding Russia's economy--while that is going on--Russia is attacking the Ukrainians and neighboring countries; and the United States, through the President, has announced that it is none of our business.
Economy (Executive Session)
Page S2871 · Official textMr. President, on a separate topic, last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported and confirmed what Americans already knew: Inflation is at a 3-year high--marking the second straight month inflation has outpaced wage growth. Rising energy costs are crushing American families, and their dollar simply doesn't stretch as far anymore. It is a lose-lose scenario. In a birthday present to the President, new NBC polling revealed the President's approval rating has hit an alltime low for his second term. It is no wonder why. In my home State of Illinois, the average household has had to spend $3,400 more on goods and services during President Trump's second term, despite the President's campaign pledge to lower costs on day one--another broken promise. That is according to a new report released by the Joint Economic Committee. That same report also details what Illinois families have spent while the President's second term has transpired. Illinois families, on average, have spent $815 more than in a previous similar period on housing costs, like rent and mortgage payments, and the like; $310 more for groceries than in President Trump's first year, compared to 2024; and more than $350 more on gasoline since the start of the Iran war, a little over 100 days ago. What was the President's official response? "I love the inflation," the President said. During the vote-arama earlier this month, on the President's mass deportation funding bill, Senate Democrats offered numerous amendments to address this affordability crisis, which the President has barely acknowledged. Senate Democrats offered a proposal that would have funded the largest Federal grant program to create more affordable housing. We put forth a measure that would investigate health insurance companies that are denying patients the care they need. And we gave Republicans a chance to join us in ending--for good--the President's anti-weaponization slush fund of taxpayer dollars to cop beaters from January 6. At all of these opportunities, too many Republicans refused to join us. When will the Republican Party join the Democrats in the Senate to provide relief to struggling families in their own home States? Only time will tell. Senate Democrats will continue to put forward legislation to help families with the rising costs of gasoline, groceries, housing, and child and healthcare. We will put Republicans on record. I hope they will join us in a bipartisan effort to give Americans real relief. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sheehy)
The Senator from Rhode Island.
U.S. Military (Executive Session)
Pages S2871–S2873 · Official textMr. President, I rise today to speak about the U.S. military and its role as an apolitical institution.
For 250 years, our military's most important source of strength has been the trust of the American people. Their trust is hard won and relies upon the belief that our military remains above politics. I fear that trust is being eroded by the current Secretary of Defense.
I want to begin with Dwight Eisenhower. This month marks the 82nd anniversary of D-Day and the American invasion at Normandy. General Eisenhower spent the night before those landings walking among the men he was sending into battle, asking where they were from, what they did back home, and how were their families.
He wrote two messages after that meeting. The rallying call for the soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force was one of those messages, but a second message--a message he had hoped no one would ever read--was written in case the landings failed.
It read:
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If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.
Fortunately, he never had to send it, but he wrote it because he understood that the privilege of command carried the full weight of its consequences.
In 1947, Eisenhower addressed the graduating class at West Point. He had just finished commanding the largest military campaign in human history and witnessed the deaths of hundreds of thousands of young Americans. He knew what war was, and this is what he told the cadets:
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War is mankind's most tragic and stupid folly . . .
Fifteen years later, GEN Douglas MacArthur--no stranger to war himself--again stood at West Point and said:
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[T]he soldier, above all other people, prays for peace . . .
Those commanders understood that lethality is a terrible tool and humility is paramount in warfare.
Last weekend, Pete Hegseth traveled to Normandy to observe the D-Day anniversary. He stood at the American cemetery above the beaches where more than 2,500 Americans died in a single morning. Standing on that sacred historic site, Secretary Hegseth did not use his platform to express humility or unity, but to preach an anti-immigrant message. He said:
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Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion?
Well, many historians and veterans, hearing his words, called his speech grotesque. I would call it a desecration and an ignorant one also.
I doubt the Secretary knows that during World War II, more than 300,000 foreign-born individuals served in the U.S. Army alone. More than 109,000 of them were not even American citizens. They were men and women who crossed an ocean to fight and die for a country that had not yet fully claimed them and earned their citizenship through their service.
Hundreds of thousands more were first-generation Americans, the children of immigrants. For example, U.S. Navy coxswain Amin Isbir, the son of Syrian immigrants who settled in Pittsburgh, was among the first men off his landing craft when it reached Omaha Beach under heavy fire. After securing his landing craft on the beach, he was killed by a German shell while helping load a fellow wounded soldier onto a stretcher.
Coxswain Isbir and countless heroes like him are buried at Normandy, the sons and daughters of immigrants or immigrants themselves. Yet Secretary Hegseth stood above their graves and used the moment to deride the kind of people they were.
Last month, Secretary Hegseth got his own chance to address West Point cadets at their commencement. Where Eisenhower and McArthur spoke of wisdom, humility, and caution, Pete Hegseth boasted about lethality, claimed that West Point had turned into "woke Princeton" and made such bluster as "you can't throw your pronouns at the enemy."
He told the class of 2026, the most diverse class in the history of the U.S. Military Academy, that strength in diversity is "the single dumbest phrase in military history." He mocked the service of women officers and criticized those with nonconservative political beliefs. He told a captive audience of newly commissioned officers that the presence of their classmates with different beliefs and demographics represented a lowering of standards. It was a shameful, divisive, and self-centered speech.
I attended West Point as a cadet. I taught there as a professor. I served on Active Duty as an Army officer. I hope I know what West Point stands for and what its graduates embrace: principled leadership to serve their soldiers and the Nation. Where past leaders asked West Point cadets to understand the economic, political, and spiritual aspirations of other peoples, to devote their lives as seriously to leading toward peace as preparing for war, Hegseth gave them a culture war speech.
Indeed, as James Bennet observed in The Economist:
Text printed in the Record (119 characters)
[W]here past military leaders treated violence as a tragic necessity, Hegseth celebrated it as righteous and thrilling.
His hyperpartisan remarks were both morally and factually wrong. But this was not an isolated incident. It is a part of a pattern of partisan political behavior antithetical to the role of the Secretary of Defense.
Last month, Secretary Hegseth traveled to Kentucky to campaign for a Republican House candidate the day before a primary election. He stood on a stage, attacked a sitting Republican Member of Congress, and told the crowd to send a different person to Washington. He announced a disclaimer, apparently "for the lawyers," that he was there in his personal capacity.
That disclaimer is void. The Secretary of Defense does not have a personal capacity. He represents, at every moment, this Nation and its military forces.
Indeed, this trip seems to violate the Defense Department's own political activity rules which expressly prohibit Senate-confirmed officials from taking an active part in political campaigns. The Department rules are explicit. Even making speeches or knocking doors constitutes a prohibited political act for someone in Hegseth's position.
Pete Hegseth arrived in Kentucky as the civilian leader of the most powerful military on Earth, in the middle of an active war. The "Secretary" title travels with him. He can't leave it at the office. The authority of the office travels with him. And every servicemember watching the news understood exactly what they were seeing: the man who controls their careers, their promotions, and their deployments inserting himself into a partisan election on behalf of the President's favorite candidate.
This was an abuse of office and created an image that every Secretary of Defense, in my memory, has worked to avoid.
The Kentucky party's own former spokesperson questioned whether Secretary Hegseth violated the Hatch Act, and numerous independent groups have filed complaints with the Pentagon's inspector general.
This isn't about my opposition to the Secretary or President Trump. I am driven by the corrosive impacts of his rhetoric, his actions, and what they mean for the strength of our volunteer military. We need to think about what this means for the men and women in uniform who serve under this Secretary. They took an oath to the Constitution--not to a political party, not to a candidate, not to a President. The Uniform Code of Military Justice restricts their partisan activity precisely because we have always understood that a politicized military is a dangerous military. And now our servicemembers are watching their Secretary of Defense do what they are forbidden to do.
What message does that send? What chilling effect does it have on good order and discipline throughout the ranks?
Secretary Hegseth has personally intervened in the careers of nearly 50 senior officers that we know of, firing them or blocking their promotions without explanation. Just last month, we learned he had personally blocked and delayed the promotions of dozens of top performing Navy and Air Force officers, the majority of whom are women and minority officers. These are leaders, selected by their peers, based on merit and performance, in a promotion system that has functioned on those principles for generations.
The chilling effect is real. Senior officers across the force are asking themselves whether their professional military advice--the kind that keeps soldiers alive--will cost them their careers.
And this is not hypothetical. We have already seen it happen. General Kruse, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was fired last year after his analysts produced an intelligence report that contradicted the Secretary's public claims about Iran.
The message was received by those advising him, and here we are today, more than 100 days into a war with Iran. I would also note, that under U.S. law, only the President may remove an officer from a promotion list. Secretary Hegseth has refused to explain why or how he believes he has the authority to terminate or delay these officers' careers. And, of course, there is the Kid Rock incident. In March, two Army Apache helicopters flew to the Nashville home of Kid Rock--a well-known Trump supporter--and hovered over his pool while he filmed them for social media. This was an obvious violation of military protocol and aviation safety laws, and the Army immediately launched an investigation and suspended the crews. But within hours, Secretary Hegseth intervened. He posted on social media:
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No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots.
The Army's chain of command was overruled by a tweet because the man being entertained was a friend of the President. Secretary Hegseth later doubled down by taking Kid Rock for a ride in an Army Apache helicopter as part of a promotional video. The Army's aviation safety regulations exist for a reason. The chain of command exists for a reason. It ensures commanders hold each other and their troops accountable, that those who break regulations face consequences, and that military assets are used for legitimate operational needs, not political theater. When the Secretary of Defense short-circuits good order and discipline to benefit a political ally, he does not just bend the rules; he signals to every officer that accountability is conditional on politics. These actions are emblematic of the Secretary's broader focus on his own personal agenda. In the past 3 months alone, while our servicemembers have been fighting and dying overseas, he has taken it upon himself to cancel flu vaccine requirements, repeal firearm restrictions on military posts, bar servicemembers from attending certain universities, and upend the Chaplin Corps. My point is this: Secretary Hegseth is behaving as though his time as Defense Secretary is an opportunity to impose his personal political views on our military men and women. He is wrong. The Office of Secretary of Defense is about leading millions of American servicemembers of every faith, race, and gender with the character and composure they deserve. The military's apolitical mission is not incidental to its strength; it is foundational to its strength. When the Secretary of Defense uses his office to promote a sectarian vision of his culture war, he does not inspire the force; he divides it. Taken together, the Secretary's actions are an assault on the norms, traditions, and structures that have kept the American military the most trusted institution in this country for 250 years. Good order and discipline is not a slogan. It means that the rules apply to everyone, including the leaders at the top. It means that accountability flows both ways and that promotions are based on merit, not loyalty to a party. And it means that servicemembers of every faith and background are welcomed and respected. Secretary Hegseth is undermining every one of those tenets. Our servicemembers deserve better, and we have an obligation as a body, this Senate, to say so plainly and to counter this abuse of power. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will call the roll.
The 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 Democratic leader.
Congratulating the New York Knicks on Winning the 2026 National Basketball Association Finals
Page S2873 · Official textMr. President, this is one--one--happy moment. It is an honor to offer this resolution with Senator Gillibrand to pay tribute to the great New York Knicks. With their historic victory in the NBA finals, the Knicks reminded the country and the world that it is never a good idea to bet against New York.
We just witnessed perhaps the greatest playoff run in history and finals series in history as well. Coming off the second longest playoff win streak in the NBA history, the Knicks achieved the first, fourth, and sixth biggest comeback wins in the history of the NBA finals, and they did it all in a single series--absolutely extraordinary coming off that second longest playoff win streak in NBA history.
We are so, so proud--so, so proud--of our New York Knicks. This team has joined the ranks of DeBusschere and Bradley, of Willis Reed, of Earl "the Pearl" and Clyde, and the rest of the 1973 legendary Knicks who last brought the title home. I admired that team as a young man, and we have been waiting and waiting and waiting, and here we are again.
For their efforts, this championship team will be honored tomorrow with what many are excepting to be the largest ticker-tape parade in New York history. In fact, the Knicks' victory goes beyond the team itself; it brings such honor, such pride, such joy to New York and has united our diverse city in a way that maybe nothing else could.
It is truly an honor to introduce and pass this resolution to congratulate the Knicks for winning the championship and to thank them for the dedication they showed to our city both on and off the court throughout the season.
I speak for the Senate--perhaps with the exception of one or two Spurs fans--when I say: Let's go, Knicks!
Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 771, congratulating the Knicks, which was submitted earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
Text printed in the Record (121 characters)
A resolution (S. Res. 771) congratulating the New York Knicks on winning the 2026 National Basketball Association Finals.
There being no objection, 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 with no intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 771) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to. (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record under "Submitted Resolutions.")
"Go Knicks!"
I yield the floor.
Cloture Motion (Executive Calendar)
Page S2873 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The bill clerk read as follows:
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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 nomination of Executive Calendar No. 760, Michelle Steel, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Korea.
John Thune, Ted Budd, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Katie
Boyd Britt, Thom Tillis, Roger Marshall, Rick Scott of
Florida, Bernie Moreno, Mike Rounds, John Boozman, Joni
Ernst, Jon Husted, Marsha Blackburn, Steve Daines,
Shelley Moore Capito, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Pete Ricketts.
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 Michelle Steel, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Korea, shall be brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant bill clerk called the roll.
The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).
I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.
The yes and nays resulted--yeas 54, nays 41, as follows:
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Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cassidy Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Kaine Kennedy King Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shaheen Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young
Alsobrooks Baldwin Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Cantwell Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kelly Kim Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden
Bennet
Booker
Justice
McConnell
Warnock
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ricketts). On this vote, the yeas are 54, the nays are 41. The motion is agreed to.
The Senator from Vermont.
U.S. State Department (Executive Calendar)
Pages S2873–S2874 · Official textMr. President, I strongly support the resolution offered by my colleagues Senator Cortez Masto and Senator Kaine.
This resolution requires a report from the State Department on the human rights practices of the Government of Honduras during the very corrupt Presidency of Juan Orlando Hernandez and a report on steps the United States has taken to promote human rights and to bring drug traffickers and criminals in Honduras to justice.
During former President Hernandez's time in office, the United States--our taxpayers--provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Honduras, including to the Honduran security forces.
So the information requested in this resolution is directly relevant to Congress' oversight responsibilities. We have an obligation to make certain that taxpayer dollars are served in the purpose of the United States and our citizens. There is no reason why the State Department should not do this oversight. According to U.S. Federal prosecutors, Mr. Hernandez--the former two-term President of Honduras--was at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the entire world. Mr. Hernandez used the Honduran military and he used the Honduran police to arrest, to imprison, to torture, and in some cases to murder his political opponents and independent journalists who challenged and exposed the rampant corruption and abuses of his government. In March 2024, a U.S. Federal jury in Manhattan found Mr. Hernandez guilty of three charges: conspiring to import tons of cocaine into the United States, using and carrying machine guns and destructive devices to advance that trafficking conspiracy, and conspiring to use such weapons. He was sentenced to 45 years' imprisonment and was fined $8 million. Mr. Hernandez claimed that he was the victim of "political persecution," but there has been absolutely no credible evidence to support that fraudulent claim. His conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal. Far from being treated unfairly, Mr. Hernandez was afforded every right of due process and a fair trial available to criminal defendants under our system of justice. Astonishingly and to my dismay, on December 1, 2025, Mr. Hernandez received a full and complete pardon from President Trump. Mr. Hernandez is free because of President Trump's pardon, but he does remain a convicted felon. The resolution we are voting on today calls for a full accounting of the Hernandez administration's violations of human rights and connections--direct connections--with drug traffickers, the corruption of government officials, and the involvement in torture, murder, and other crimes of violence. It also requires an assessment of the likelihood that U.S. aid to the Honduran security forces was used to support activities related to drug trafficking and related crimes. None of us want our foreign aid to be used for drug running. This is information the State Department has access to and that Congress and the American people, as well as the people of Honduras, have every right to know. Again, there is absolutely nothing partisan or controversial about this resolution. All of us--all of us--are against corruption. All of us demand accountability of foreign aid that is financed by taxpayers. All of us want to bring to justice those who commit crimes that involve drugs that cause so much damage to the men and women and the young people in all of our States. I commend the Senators from Nevada and Virginia for offering the resolution, and I urge its adoption. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Armstrong)
The Senator from Tennessee.
Kids Online Safety Act (Executive Calendar)
Pages S2874–S2875 · Official textMr. President, I feel like I have probably worn the carpet out in this Chamber talking about Big Tech and what happens to our children when they are on different social media platforms, because it seems that repeatedly Big Tech makes the decision to put profit over the safety of our children. We have seen this repeatedly. You look at these big tech companies, and what do they base their valuation on? It is based on the number of eyeballs they bring to their sites and then the data those eyeballs generate, which means you have to scroll for hours and hours on end. Indeed, we know that studies are showing us that teenagers spend as much as 8 hours a day with a phone in their hands--8 hours a day. One of the reasons this happens is because these social media platforms--whether it is Snapchat or TikTok or Instagram--are designed specifically to addict you. Research has shown this. This addiction fuels depression, eating disorders, and self-harm.
It is astounding to me that you can find videos on how to commit suicide, music to commit suicide to. This is evil, and it is wrong. And we know from research that most kids meet drug traffickers, sex traffickers, predators, pedophiles, perpetrators, sextortionists, groomers--they meet them online. That is where the introduction comes.
I have talked a lot. As I said, I feel like I have worn the carpet out down here talking about what is happening on Facebook and Instagram and Snap and TikTok and Discord and the effect it has on our Nation's precious, precious children. But this also applies to companies that are not big-name companies, that everyone does not yet know about, because this is an issue that goes across all social media sites of all sizes.
There is a site that is especially dangerous for our teens, and it is called Kik, K-I-K. Kik is a messaging app that is very popular with preteens and teens, and the big selling point is that it allows the users to conceal their identities. How about that for a lesson for your children and grandchildren? Let's lie, and then let's cover it up. And your parents probably won't know you are on Kik. You provide no personal information, no profile picture, no verification.
It should come as no surprise that Kik has become a paradise for pedophiles. In fact, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation recently released a report calling it the "predator's paradise." One of the center's researchers created an account, posing to be a 12-year-old girl. So she put it up there to see what would happen--12-year-old girl. Immediately, within seconds--within seconds--this account was flooded with sexual messages from strangers, including nude photos. Most of the messages are too explicit to be repeated here.
I encourage parents to read this report from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. They need to read it and get a sense of just how easy it is for a sexual predator to contact their child.
The danger on this is this: If your child did this and if they put an account up there--it was instant. Instant. And this is something your child cannot unsee. This is why parents need to be aware. So look at that report.
These issues with Kik are not new. For years, the center has documented sexual predators on that platform. In response, Kik claimed that it implemented safety measures to protect children. But how about that? An account set up as a 12-year-old girl--zero protections; immediate, within seconds, responses to that account, to that post, with sexual messages.
The center's latest report lays out what a big lie this is. Kik's policies are actually designed to allow that kind of predatory behavior. Kik purports to be an 18-and-up platform. Yet the app still allows children to connect with strangers through a rebranded stranger-connection tool. And get this: It is called Kik-it. K-I-K-I-T. Kik-it. What this does is it puts a user into a private chat with a stranger.
The center also discovered multiple accounts advertising that they are under age--"im12," "13yearoldgirl," and others--but the platform has done absolutely nothing--zero, nothing--to remove these.
Now, Kik says it has implemented sexual content filters. If it has done that, how did this massive number of messages get through within 1 minute--within a minute? So Kik is lying. The 12-year-old test account the center created had the filter turned on. That did not stop her from receiving unsolicited sexual messages and nude photos from strangers.
We have seen this story over and over from Big Tech platforms. They allow predators and criminals to harm our children. They give them that access. They sell them that drug. They ship it in to them. They deliver it to the doorstep.
The 15-year-old girl thinks she is going to meet a 16-year-old boy at the mall, and it turns out to be a 40-year-old man who drugs her, and she loses her life. This is what is happening.
Every time we bring this forward, they promise that they are going to do better, that they are going to make the platform safer, but their reforms are toothless, and they are doing nothing to protect our children. The reason is it would cut into their bottom line. Our children are dollar signs to them, and if they can get away with making an extra buck off of our kids--indeed. We have a couple of the companies that actually assign a dollar value per child, an annual dollar value: They are worth $247 to us, so the more the merrier.
And they don't care. They absolutely don't care.
This is why Congress must send the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act to President Trump's desk. We are very grateful the White House has signaled its support for the duty of care. We can't afford to delay. We need to get this to a vote. Without the duty of care, Big Tech will have no reason to ensure that their platforms are safe for children.
The reason we have to move with the duty of care and safety standards is because every industrial sector in this country has safety standards. You buy a car, a toaster oven, a blanket, dishes--everything has safety standards. The only industrial sector with no duty of care, no safety standards, is the virtual space.
Some people will say: Oh, it is an infringement of free speech, don't you think?
The answer is no. When you have a safety standard on an automobile, they assure you that the automobile is safe to drive. When you get behind the wheel and you get on the road, it is going to be safe to drive. They don't tell you what color to paint the car or what color the upholstery should be or how to drive the car; what they do is to tell you the car is safe to drive.
That is what we are saying about the virtual space. Let's put some safety standards there, a duty of care, so that our children aren't a product, our children aren't a dollar sign; that when our children get on a social media app or get on Google to do some research, they are going to be safe and they are not going to have unwanted videos and material coming at them.
The Kids Online Safety Act has been overwhelmingly popular. It passed out of the Senate 91 to 3 last Congress. This Congress, it has 76 bipartisan cosponsors. Eighty-six percent of Americans say they want tech companies held accountable for what they have done to America's children. I agree.
Big Tech can spend all the millions of dollars it wants trying to kill this legislation. Indeed, last year, they spent about $20 million in a period of a couple of months and hired one lobbyist for every six Members of Congress. So I think they can start to stand with parents that are pleading for help or they can continue being selfish. But eventually, a duty of care and a standard have to be put in place on the social media platforms and on the virtual space.
I think it is time for Congress to choose our Nation's children over the Big Tech lobby and Big Tech's bottom line.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will call the roll.
The 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.
Unanimous Consent Requests--S. 1032 (Executive Calendar)
Pages S2875–S2877 · Official textMr. President, I am back again after Republicans have blocked my effort for a vote--a vote--on the Major Richard Star Act. Six times Republicans have blocked benefits for combat-injured veterans.
Let's be very clear. Right now, a combat-injured veteran with less than 20 years, including at least 400 service men and women who have been injured in the Iran war, are going to be docked dollar for dollar in their retirement pay for what that received in disability benefits.
That is wrong. It is morally wrong. It is legally wrong. It is politically wrong. And by a simple act of Congress, we can correct this injustice.
The Major Richard Star Act will cost about $9 billion over 10 years. We have worked to reduce the amount of funding necessary from $13 billion. But Republicans are saying that there needs to be a subtraction from another program, what is called an offset or a pay-for, so that there is no additional spending on those veterans who have been combat injured and are reduced in their retirement pay dollar for dollar when they receive disability benefits for that combat injury.
The combat injury forces them to retire with less than 20 years, and then they are docked dollar for dollar for their retirement pay as a result of the disability pay. They have earned both. They deserve both.
I could end there in arguing for the Major Richard Star Act.
And, in fact, this idea of a pay-for--how absurd? How unfair? The cost of caring for our veterans is a cost of war, and we should be prepared to make that investment and spend that money on men and women who were promised both retirement pay and disability benefits. We made that promise to them. A great nation keeps its promises, especially to our bravest and boldest.
Now, there should be no need for an offset, but I am willing to take their argument and do my best with it because if there needs to be an offset, I have worked hard to find one. And, in fact, I offered it in the Armed Services Committee as an amendment just days ago.
What was the result? My amendment was ruled out of order. Why? Maybe we will find out some time, but the fact of the matter is I have an offset, and I want to tell the Members of this body how we can find $9 billion in a $1.1 trillion Defense budget.
To the people of the United States of America, the Armed Services Committee approved a National Defense Authorization Act with, yes, $1.1 trillion. That is about a 30 percent or more increase over last year. The Department of Defense is awash in money, and a lot of it is going to programs that are wasteful, will never see the light of day, and are completely unnecessary to our national defense.
So let's talk about an offset. Let's take the high figure, $13 billion, the maximum figure, funding needed for the Major Richard Star Act.
In the "Great Big Beautiful Bill," also known as H.R. 1, there are billions and billions of dollars, and $111 billion of it is unspent. In fact, it is not only unspent, it is unobligated. That is to say, if you want to talk legalese, there isn't a contract dispended. There isn't a commitment to allocate it to a contractor or a member of the military--$111 billion.
There is no feasible way that the U.S. Department of Defense--call it the Department of War--can allocate or obligate that money before the end of the fiscal year, which is September 30 of 2026. There is just no way that the Department of Defense can obligate all of that money before the end of the fiscal year for which it is appropriated under that "Great Big Beautiful Bill."
I propose taking $13 billion of it and making it available to the Department of Defense, which has responsibility. It has the obligation to pay retirement and disability compensation--to pay retirement compensation.
And so, to make the Department of Defense whole, to offset the additional money for retirement pay, let's take a DOD program that will in effect involve unobligated and unspent money.
I am willing to make the concession that we need to find an offset even though it offends me deeply to correct an injustice by saying: We have to take the money from another Department of Defense program.
But I would rather take this money from a Department of Defense program than do what Republicans are suggesting we do as an alternative. In fact, they have a bill which they have called the Take Care of America's Veterans Act. They take care of America's veterans to correct the Richard Star injustice by cutting an unprecedented amount of disability benefits for more than 1.4 million veterans.
It is a 550-page bill written by Republicans behind closed doors with provisions that still have not been fully made available, even though the bill was announced last week on a Thursday before we all left for home.
And essentially it waters down or reduces or eliminates benefits for veterans who suffer from sleep apnea or tinnitus. That is millions of veterans.
It takes away their benefits. It robs them of benefits that they are entitled to receive. Now, I think that solution is deeply unfair and profoundly unnecessary. And my view is supported by members of the veterans community, the veterans service organizations that have weighed in against that supposed solution.
The VFW national commander Carol Whitmore said:
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The [Veterans of Foreign Wars] strongly opposes the Take Care of America's Veterans Act as currently drafted because it asks future disabled veterans to bear the cost of expanding benefits through changing the VA rating schedule for tinnitus and obstructive sleep apnea--common conditions associated with . . . poly trauma.
I think this point is very important. This bill, the Major Richard Star Act, is a standalone bill to do justice. And the Republican solution is to take away benefits from veterans who have suffered combat injuries that those benefits are designed to address.
The DAV national commander Coleman Nee said:
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[W]e reject the premise that the only way to fulfill the promises made to the men and women who served in the past is by cutting benefits for veterans in the future.
And IAVA CEO Dr. Kyleanne Hunter said:
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Veterans' disability compensation is not a budgetary offset.
These organizations, the Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America have all opposed the Take Care of America's Veterans Act for this same reason.
And as Dr. Hunter said:
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It is compensation for injuries [and] illnesses and conditions incurred through military service. Of particular concern are proposals that target veterans living with service-connected tinnitus and sleep apnea.
There is a way around the demand for the offset that takes money from the Department of Defense--unobligated funds--money that will not be spent, not taking away from disabled veterans.
And as a matter of principle, taking money from veterans to pay for a Department of Defense or Department of War program is a profoundly dangerous way to set a precedent and a pay-for.
That is the reason that the Secretary of War himself, Secretary Hegseth, said he supports the Major Richard Star Act without an offset. Large bipartisan majorities in the Senate--we have 80 cosponsors here--and in the House--336 cosponsors--support the Major Richard Star Act without an offset. That is the reason why, as recently as yesterday, a senior Department of Defense official told stakeholders that the Department of War will support the Major Richard Star Act without an offset.
Veterans deserve better than the Republican proposal, and they deserve better than the rule that Secretary Collins apparently is talking about issuing. He hasn't issued it yet. He hasn't formally proposed it. There is no comment period. But my Republican colleagues say he is going to issue it; therefore, we should use it to make these savings. Well, he should not issue it. He should not eliminate benefits for sleep apnea and tinnitus. If he does it, he will have betrayed those veterans who lose those benefits.
My position has been consistent. I opposed President Biden and his administration when they had a similar proposal in 2022. And do you know what happened? They withdrew it because the hue and cry from the veterans community was so loud and the firestorm was so hot that they had no alternative. I ask the veterans of America to once again make their voices heard against an injustice.
No more than the Biden administration should this administration adopt such a misguided, unfair, and unjust policy. What veterans deserve is the Major Richard Star Act, and my hope is that we can break through this logjam and that today, my Republican colleagues will not object and do right by our Nation's veterans.
So as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1032, the Major Richard Star Act; that the Blumenthal substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Banks)
Is there an objection?
The Senator from North Carolina.
Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I am going to be brief because I know we have other Members waiting to speak. But just by way of offsets, I know that my friend from Connecticut said he is offended by requiring an offset.
I think the Presiding Officer and I might be like-minded on this. The Presiding Officer and I both have the distinction of voting against the PACT Act in 2022. I voted against the PACT Act--only nine Members of the U.S. Senate did; the majority of my conference voted with it--because it was unfunded. It was a trillion-dollar promise being made to veterans. I knew absolutely well that if we didn't do the work to figure out how to pay for it, we weren't going to fulfill that promise.
As I told everyone back then, I am from a veterans State. We have 1 million veterans in our State. One in 10 people in North Carolina is a veteran. I talk to them every single day. When they asked me why I voted against it, I said: When I make a promise, I want to fulfill it.
When you vote on something here and you don't put a pay-for in it, you are just making a promise. You haven't created the mechanics and you haven't really made a promise you can fulfill because you haven't said how the money is going to come.
I have seen endless hearings since the PACT Act was passed about all the problems with implementing the PACT Act. I have seen other hearings about how other promises have been broken so that we can start fulfilling the promises of the PACT Act. That is what happens when you don't think through the process, and I think that is what we have here.
We have nearly five dozen bipartisan, bicameral priorities at risk in the Take Care of America's Veterans Act. Rather than come down here and produce the same result--and I should add that my colleague from Connecticut was not able to pass this through unanimous consent when Democrats were in the majority. If we want to solve this problem, if we want to solve this specific problem, which I want to solve, we do the work in the committee to put the policy down and to fund it.
For that reason, I do not believe this bill is ready for prime time, and I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The objection is heard.
Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from North Carolina for making my argument for me. We should not make empty promises. Those veterans are due their retirement benefits fully. They are due their compensation benefits fully. We promised them those benefits. The Major Richard Star Act enables them to receive what we have promised them.
And yes, this bill has been before the Congress for a long time. It has been written and rewritten. Work has gone into it. And I have now presented to the Senate an offset which should be unnecessary. My colleague from North Carolina is absolutely right--we should not demand offsets to do what is right and to fulfill our promises. But if it takes a vote of the full body, I would welcome it.
That is why I have a second request for unanimous consent to provide a vote, give us a vote, enable us to vote aye or nay, which I have demanded now again and again and again.
So as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Democratic leader but no later than August 7, 2026, the Committee on Armed Services be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1032; further, that there be up to 2 hours for debate on the bill equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Blumenthal substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time; and the Senate vote on passage of the bill, as amended, with 60 affirmative votes required for passage, all without intervening action or debate and no amendments or motions in order to the bill prior to the vote on passage.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Is there an objection?
The Senator from North Carolina.
Reserving the right to object, it has been said that if it has already been said before, there is no need in saying it again. So I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The objection is heard.
I regret again that we have been blocked now for a seventh and eighth time, but I will continue to fight for the Major Richard Star Act. It represents the will of 80 Members of the U.S. Senate, hundreds of Members of the House of Representatives, and the overwhelming view of veterans in America and the people of America.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Hawaii.
If the Senator from Florida is ready to deliver her remarks, I would defer. I don't have enough time to give my remarks before the 2:15 vote, so just to keep the Senate on time, I will defer and try to land another time.
I ask unanimous consent that Senator Moody be permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes before the previously scheduled rollcall vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Florida.
(The remarks of Mrs. Moody pertaining to the submission of S. Res. 773 are printed in today's Record under "Submitted Resolutions.")
Vote on Steel Nomination (Executive Calendar)
Page S2877 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
Under the previous order, the question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Steel nomination?
I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).
I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego), the Senator from New York (Mrs. Gillibrand), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 55, nays 39, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (1,023 characters)
Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cassidy Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kaine Kennedy King Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shaheen Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young
Alsobrooks Baldwin Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Cantwell Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kelly Kim Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden
Bennet
Booker
Gallego
Gillibrand
McConnell
Warnock
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the President will be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.
Cloture Motion (Executive Calendar)
Page S2877 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Text printed in the Record (604 characters)
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 nomination of Executive Calendar No. 763, George Holding, of North Carolina, to be United States Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
John Thune, Ted Budd, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Katie
Boyd Britt, Thom Tillis, Roger Marshall, Rick Scott of
Florida, Bernie Moreno, Mike Rounds, John Boozman, Joni
Ernst, Jon Husted, Marsha Blackburn, Steve Daines,
Shelley Moore Capito, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Pete Ricketts.
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 George Holding, of North Carolina, to be United States Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shall be brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk called the roll.
The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).
I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) are necessarily absent.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 54, nays 41, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (911 characters)
Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cassidy Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kaine Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shaheen Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young
Alsobrooks Baldwin Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Cantwell Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden
Bennet
Booker
Gallego
Kelly
McConnell
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 54, the nays are 41. The motion is agreed to.
The motion was agreed to.
Executive Calendar
Page S2877 · Official textThe PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will report the nomination.
The bill clerk read the nomination of George Holding, of North Carolina, to be United States Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Iowa.
Order of Business (Executive Calendar)
Page S2877 · Official textMr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the postcloture time with respect to the Holding nomination be expired and the Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Democratic leader no earlier than tomorrow; further, if the nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Legislative Session
Page S2877 · Official textMr. President, finally, I ask that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Virginia.
S. Res. 616
Pages S2877–S2878 · Official textMr. President, I rise to speak upon a matter that will be brought to the floor for a vote within the next hour or so. The matter is what is called a 502B resolution filed by my colleague Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, and a 502B resolution directs the State Department to issue a human rights report on topics voted upon by the Senate.
This particular 502B resolution concerns a most serious human rights and criminal justice matter and one of the worst abuses of the Presidential pardon power in the history of the United States.
I applaud my colleague Senator Cortez Masto for leading on this bill. I am a cosponsor of the bill. I was a missionary in Honduras and lived there in 1980 and 1981, and I have a number of friends still there who feel this issue is definitely one that warrants some additional attention by our government.
And I thank Senator Cortez Masto. She will be the final speaker on this before it is called up for vote. My colleagues might remember that on March 8, 2024, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted of three counts of drug trafficking in a case that was brought in the Southern District of New York, also convicted of weapons conspiracy, and on June 26, 2024, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Now, this conviction in March of 2024 followed a long investigatory process. President Hernandez' brother Tony was earlier convicted of serious drug offenses in the United States. That investigation began when Barack Obama was President. Most of the investigation was done during the Presidency of Donald Trump, term one. It continued during the Biden Presidency, and obviously, the conviction was obtained in the last year of the Biden Presidency.
The point is, this was a very intense effort by the Department of Justice over both Democratic and Republican administrations to go after serious narcotrafficking.
What was he convicted of doing? This former Honduran President was convicted of--while he was President, he was engaged in a conspiracy to import more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States--400 tons.
U.S. prosecutors described Hernandez as a key figure in one of the largest and most dangerous drug trafficking convictions ever prosecuted in the United States court system.
This disgraced former President even bragged about how he and his cartel friends--and this was evidence that was introduced against him at trial:
Text printed in the Record (106 characters)
We're going to shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos, and they're never even going to know it.
A serious narcotrafficker who abused the public trust of his nation to flood the United States with drugs used to kill Americans.
On December 1, 2025, after less than a year, a little bit more than a year service of his 45-year sentence, President Orlando Hernandez, this disgraced drug trafficker was released from Federal prison and given a full and complete pardon by Donald Trump, our President.
We have yet to receive any public plausible explanation for the pardon. President Trump said he thought it was a setup job done by the Biden administration, even though much of the investigation was conducted by President Trump's own officials in the Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York.
I have spoken about this matter before when the pardon was undertaken. The former President Hernandez is represented by some pretty high-priced folks. There is virtually no explanation for this that makes any sense, except a corrupt one. Someone got money for this pardon.
I don't know exactly who, and I am sure it is in an account somewhere that we will never be able to find out who, but there would be no reason to pardon this individual for this serious crime unless there was some corrupt motive behind it.
Now, this particular pardon raises serious doubts and questions given that President Trump is currently claiming to be at war against narcotraffickers. We have had much debate in this Chamber about the President's actions to direct the U.S. military to target and bomb boats and kill occupants on those boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
And at a hearing that we recently had with the Secretary of State, I asked him questions based upon my review of 46 files of the strikes, the first 46 strikes--now over 200 people have been killed in these strikes--and I asked the question why the administration did not demand evidence of the presence of narcotics on the boats that they are bombing.
That is not one of the targeting criteria. I am not allowed to describe the targeting criteria because they are classified, but I think I can discuss something that is not one of the targeting criteria. And evidence of narcotics on the boats has never been one of the targeting criteria in the strikes that have now killed more than 200 people.
But why would an administration that is bombing boats, even without evidence of narcotics, and claiming it is an effort to stop narcotrafficking--why would that administration pardon this guy--this guy--certainly, one of the most powerful and dangerous narcotraffickers ever convicted in the history of the United States? How does this make any sense?
Why is the President and this administration prioritizing Juan Orlando Hernandez over the American people?
And this is not the only example of a narcotrafficker or a drug trafficker being pardoned by the President. He pardoned a notorious drug trafficker on the first day of his Presidency. But this is the most egregious one.
Granting clemency to this narcotrafficker, after serving only 1 year out of a 45-year sentence, sends a troubling message about justice and accountability and about the fact that there are basically two systems of justice in this country--one for the well-connected, who can hire fancy folks and pay a lot of money to get out of a 45-year sentence, and everybody else.
So I call on my colleagues to stand up for what is right, to push back on this enabling of cartels, to push back on this impunity in releasing a dangerous narcotrafficker.
And I thank my colleague Senator Cortez Masto for filing this resolution and bringing it to the floor of the Senate so that all Members of the Senate can go on the record about whether they believe the law should apply to everybody or whether there are, in fact, two standards of justice for people like Juan Orlando Hernandez.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Colorado.
Inflation
Pages S2878–S2879 · Official textMr. President, last week, President Trump was asked about the surge in inflation. His response:
Text printed in the Record (21 characters)
I love the inflation.
"I love the inflation"? It is almost like the reality betrays reality. What else does he love? Does he love the increase in measles cases, screwworm infecting our cattle, record credit card debt?
The truth is the President's economy has become a disaster for Americans. Families feel like they are getting squeezed every which way they look. This has become a cost-of-living emergency.
According to a recent report by the Joint Economic Committee minority, Coloradans have spent $3,300 more on goods and services since President Trump took office last year. That is $416 more on rent and mortgage payments; $310 more for groceries at the checkout line, as everything from ground beef to coffee has spiked; and $1,000 more in average deductibles for people on the Affordable Care Act insurance plans.
And Americans have gotten completely ripped off at the gas pump. In total, Coloradans have spent over $780 million more on gas since the beginning of President Trump's illegal war with Iran. That means Colorado families are spending $347 more now than they did before the war started.
Not only did President Trump raise your bills, but he also broke another campaign vow. He repeatedly promised, in his campaign, no more expensive, deadly wars.
Now, we are almost 14 months into an illegal war--a war of choice--in Iran. It is a war that Trump promised would be over in 4 to 5 weeks.
Mr. President, $100 billion later, 14 servicemembers lost, and we are still waiting for it to end.
A few hours ago, the administration finally released the details of a memorandum of understanding, which appears to kick the can down the road on many of the hard decisions still to be made, kicking that can down the road for another 60 days.
They still haven't briefed Congress, including the top Republican leaders.
What is clear is that the deal he is pitching comes nowhere close to limiting Iran's ability to obtain a nuclear weapon. It is clearly nowhere near the deal President Obama secured over a decade ago that meaningfully curbed Iran's nuclear ambitions--that is, until Trump ripped it up.
It is also hard to explain to Americans why the Iranian regime would get hundreds of billions of dollars in this settlement and sanctions relief, as well, all to restore access to a waterway that was free and open to all before Trump took us to war in the first place.
We will have spent all this money on the war, on the aftermath, on the future settlements, just to be in a position where the United States is worse off than where it was when we began.
Right before Trump bombed Iran, farmers and ranchers in Colorado and across this country were preparing to plant for this season. Trump's tariffs increased the cost of farming equipment, while retaliatory tariffs from other countries reduced access to international markets that bought better prices for American farmers. The climate change-driven megadrought in the West made matters even worse.
As the war stretched on, farmers and ranchers reckoned with a new hurdle--diesel and fertilizer costs. Approximately one-third of global fertilizer passes through the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in prices, with the blockade, rising over 40 percent.
These rising costs are crushing our farmers and our ranchers and sending grocery prices soaring for American families.
President Trump was elected to bring down prices. He pledged to "end inflation" on day one. He promised a government that finally works for working people. Yet President Trump's agenda can be better summed up in just three letters: A, B, C--anything but costs--the cost of diesel, the cost of fertilizer, the cost of food, housing, healthcare.
President Trump has plenty of time to host a UFC fight on the White House lawn. He has been laser-focused on refurbishing the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. He has been unrelenting in his desire for a Department of Justice slush fund for election criminals like Tina Peters and the January 6 rioters. But he is not doing much to help you, the taxpayers.
Trump isn't unrigging the system, as he promised voters. He is rerigging it for himself. He is rerigging it for his pals and cronies. His family and close associates have pocketed billions, while Colorado families struggle to pay their monthly bills.
His "One Big Bad Betrayal Act" gave billions in tax cuts to ultrawealthy friends and the largest corporations and threw literally millions of Americans off their healthcare.
He sued the IRS so he wouldn't have to pay taxes again, while teachers, police officers, and nurses pay their taxes every year.
While working families worry about the cost of groceries, housing, and healthcare, this administration is focused on ballrooms, bombs, and billionaires.
This isn't why the American people sent us to Washington.
When I travel across Colorado, I hear the same things again and again. I hear: I can't afford to get sick. I can't afford my rent. I am scared about the kind of world my kids are going to inherit.
Working families don't "love" inflation. They don't think affordability is a "hoax." They are desperate for a country that works for them--a country where Washington focuses on lowering costs and improving their lives, not giving record tax breaks to the Epstein class; a country where healthcare is a right and not a privilege; and a country where every family can afford to buy a home, instead of getting outbid by Wall Street.
So while the White House administration focuses on their "anything but cost" agenda, we are showing up every day to build a country that works better for you, better for your family, better for your neighbors.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schmitt)
The Senator from Ohio.
S. Res. 616
Pages S2879–S2880 · Official textMr. President, I want to urge my colleagues, at 4:30 today, to vote strongly in objection to S. Res. 616.
This resolution, introduced by our Democrat colleagues, is a relic of a failed past approach to Central America, one that imposes a leftist ideology and a purity test and ties our hands, while cartels flood our streets with poison and chaos spills across our borders in the hemisphere. It demands a report dredging up old allegations against a former Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernandez, focusing on events from his administration.
The irony is striking. Many of these activities and challenges occurred during the Obama administration, when Democrats were asleep at the wheel in the Western Hemisphere. They allowed narcotrafficking to flourish and created the Western Hemisphere's worst migration crisis, without decisive action.
This resolution also fails to mention the radical, leftwing Castro administration, which ravaged Honduras with policies that exacerbated migration and opened the doors to China.
Yet this resolution remains completely silent on the Biden administration's foreign policy failures and the open borders agenda that poured fuel on that fire.
Honduras suffered under the Biden and Castro era, but now it has absolutely turned a page. Under President Tito Asfura, who I had the chance to go visit in person a little less than 2 weeks ago, it is a new day in a bilateral relationship. He is aligned with the "America First" priorities. He is a key partner in the Shield of the Americas and the Counter Cartel Coalition.
Honduras is working with us on intelligence sharing, going after the cartels, extraditions, and securing the hemisphere from Chinese and criminal influence.
President Asfura is hyperfocused on fixing what Castro and Biden broke and restoring stability and prosperity for the Honduran people.
This resolution singles out past issues under a previous government, while the current administration in Honduras and our own administration are focused on results: dismantling trafficking networks, ending the migration crisis, and building long-term prosperity.
As a side note, as you just heard from the Senator from Virginia, this actually has nothing to do with human rights. This has to do with clickbait speeches that are all intended to embarrass the President about a pardon.
Of course, it is ironic, given that President Biden pardoned tens of thousands of serious criminals.
But, back to Honduras, this resolution risks undermining the very security assistance and cooperation we need to keep Americans and Hondurans safe.
Section 502B is a tool, but in the hands of those who prioritize bureaucratic processes over results, it becomes a bludgeon against effective policy.
President Trump's approach? Security coordination, economic incentives for partners fighting cartels, and putting the stability and prosperity of the Western Hemisphere first.
It is delivering results: zero illegal border encounters this last 12-month period.
We are seeing deportations of criminals, revived extradition efforts, and a coalition that is actually confronting the cartels instead of studying the cartels.
Colleagues, the American people are tired of hollow and ideological resolutions that achieve nothing but clickbait headlines. They want secure borders, safe communities, and a foreign policy that puts our hemisphere's stability ahead of nonsense reports.
Objecting to this resolution isn't ignoring human rights. It is refusing to let the past paralyze the future.
Let's come together. Let's support our Western Hemisphere allies, like President Tito Asfura.
I urge my colleagues to reject S. Res. 616.
Let's focus on advancing the Shield of the Americas, supporting vetted partners, and delivering real results against the drug cartels that threaten us.
I will say one last thing. The Senator from Virginia has evidently another resolution on Honduras that is intended to slow the process down of passing actually meaningful legislation here in the U.S. Senate. Let's take that one up, too, now because if not, what you just heard me say you are going to have to hear again for a second time. This is not why people elected us.
I think that when the Presiding Officer travels to Missouri, people ask him: What are you doing? What are you doing to make the country better?
Debating what happened a decade ago isn't making the country better. We should be talking about how to make our economy stronger, how to make our communities safer, and how to make our communities more secure. We should be talking about ensuring--ensuring--that we complete our duty and fund our government, not posturing months ahead of time to defund our government again.
Again, colleagues, let's get this done. Let's deal with this resolution swiftly, quickly, and vote no.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Nevada.
REQUESTING INFORMATION ON HONDURAS'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion To Discharge
Pages S2880–S2881 · Official textSECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion To Discharge
Mr. President, I rise today to bring transparency to the American people.
S. Res. 616 requires the Trump administration to produce a report detailing the human rights violations in Honduras under its former President, Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Let me just stress this--and I am going to be talking about this quite often--Juan Orlando Hernandez--most people don't know--was convicted here in the United States. He is a notorious drug trafficker. And President Trump pardoned him last year.
The American people deserve to know the consequences of pardoning such an infamous criminal and, quite honestly, how that conflicts with President Trump's focus, as he talks about, on law and order and combating drug trafficking.
Mr. Hernandez was serving a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking when President Trump pardoned him. He had been convicted by a U.S. jury in 2024 for conspiring to import hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States and for related firearms offenses. He also had been accused of taking bribes from the infamous Mexican cartel leader El Chapo and raking in millions of dollars in drug money himself.
This is the man who is responsible for illegal drugs entering our country, for harming families, and for endangering our communities. Yet President Trump pardoned him.
This is the man who prosecutors said had partnered with some of the world's most prolific narcotics traffickers to build a corrupt and brutally violent empire. The prosecutors who were later able to get a conviction against him said that. Yet President Trump deemed him worthy of a pardon.
The President's action here is the opposite of law and order. In fact, it contradicts efforts to combat drug trafficking, and it undermines law enforcement. Why do I know that? Because as a former attorney general, these are areas in which I worked with law enforcement in my State--our law enforcement agents, our investigators, our prosecutors in the State of Nevada--to combat drug trafficking that comes into the State of Nevada.
Let me clarify this because most people don't realize that Nevada is not on the border with Mexico, but what happens on that border bleeds into Nevada. So the drug trafficking that crosses that border comes into Nevada, where we were seeing opioid abuse, where we were seeing methamphetamine abuse, where we were seeing fentanyl abuse--the very drugs the President now is talking about wanting to combat and stop from coming into our country. Yet--yet--he pardons a big drug trafficker who was convicted in this country for doing that very thing.
You know, quite frankly, it is an insult to the professional men and women--nonpartisan, let me just say, men and women--who work year after year to address this issue and who actually worked hard to put Hernandez behind bars.
It also sends the wrong message. Here is why: Since he was pardoned, Mr. Hernandez has been giving interviews to the BBC, and he is saying that President Trump's pardon proves he was innocent.
I will tell you what: The American people deserve better than that, and they deserve transparency.
Quite honestly, our law enforcement, who works so hard to address--really address--the drug trafficking that is coming into this country, deserves to know why President Trump pardoned this man. They deserve to fully understand the connections between Hernandez' government, drug trafficking organizations, and Honduras' human rights record. That is why I am calling up this resolution today.
This resolution would require the Trump administration to provide information about Honduras' domestic human rights practices. Specifically, the administration would have to assess human rights violations during the time that President Juan Orlando Hernandez was President. That includes analyzing the connections between high-level government officials and drug trafficking organizations, and it means looking at the corruption of Honduras' Government officials as it relates to drug trafficking, money laundering, and bribery.
In this report, they would also have to evaluate the links between the drug cartels in Honduras and torture, rape, illegal detention, witness tampering, and murder.
Finally, it would include understanding efforts in Honduras to undermine police reforms and drug crime investigations.
The resolution also requires an assessment from the Secretary of State of any ongoing ties between Hernandez and--whether he has maintained those with drug cartels.
Now, I have heard some of my colleagues talking out against this in that somehow this is some "gotcha" moment or this is some sort of lefty, liberal effort to make the President look bad.
Well, let me just say this: Everybody is responsible for their actions. I don't know, in working in law enforcement, that there is a left or a right to it. We want to stop drug trafficking. We want to hold those drug traffickers accountable, and they shouldn't be pardoned after they have been convicted in the United States. If we are truly going to combat the War on Drugs in this country, everybody needs to be held accountable--everyone.
This resolution is important because if the administration fails to give us this report, the resolution would pause U.S. security assistance to Honduras. There is no good reason for the administration not to author this report.
Again, some colleagues have voiced concerns about the potential pausing of assistance to Honduras. Well, let me be very clear. Trump has already threatened to pause aid to Honduras multiple times. In fact, since the start of his second term, his administration has slashed the amount of funding we are sending to the country. There is no promise that the Trump administration won't threaten support for Honduras again with or without this resolution, right?
So if President Trump is really concerned about preventing drug trafficking and supporting Honduras, he can start by not pardoning drug kingpins.
At the end of the day, this vote is about giving the American people the answers they deserve. We need the truth. We need the facts. We need to understand what is going on here. The President is going to use his pardon power to pardon a drug kingpin who has been convicted in this country. People deserve the right to know why. They deserve the right to know why.
So I hope my colleagues will work with me to pass this resolution. I thank Senators Kaine and Welch for standing with me and joining me in this resolution and talking on the floor today as to how important this is.
Again, I cannot stress this enough: This is not a lefty or a right issue. This is not a Republican or a Democrat issue. This is a nonpartisan issue. This is about drug trafficking, who is responsible, and accountability for them. And if we have a President who decides he is going to use his pardon power to pardon them, we have every right to question that and understand the extent to which an individual is being pardoned in this country and what he did. That is what this resolution is all about--transparency for the American people. It is about time.
With that, Mr. President, pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S. Res. 616.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Text printed in the Record (212 characters)
Motion to discharge S. Res. 616 from the Committee on Foreign Relations, a resolution requesting information on Honduras's human rights practices pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
I know of no further debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Is there further debate?
If not, the question is on agreeing to the motion to discharge.
I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).
I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) are necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 44, nays 50, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (874 characters)
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McConnell The motion was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The Senator from Nevada.
Unanimous Consent Requests
Pages S2881–S2883 · Official textMr. President, at a time when hard-working families across this country are being squeezed by skyrocketing costs, you would think that the President of the United States and Washington Republicans would be focused on finding ways to help people afford their groceries, access affordable healthcare, and keep communities safe.
In fact, that is what Donald Trump himself ran on. He promised he would lower costs "on day one." That is a quote, "on day one."
Instead, now that he is in office, Trump is completely fixated on his corrupt slush fund where he would give your tax dollars--your tax dollars--to his political allies.
So how did we get here? Donald Trump sued his own IRS and Treasury Department to try to get $10 billion--your tax dollars--for himself. But then, of course, he was so kind that he agreed to drop his lawsuit against his own government--our government--as long as it set up a slush fund of $1.8 billion to pay out to his allies, supporters, and even January 6 rioters who assaulted police officers.
Understandably, the American people strongly oppose this corrupt attempt to misuse their tax dollars. So the Justice Department had to come out and claim that the fund is dead.
But Donald Trump has made it perfectly clear that he still wants his slush fund to move forward so he can pay January 6 rioters who beat up police officers at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. I was here, and, frankly, I don't trust his cronies to put an end to it. It is unbelievable.
Whether it is $1 billion for a ballroom, $1.8 billion for a slush fund, Trump is focused on himself, not on the hardships of our communities--your communities--our families, not on the hardships people are facing.
Our families are struggling to put food on the table. Our families are worried about losing their healthcare. Our police departments are struggling with staffing shortages. That is why Congress has a responsibility to put an end to this wasteful slush fund, once and for all.
So I have introduced a package of three bills that would make sure the slush fund can never happen and would instead redirect that $1.8 billion to programs that actually help hard-working families and keep our communities safe.
My first bill would permanently block the slush fund from being created, and if the Trump administration still moves ahead with it, it would direct the funding to SNAP, the food assistance program that Washington Republicans have gutted to pay for their One Big Beautiful Bill.
So in Nevada alone, nearly 55,000 people lost SNAP benefits between July of last year and January of this year. And as a reminder, 40 percent of SNAP recipients in Nevada are children--are children. Children are going hungry because of Trump's cuts to pay to billionaires.
That means nearly 55,000 Nevadans now have to worry about how they are going to afford groceries at a time when groceries and gas prices are just going through the literal roof.
Now, imagine how many families $1.8 billion could help feed. Imagine how many parents could feed their children with that kind of money instead of paying January 6 rioters and Trump's allies.
And in my State, that kind of money could restore SNAP benefits for all 55,000 Nevadans--55,000 Nevadans who lost their benefits for more than 15 years.
I could feed those families for 15 years.
Mr. President, so I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged, and the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4705; further, I ask consent 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.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Is there objection?
The Senator from Florida.
Mr. President, reserving the right to object.
The only reason we are standing here and having this debate in the first place is because Democrats in administration after administration repeatedly weaponized the Federal Government against their political opponents and the American people. That is the entire reason this fund was proposed.
Weaponization of government by the Democratic administration is the entire reason for the lawsuit, and my Democrat colleagues could not distract from that fact by pretending to care about fiscal responsibility or the cost of living.
Democrats and Republicans in Congress running massive deficits is why the cost of living has skyrocketed.
Look at what the Democrats did when they controlled government under the Biden administration. Inflation hit 9 percent. At the same time, they weaponized the government.
I, unfortunately, have seen it firsthand. Democrats weaponized the government over the past three Democratic administrations. Under the Clinton administration, my company was illegally targeted by our government because I dared to stand up against "Hillary care."
Under the Obama administration, we saw conservative nonprofits targeted by the IRS to sabotage their mission to oppose the Obama machine.
Under the Biden administration, I was surveilled again illegally. My tax returns were stolen and leaked to the public. Did the Biden administration do anything about it? Absolutely not. I was spied on after January 6. Democrats weaponized the government to target me and people like me. Not one person has ever been held accountable, and now they want to object to compensating victims.
How about Democrats apologize to people whose doors they beat down, whose information they stole, whose privacy they violated, and whose lives they ruined?
What about Scott Smith, a father just miles from this Chamber in Loudoun County who was targeted by the FBI because he demanded accountability from the school board after his daughter was sexually assaulted at school and the school board tried to cover it up.
How about Joe Robertson, a 77-year-old Montana Navy veteran--a veteran--who was fined $130,000 and sentenced to 18 months in prison for building a pond in his remote property to fight forest fires because the government would not do its job to keep his family safe?
What about the specific religious groups that were targeted? Catholics were singled out by the Biden administration as potential domestic terror threats for living their beliefs. Mark Houck, a father of seven kids and pro-life activist was targeted and publicly arrested for his protests. His home was raided, he was dragged through Federal court, and he faced trumped-up charges for the crime of living his Catholic faith.
DOJ data shows that they weaponized the FACE Act for decades to throw the book at pro-lifers who expressed their First Amendment rights.
I think any government that has the power to villainize one specific religious group or belief is a serious problem that precedes disaster. That is why back in my home State I am fighting against self-proclaimed Nazis like Kanye West for performing in my State using public dollars and facilities.
It is clear from DOJ evidence that the Biden administration weaponized the government. Meanwhile, Members of this body gave themselves the power to sue over being surveilled in Arctic Frost, yet Democrats don't want to extend that remedy to the American people they serve.
If the Democrats want lower costs for American families, they should look at how Congress spends money. Congress is spending $2 trillion--$2 trillion--more than we take in year after year.
If you spend more money than you take in, in government, it causes the cost of living to increase. Has a single Democrat acknowledged a problem with that? No.
Democrats walked away from this year's appropriations negotiations because Republicans refused to run the outrageous deficits Democrats want to continue to force onto the backs of the American people. Do my Democrat colleagues know what that deficit spending does? It fuels inflation, which makes your dollar buy less and less and forces prices higher.
Still my Democrat colleagues just want to spend and spend and spend. I am a victim of weaponized government. The American people are victims of weaponized government. A lot of them need to be made whole as best as we can.
If my Democratic colleagues want to decrease spending to lower the cost of living, great, me too. Let's balance the budget. We all have to do it in our homes. Let's go find some wasteful earmarks and fraudulent programs to cut. We know they are there. Thousands are there. These bills are nothing more than a bad-faith attempt to slander Republicans because the Democrats want to deflect from their own documented history of corruption and weaponization.
I absolutely object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The objection is heard.
The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. President, if my Republican colleagues want to make prices lower, they can start by removing tariffs and not entering into unnecessary wars, but I want to get back to the issue at hand, which this slush fund. The slush fund, if it is truly dead like some say, then why not pass my bill?
Why not make sure that it is gone for good? What are Republicans so afraid of? And so if feeding hungry children isn't Washington Republicans' priority, there is another chance for them to do the right thing for our families. Because last year, Washington Republicans gutted--gutted--Medicaid and took healthcare coverage from millions of Americans in need so that they could give more tax breaks to billionaires, people who need it the least.
They gutted healthcare for families to give tax breaks to billionaires. And as of January of this year, nearly 170,000 fewer Nevadans were enrolled in Medicaid compared to 2023. That means fewer people seeing a doctor, fewer people getting preventive care, fewer people being able to afford treatment or the medication that they need, fewer people getting the care they need for their children when they are chronically or terminally ill. It is cruel, and the money that Trump wants for his slush fund could pay for more than 2 years of Medicaid coverage for every Nevadan who lost it because of these Republican cuts for payouts to billionaires.
So instead of rewarding Trump's political allies, we can help families get healthcare because nothing is more important than your health. Nothing.
A diagnosis can change your life in an instant, and I want people to be able to afford their prescriptions. I want people to be able to take their children to see a doctor. A diagnosis changes your life, and they took away healthcare.
And so a much better use for taxpayer dollars, that is what I want to do. I want to put it back into those Nevada families who are struggling with those life-altering diagnoses that we are all so very afraid of. And that is what my second bill aims to do. It will permanently block this slush fund from being created.
And if the Trump administration finds a way to move ahead with this, my bill would redirect the $1.8 billion to Medicaid, to help those mothers that I talked to, those parents, again, with sick children, to help those taking care of their family members. It matters. It is caring. And what they are doing and what they did to cut Medicaid is cruel.
Mr. President, so I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged, and the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4703; further, I ask consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Is there objection?
The Senator from Florida.
Mr. President, in my lifetime, the cost of healthcare for a family of four has gone from $700 a year to over $25,000. ObamaCare, which my Democratic colleagues all supported, was supposed to reduce family healthcare costs by $2,500. If that was true, we wouldn't be worried here about healthcare costs, would we? If you look at the cost of a new car in my lifetime it has gone from 16, 1,700 bucks. I think the minimum new car is probably $20,000.
If you look at the cost of housing, it just came out that in 242 cities in this country, the starter home is a million dollars. Now, what has caused all this? Government. Bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations. There is a study that just came out that said the Federal regulations I think it costs $3 trillion a year, something like $15,000 per family.
So if my Democratic colleagues actually really cared about the cost of living, they would stop passing bills that would have more and more regulation and stop running $2 trillion deficits.
Now, as I already said, what we are talking about in these bills are nothing more than a bad-faith attempt to slander Republicans because Democrats want to deflect from their own documented history of corruption and weaponization by Democratic administrations.
This is a history of targeting everyday Republicans, congressional opponents, Catholics, Christians, pro-life groups, gun owners, military officers that don't adhere to leftwing politics, parents standing up for their kids and challenging school boards, veterans working on their private property, farmers challenging our DC bureaucrats, and any American that fails to pay tribute to the tyrants of their administrative state.
Therefore, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The objection is heard.
The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. President, the objection is truly a shame because people will suffer and people will be damaged by poor health and some may lose their life from lack of care.
So my Washington Republican friends, they won't agree on funding SNAP and feeding those hungry children in Nevada for 15 or so years, funding Medicaid to help families again.
Perhaps we could agree on giving this funding for the men and women of law enforcement. Surely, they must stand up for law enforcement and for public safety and for community safety because across America our police departments are facing staffing shortages, recruitment challenges, retention issues.
Officers are being asked to do more with fewer resources. So the money from Trump's slush fund could fund more than 3 years of the COPS Hiring Program to help communities hire and retain more officers. It could fully fund more than 3 years of the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program.
What is this program? It helps support the families of officers who are killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. Nothing could be more important than supporting those families. Surely, Republicans want to help families of fallen or disabled officers.
And so the irony here is almost hard to believe, Republicans love to talk about how supportive they are of law enforcement, and yet Donald Trump wants to use your tax dollars to pay people who assaulted police officers right here in this Capitol in this room in this Chamber where we stand today on January 6.
And I think, and I hope, surely we can all agree, that the funding would be put to better use to support our men and women in uniform, our police officers. So my third and final bill would permanently block the slush fund from being created. And if the Trump administration still forges ahead with it, my bill would redirect the funding to Federal law enforcement programs.
So I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged, and that the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4704; further, I ask consent 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.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Is there objection?
The Senator from Florida.
Mr. President, reserving the right to object.
So it is interesting that, you know, my Democratic colleague cares about law enforcement. In the last, what, year and a half, in this last year and a half--what--the government has been shut down three times, so all the Federal Government wasn't paid.
I never heard my Democratic colleagues that that didn't bother them then. Look at what we just finished. Federal law enforcement, ICE, and CBP weren't paid. They shut down the government this whole year. They had no interest in funding Homeland Security.
So these bills are nothing more than a bad-faith attempt to slander Republicans because the Democrats want to deflect from their own documented history of Democrat administrations' corruption and weaponization.
Let's remember: Democrat administrations have targeted everyday Republicans, congressional opponents, Catholics, Christians, pro-life groups, gun owners, military officers, parents standing up for their kids--I just can't imagine--parents standing up for their kids and challenging school boards, veterans working on their own private property, farmers challenging the power of DC bureaucrats, and any American that fails to pay tribute to the tyrants of the Democrat administrative state.
Therefore, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The objection is heard.
The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. President, you know, this is truly a shame. It is extremely disappointing to me because by blocking these bills, Washington Republicans are paying tribute. They are paying tribute to the President, and they are saying that they approve of Donald Trump wasting 1.8 billion taxpayer dollars to pay his political allies and January 6 rioters.
They may claim the slush fund is dead because Trump and his administration say it is. But does anybody believe them? I would say not too many.
And so that is why I tried to pass these bills and create a fail-safe mechanism to redirect funding to food, to healthcare, to public safety, and so if Trump still tries to create this slush fund, we have a way to put it toward something good for our communities.
Unfortunately, Washington Republicans blocked these commonsense efforts.
I yield the floor.
Mr. President, first off, there is no fund. So we are talking about a fund that has never been created. And then we are talking about how the Democrats supposedly care about the cost of living when everything they do raises the cost of living--everything.
Government is your problem. If you have a cost-of-living problem, government did it to you. If your education costs are high, government did that to you. When I went to school, junior college was 200 bucks a semester. I went there because college was $250; the university was $255. Government did that. Look at what it is now--thousands and thousands of dollars. People end up with debt. When I went to school, people didn't end up with debt.
Government has done all this. Government has caused the cost of living to be high. There is no fund. We are talking about a fund that has never been created, and we are talking about the cost of living that is caused by Big Government.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Connecticut.
Iran
Pages S2883–S2884 · Official textMr. President, I have long wanted this war with Iran to end. Every single day, this war has become a deepening, cascading disaster for the American people as gas prices eclipse $6 a gallon in many places, as Americans are killed, as new wars break out in the region, as farms go bankrupt with the ballooning diesel prices. Every single day this war has gone on, it has become a worse debacle for the United States and the American people.
And so I have been prepared to swallow, basically, any deal to end the war, and my desire is still to stop this war. I knew the deal was likely going to be bad. I knew the deal was likely going to be humiliating for the United States of America. But I didn't know it was going to be this humiliating. I didn't know the deal was going to be this bad.
The war needs to end, basically, upon any terms, but it is important for us tonight, as we are reading the details of this agreement, to understand how the terms of this agreement are final, clear, and total proof of how calamitous this war was and how it should be a lesson for both Republicans and Democrats, for this administration and every future administration, to never make this mistake again.
So let's go through the terms of this agreement, which is all of two pages, negotiated by real estate developers cosplaying as diplomats. Let's start with the immediate commitments. What are the immediate commitments that Iran is making and the United States is making?
Iran is making no new commitments. They are agreeing to open the strait. The strait was open before the war began.
They are promising that they will not develop or obtain a nuclear weapon. They had already promised that before the war began.
And they are agreeing to talk about restraining their nuclear research program. They were willing to talk about that prior to the war beginning.
So Iran is making no new commitments that did not exist before the war. Before the war, they committed to keep the strait open. Before the war, they committed to develop no nuclear weapons. Before the war, they were willing to talk about the rest of their nuclear research program.
What is the United States committing to in this agreement? Well, it is a little hard to decipher because of the terms, which are either mistakenly or deliberately fuzzy, but we at least know that the United States is committing immediately to release all oil sanctions and to let Iran trade oil for free all around the world. That is billions--billions--of windfall dollars to the Iranian Treasury.
The United States is agreeing to free up frozen Iranian money. It could be around $24 billion that will be going immediately to the U.S. Treasury.
Those are the immediate commitments that the United States is making. OK. Let's talk about what is not in this agreement--what is not included in the commitments that are being made in the short term.
Iran is making no commitments on reductions or controls on their missile program or their drone program or their support for terrorism.
In fact, you can see a video today of Donald Trump, saying: I think it is cool for Iran to have missiles. I think it is kind of unfair to say that Iran shouldn't have missiles if everybody else has them.
He literally said this on TV today.
For the last 100 days, Donald Trump and the administration have been telling us that the American people have to sacrifice and go to war and spend billions of dollars and have 13 Americans killed and suffer through $6-a-gallon gas prices because we have to stop Iran from having missiles. The Presiding Officer and I have sat in briefings in which we have been told that the point of this war is to destroy Iran's missile capacity, and now the President is saying: Eh, it just doesn't matter.
President Trump's goals shifted, but they seemed to be to get a regime that was more friendly to the United States and to Israel. We have a harder-line regime now in charge of the country than we did before. We had a doddering, 80-year-old Ayatollah. We now have a, frankly, much more capable and much more provocative hard-line regime.
He said he wanted to get rid of the drone program. The drone program is still there. There is nothing in this agreement about their drone program. He wanted to get rid of their missile program. There is nothing in this agreement about their missile program.
He wanted to get rid of their nuclear program, and he pledged that he would carry out this war in a way that got a better deal than President Obama did. Of course, he had to promise that because he pulled out of the JCPOA. He got none of it in this agreement. He got none of it in this agreement. Yes, in this agreement, there is a suggestion that there is now going to be a negotiation between the United States and Iran over their nuclear program, but that negotiation was available before this war began.
The President may argue that this war has given him additional leverage. That is nonsensical. There is fundamentally less leverage today than there was before the war began. Let's just go through it for a second.
When Obama was negotiating the nuclear deal, he had the oil sanctions in place. Those are the most serious sanctions, right? Iran runs on oil revenue, so the primary leverage Obama had during those negotiations was the oil sanctions. We are releasing all of the oil sanctions before the nuclear negotiations happen. That is malpractice. Overnight, immediately, the leverage available for nuclear negotiations essentially goes up in smoke.
We are also giving them billions of dollars in frozen funds.
In the earlier negotiations, President Obama had Russia and China on our side. Donald Trump has mishandled foreign relations such that now China and Russia are on the Iranians' side. It is fundamentally different leverage.
Maybe most importantly, President Obama had the threat of military action. If you don't get a deal, we can always take military action. Well, that leverage is gone as well because Iran took our best shot and not only survived but got the United States to sign an agreement where we are paying them billions of dollars in order to end the war, including a suggestion that we are going to create a $300 billion reparations fund. Guess what. If you have studied history, you know that the winning side doesn't pay reparations. The losers pay reparations.
So the Iranians don't have to worry about oil sanctions. They are gone. The Iranians don't have to worry about getting back their frozen funds. We are transferring them. They don't have to worry about an American military response because they have already seen it, and they have survived. And they don't need to worry about going up against the United States, China, and Russia because China and Russia are now on their side. These nuclear negotiations are just destined to fail. I hope I am wrong, but on the backside of this war, the President has almost no leverage. What is left? This agreement drops the oil sanctions. It frees up the frozen funds. He has already played the military card. There is a suggestion in this document that there is going to be a specific negotiation about the enriched uranium that Iran holds. Now, remember when Obama was negotiating with Iran, they had 15-percent enriched uranium. They weren't close to the enrichment capacity to make a bomb. Today, they have a 60-percent enrichment capacity. Because Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement, Iran now has 60 percent. Everybody knows that, to get from 60 to the quality you need to produce a bomb, it takes a matter of days. Iran says in this agreement that they will talk about the enriched uranium, but they are willing to talk about the enriched uranium being degraded to 3 percent, which is the number in the JCPOA. So they basically signal in this agreement that, yeah, we will talk about getting rid of our enriched uranium or diluting it, but we are just going to talk about the same thing that we were talking to the Obama administration about. All of this was predictable. All of this was predictable. I have listened to my hard-line colleagues argue that the only way to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon or to destroy their missiles or to stop their support for terrorism is to go to war with Iran. Well, we went to war with Iran for 100 days, and on the backside of it, they still have their nuclear program, they still have their missiles, they still have their drones, they are still supporting terrorism. It didn't work, and most of us knew it wasn't going to work. Most of us said that, if you go to war with Iran, we will end up in a worse position, and here we are in a fundamentally worse position. The entire scope of this agreement basically boils down to a multibillion-dollar payment to Iran so that Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz. What a disaster that is. To add insult to injury, the text says that Iran promises to open the strait--for 10 years? No. For 5 years? For a year? No. Iran says: We will open the Strait of Hormuz for 2 months toll free. Then, after that period of time, we will consult with the Government of Oman on the tolling structure. So open for 60 days and then Oman and Iran will talk about the new structure. I knew it was going to be a humiliating agreement. I didn't know it was going to be this humiliating. I want the war to end, and I am willing to stomach a bad deal, but this agreement exposes what a colossal mistake it was--the biggest foreign policy blunder of 20 years--to start this war and why every hawk who cheerled us into war with Iran was wrong. We didn't get anything that you thought we were going to get out of this. I am hopeful that I am wrong about these negotiations. I am hopeful that new leverage will materialize, but I don't see any leverage at all. It is given up in this agreement. It is given up in the way that this war has been perpetuated. I am glad the war is over, but I am furious that it has resulted in our Nation's humiliation and in Iran's becoming stronger and in America's becoming weaker, and everybody--Republicans and Democrats--should be furious about that. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Justice)
The Senator from Ohio.
Iran
Pages S2884–S2885 · Official textMr. President, just really quickly and with all due respect to my colleague from Connecticut, he wasn't part of the negotiation process. He has no idea what conversations were had with the Iranians.
What I do know is that we are on the verge of a historic possibility that my kids and my grandkids will live in a world that is not threatened by Iran and that we won't live under the fear of an Iranian regime with a nuclear weapon.
President Trump is the only President in my lifetime who had the courage to actually do what was needed. What this agreement will get to is what we should all hope for, all of us--Republicans, Democrats, and just anybody who is a citizen of the United States of America. We should be here, hopeful that we have an opportunity to get to this historic place.
It is always just incredibly disappointing to me, as somebody who is new to politics, that everything has to be turned into a political game. It is not a game. People have put their lives at risk to make this country safer. Instead of cheerleading for failure, we should be cheerleading for success.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Oregon.
Saving the Ooi Act of 2026
Pages S2885–S2886 · Official textMr. President, I rise to address an issue of importance to our commercial fisheries and to our weather and to scientific studies. Specifically, that is the issue of sustaining the Ocean Observatories Initiative. It is a system of 900 sensors that we have in five different arrays around the oceans surrounding the United States that provide immense information--these anchored sensors--on the salinity, which is the salt content of the water, on the temperature, on the current direction, and on the phytoplankton at the bottom of the food chain. All of that information gives us enormously improved understanding of our ocean conditions. In fact, that information has been used in over 500 academic studies.
Now, what value is this?
Well, understanding our commercial fisheries is essential for maintaining the success of our commercial fisheries, and a huge amount of our weather is affected by the temperature of the ocean in different locations. That is why you hear weathermen talking about El Nino and La Nina--because they are large, massive bodies of water that are either colder than usual or warmer than usual and are changing all the patterns of weather.
It is also important for understanding climate change because the ocean stores some--I think it is--90 percent of the temperature increases that come from carbon dioxide and monoxide.
To get to the point, the National Science Foundation has started pulling out these arrays--it started yesterday--with an array called the Coastal Endurance Array off the coast of Oregon. But to everyone who represents any oceanfront in the United States, these are incredibly valuable investments. We have spent $386 million in developing these arrays. They are supposed to provide information for 30 years, and pulling them out makes no sense.
So this bill that we have teamed up on--Alaska and Oregon, myself and Senator Lisa Murkowski--is simple.
It says: National Science Foundation, stop dismantling this enormously valuable array until we can have a full study of the pros and cons and stakeholder input because we cannot make a mistake and undermine the success of our commercial fisheries, our recreational fisheries, and our understanding of the weather and climate.
With that, I would like to turn this over to my colleague from Alaska.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. President, I appreciate being here on the floor with my colleague from Oregon and working on this very important Ocean Observatories Initiative.
As he has outlined, understanding what is happening in our oceans is so key; it so critical. It is not just about how it impacts the fish and the habitat within our oceans; it is about the impact that our oceans have on the planet, recognizing that when you see warming waters, that has impact on the weather, on the jet stream, understanding all of that--understanding from the purposes of what it means from an industry perspective.
In my State and in the State of Oregon--also a State that has strong fisheries--it is important to understand the science so that we are making sound fisheries management decisions--sound for the fisheries and the resource itself, sound for the economies in those coastal communities that rely on them. So good science is really, really important.
As Senator Merkley has mentioned, we have an extraordinary system in place with this Ocean Observatories Initiative--a network of 900 deep-sea instruments that are providing real-time data to help us monitor the ocean conditions, predict extreme weather, and protect the coastal communities and maritime industries.
These are all over our oceans. As the Senator from Oregon has noted, the Coastal Endurance Array is in the Pacific Northwest. There is an array that is in the Gulf of Alaska, the Global Station Papa Array. This is 600 nautical miles off the coast, more than 2\1/2\ miles beneath the surface of the water. So these are down deep. These are gathering information that is hard to get. These are systems that are not only in the Pacific, but we have the array that is situated between Greenland and Iceland. I was just out in that region, and people were talking about the significance of the data that comes from this.
So, again, we have an extraordinary system that has been put in place, and then you have an announcement that caught everyone by surprise when the National Science Foundation said: We are going to begin dismantling one of our most complex ocean-monitoring systems.
This is all happening at a time when everybody is talking about El Nino and what that is going to bring in terms of the potential for extreme weather events. This is not the time to be turning off one of our most valuable scientific assets.
So this is an investment that has been made. It represents actually decades of investment. It makes the data publicly available so that every American--whether you are a fisherman, a university researcher, our U.S. Coast Guard who is performing rescue operations--they can all safely operate.
So Congress has made really clear that we intend to maintain this cost-effective system by ensuring that we have funding for the program in our annual appropriations bill. As appropriators, that is our job. And enough Senators and Congressmen have agreed that it was a prudent use of taxpayer dollars to do just that.
Normally, we would reiterate our intent through the appropriations process by funding the system and including language prohibiting funds from being used for the dismantling, but we just felt that time was of the essence. As the Senator from Oregon has noted, when they are dismantling--they have already begun as of yesterday--expedient measures are necessary.
Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4822, which was introduced earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Text printed in the Record (160 characters)
A bill (S. 4822) to prohibit the National Science Foundation from using Federal funds to descope or decommission the Ocean Observatories Initiative instruments.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time.
I know of no further debate on the bill.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
If there is no further debate on the bill, the bill having been read the third time, the question is, Shall the bill pass?
The bill (S. 4822) was passed as follows:
Text printed in the Record (3,130 characters)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Saving the OOI Act of 2026".
SEC. 2. NO NSF FUNDING TO DESCOPE OR DECOMMISSION THE OCEAN
OBSERVATORIES INITIATIVE INSTRUMENTS;
RESTORATION.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the National Science Foundation shall not use any Federal funds to decommission or descope the Ocean Observatories Initiative instruments anchored off the States of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and North Carolina, and in the Irminger
Sea, until the National Science Foundation conducts a
thorough review of the initiative, and the national assets
that it provides, with robust stakeholder engagement from the
scientific and coastal communities.
(b) Maintenance of Operations.--The Director of the
National Science Foundation shall maintain the Ocean
Observatories Initiative with full and consistent operations,
including monitoring in all States that had instruments
decommissioned, until the full review described in subsection
(a) has been completed.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Oregon. This was fast-moving. He and I were able to join together with letters. We were able to gather additional colleagues who weighed in on this. And then to be able to move with the consent of the rest of this body this evening to advance rapidly this measure I think speaks to the importance of the initiative itself.
But I also want to acknowledge the strong support from Senator Merkley in this initiative as we work to ensure that we have good, sound science and the investments that we have made to allow for that to continue. I just wanted to publicly thank him.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I would like to very much thank my colleague from Alaska. We were both shocked to hear about this plan to remove these sensors.
The sea off Alaska and certainly off the coast of the Northwestern United States--Oregon, Washington--are incredible assets that we need to understand. And I think about how, off Oregon, you have the California current and the Pacific upwelling that give some of the most productive fisheries to be found anywhere on the planet--from the salmon to the rockfish, to the groundfish, to the whiting, to the shrimp, to the crabs. And I know there are very similar, very rich conditions in the seas off Alaska.
So it is a pleasure to collaborate with my colleague and for us to gain the support of our fellow Senators on both sides of the aisle to say it is very important to protect this system of sensors, the Ocean Observatories Initiative, for the good work it is going to help provide for weather, for commercial fisheries, recreational fisheries, and understanding climate. So thank you.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Resolutions Submitted Today
Page S2886 · Official textMr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following resolutions, which are at the desk: S. Res. 776 and S. Res. 777.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolutions en bloc.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolutions were agreed to.
The preambles were agreed to.
(The resolutions, with their preambles, are printed in today's Record under "Submitted Resolutions.")
Arms Sales Notification
Pages S2886–S2888 · Official textMr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is still available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (11,862 characters)
Please find enclosed the following notification from the Department of State.
Department Notification Number: RSAT 26-58.
Pursuant to the reporting requirements of Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), as amended, we are forwarding Transmittal No. 26-58 concerning the Army's proposed Letter(s) of Offer and Acceptance to the Government of Austria for defense articles and services estimated to cost $1.5 billion. We will issue a news release to notify the public of this proposed sale upon delivery of this letter to your office.
Recipients:
Speaker of the House of Representatives
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Sincerely,
Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to
Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as
amended
(i) Prospective Purchaser: Government of Austria.
(ii) Total Estimated Value:
Major Defense Equipment *$0.79 billion.
Other $0.71 billion.
Total $1.50 billion.
(iii) Description and Quantity or Quantities of Articles or Services under Consideration for Purchase:
Major Defense Equipment (MDE):
Twelve (12) UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters.
Twenty-six (26) T700-GE-70 ID engines.
Five (5) AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning Systems.
Five (5) Common Infrared Countermeasure Systems.
Five (5) AN/APR-39E(V)2 Radar Warning Receivers.
Thirty (30) EAGLE-M+429.
Thirty (30) AN/ARC-231A RT-1987 VHF/UHF/LOS SATCOM radios.
Non-MDE:
The following non-MDE items will also be included: AN/ARC-201D RT-1478D; AVR-2B laser detecting sets; APX-128 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder; AN/PYQ-10 simple key loader; KIV-79 Common IFF Applique Crypto Computers; AN/ARN-147(V) very high frequency omni-directional range/instrument landing system receiver radio; AN/ARN-149(V) low frequency/automatic direction finder radio receiver; AN/ ARN-153 tactical air navigation system receiver transmitter; AN/APN-209 radar altimeter; EBC-406HM emergency locator transmitter; improved heads up display (IHUD); signal data converters for IHUD; color weather radars; MX-10D EO/IR with laser designator; engine inlet barrier filters; ballistic armor protection systems; internal auxiliary fuel tank systems; fast rope insertion extraction system; external rescue hoist; rescue hoist equipment sets; dual patient litter system sets; Martin-Baker Palletized Crew Chief/Gunner Seats with crashworthy floor structural modifications; external stores support system; Degraded Visual Environment system; LINK-16 (small tactical terminal KOR-24A); traffic alert collision avoidance system; cargo hook scale; sling load observation capability; direction finder DF-935; environmental control system; snow skis provisions; Bambi bucket provisions; helicopter terrain awareness system; CONRAD troop radio capability; TETRA BOS radio capability; very important person kit; 28 VDC/10A utility power socket (cabin); universal serial bus charging outlet; crashworthy extended range fuel system tanks; instrument panel; cockpit multifunction display; cartridge, aircraft fire extinguisher; cartridge, impulse; thruster control unit 3/A; cartridge, aircraft; Black Hawk aircrew trainer; M-134 mini-guns and spares; training devices; helmets; transportation; organizational equipment; spare and repair parts; support equipment; tools and test equipment; technical data and publications; personnel training and training equipment; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical. and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics support.
(iv) Military Department: Army (AU-B-VCV).
(v) Prior Related Cases, if any: AU-B-VCS.
(vi) Sales Commission, Fee, etc., Paid, Offered, or Agreed to be Paid: None known at this time.
(vii) Sensitivity of Technology Contained in the Defense Article or Defense Services Proposed to be Sold: See Attached Annex.
(viii) Date Report Delivered to Congress: June 17, 2026.
* As defined in Section 47(6) of the Arms Export Control Act.
The Government of Austria has requested to buy twelve (12) UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters consisting of (26) T700-GE-701D engines; five (5) AN/AAR-57 Common Missile
Warning Systems; five (5) Common Infrared Countermeasure Systems; five (5) AN/APR-39E(v)2 Radar Warning Receiver; thirty (30) EAGLE-M+429; and thirty (30) AN/ARC-231A RT-1987 VHF/UHF/LOS SATCOM radios. The following non-MDE items will also be included: AN/ARC-201D RT-1478D; AVR-2B laser detecting sets; APX-128 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder; AN/PYQ-10 simple key loader; KIV-79 common IFF applique crypto computers; AN/ARN-147(V) very high frequency omni-directional range/instrument landing system receiver radio; AN/ARN-149(V) low frequency/automatic direction finder radio receiver; AN/ARN-153 tactical air navigation system receiver transmitter; AN/APN-209 radar altimeter; EBC-406HM emergency locator transmitter; improved heads up display (IHUD); signal data converters for IHUD; color weather radars; MX-10D EO/IR with laser designator; engine inlet barrier filters; ballistic armor protection systems; internal auxiliary fuel tank systems; fast rope insertion extraction system; external rescue hoist; rescue hoist equipment sets; dual patient litter system sets; Martin-Baker palletized crew chief/gunner seats with crashworthy floor structural modifications; external stores support system; degraded visual environment system; LINK-16 (small tactical terminal KOR-24A); traffic alert collision avoidance system; cargo hook scale; sling load observation capability; direction finder DF-935; environmental control system; snow skis provisions; Bambi bucket provisions; helicopter terrain awareness system; CONRAD troop radio capability; TETRA BOS radio capability; very important person kit; 28 VDC/10A utility power socket (cabin); universal serial bus charging outlet; crashworthy extended range fuel systems tanks; instrument panel; cockpit multi-function display; cartridge9 aircraft fire extinguisher; cartridge, impulse; thruster control unit 3/A; cartridge, aircraft; Black Hawk aircrew trainer; M-134 mini-guns and spares; training devices; helmets; transportation; organizational equipment; spare and repair parts; support equipment; tools and test equipment; technical data and publications; personnel training and training equipment; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated total cost is $1.50 billion.
This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to improve the security of a partner that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe.
The proposed sale will improve Austria's capability to deter current and future threats and support coalition operations and the United States' and Austria's goal of greater military interoperability. Austria will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.
The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.
The principal contractor will be Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company, located in Jupiter, FL. At this time, the U.S. Government is not aware of any offset agreement proposed in connection with this potential sale. Any offset agreement will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and the contractor.
Implementation of this proposed sale will require the assignment of approximately fifteen U.S. Government and/or fifteen contractor representatives to travel to Austria for an extended period for equipment de-processing/fielding, system checkout, training, and technical and logistics support.
There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.
Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to
Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act
(vii) Sensitivity of Technology:
1. The UH-60M aircraft is a medium-lift four-bladed helicopter with two (2) T-701D engines. The aircraft has four (4) multifunction displays (MFDs), which provide access to aircraft system, flight, mission, and communication management systems. The instrumentation panel includes four (4) MFDs, two (2) pilot and copilot flight director panels, and two (2) data concentrator units (DCUs). The navigation system will have Embedded GPS/INS (EGIs), and two (2) advanced flight control computer systems, which provide four-axis aircraft control.
a. The AN/ARC-201D very high frequency-frequency modulation Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) airborne radio is a reliable, field-proven voice and data communication system used with the UH-60.
b. The AN/ARC-231 A is a software-definable radio for military aircraft that provides two-way, multi-mode voice and data communications over a 30 Hz to 512 MHz frequency range. No designated exportable/non-COMSEC capable version planned. Support both line-of-sight ultra high frequency and very high frequency bands with AM, FM and SATCOM capabilities includes embedded frequency agile modes, Electronic CounterCountermeasures anti-jam waveforms including HAVE QUICK and SINCGARS, Demand Assigned Multiple Access, Integrated Waveform. It provides simultaneous, real-time participation in tactical voice and data communications networks. The RT-1987 will provide NSA TSVCIS 3.1.1 crypto modernization compliance. Operator selectable Air Traffic Control channel spacing of 5, 8.33, 12.5, and 25kHz steps, and other data link and secure communications features, providing battlefield interoperability.
c. The AN/APX-128, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Transponder, is a space diversity transponder and is installed on various military platforms. When installed in conjunction with platform antennas and the Remote-Control Unit (or other appropriate control unit), the transponder provides identification, altitude and surveillance reporting in response to interrogations from airborne, ground-based and/or surface interrogators. The transponder will be classified SECRET if MODE IV, MODE 5, or MODE S fill is installed in the equipment with a crypto device. This item contains sensitive technology.
d. The AN/PYQ-10 simple key loader (SKL) is a ruggedized, portable, hand-held fill device, for securely receiving, storing, and transferring data between compatible cryptographic and communications equipment. The AN/PYQ-10 SKL will contain the KOV-21 COMSEC card, which is a Controlled Cryptographic Item. Cryptographic functions are performed by an embedded KOV-21 card developed by the National Security Agency (NSA).
e. The KIV-79 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Crypto Applique provides cryptographic and time-of-day services for a Combined Intewogator/Transponder or individual interrogator or transponder Mark XIIA (Mode 4 and Mode 5) IFF system deployed to identify cooperative, friendly systems. The KIV-79 contains embedded security and is classified up to Secret when keys are loaded.
f. The AN/AVR-2B Laser Warning Receiver detects laser rangefinders, target designators and beam rider laser-aided systems targeting an aircraft or vehicle. The AVR-2B is a detection component of the suite of countermeasures designed to increase survivability of current generation combat aircraft and specialized special operations aircraft against the threat posed by laser designated or guided weapons. This item contains sensitive technology.
g. The AAR-57 Common Missile Warning System is an integrated infrared countermeasures suite utilizing ultraviolet sensors to display accurate threat location and dispense decoys/countermeasures either automatically or under pilot/crew control to defeat incoming missile threats.
h. The EAGLE M+429, contains sensitive technology that provides GPS hardening when loaded with COMSEC keys.
i.
Text printed in the Record (3,699 characters)
The Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) System is the next-generation lightweight, laser-based, infrared countermeasure system for rotary-wing, tilt-rotor, and small fixed-wing aircraft across the DoD. CIRCM provides near spherical coverage of the host platform to defeat Infrared-seeking threat missiles. CIRCM receives an angular bearing hand-off from the Missile Warning System, employs a pointing and tracking system that acquires and tracks the incoming missile. CIRCM jams the missile by using modulated laser energy, thus degrading the tracking capability of the missile and causing it to miss the aircraft.
j. The AN/APR-39E(V)2 Radar Warning Receiver is a radar threat detection system that passively detects, categorizes, and prioritizes radio frequency (RF) threats to aircraft, and then provides an audio/visual cue to aircrew. AN/APR-39E(V)2 provides a fully digital capability to enhance threat discrimination in the millimeter wave (mmW) band and increased overall system performance against frequency-agile RF and active electronically scanned array threat radars.
k. The Link 16 data link is a military tactical data link network. Link 16 provides aircrews with enhanced situational awareness and the ability to exchange target information with Command and Control (C2) assets via Tactical Digital Information Link-Joint. The Link 16 can provide a range of combat information in near-real time to U.S. and allies' combat aircraft and C2 centers. The UH-60M uses the Harris Small Tactical Terminal (STT) KOR-24A to provide Airborne, Maritime, Fixed Station Small Airborne Link 16 Terminal capability. STT is the latest generation of small, two-channel, Link 16 and VHF/UHF radio terminals. While in flight, the STT provides simultaneous communication, voice or data, on two key waveforms.
1. The KOR-24A Lightweight Airborne Recovery System with Link 16 capability provides enhanced situational awareness and personnel recovery support through participation in secure tactical data link networks. The system enables the transmission and reception of tactical data via Link 16 in support of joint and coalition operations. The system incorporates Communications Security (COMSEC) and Transmission Security capabilities, enabling encrypted and secure data exchange using U.S. Government-approved cryptographic methods. Secure operation requires the use of classified keying material and network configuration parameters loaded via approved key loading devices (e.g., AN/ PYQ-10 Simple Key Loader). The case includes associated COMSEC' equipment, including fill devices, cables, and ancillary components required to support secure operations. All COMSEC equipment, keying material, and network participation will be provided, controlled, and managed in accordance with U.S. Government security and releasability policy.
2. The highest level of classification of defense articles, components, and services included in this potential sale is SECRET.
3. If a technologically advanced adversary were to obtain knowledge of the specific hardware and software elements, the information could be used to develop countermeasures which might reduce system effectiveness or be used in the development of a system with similar or advanced capabilities.
4. A determination has been made that Austria can provide substantially the same degree of protection of this technology as the U.S. Government. This proposed sale is necessary in furtherance of U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives outlined in the Policy Justification.
5. All defense articles, technical data, and services listed in this transmittal are authorized for release and export to the Government of Austria.
Arms Sales Notification
Page S2888 · Official textMr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is still available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (5,282 characters)
Please find enclosed the following notification from the Department of State.
Department Notification Number: RSAT 26-62.
Pursuant to the reporting requirements of Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), as amended, we are forwarding Transmittal No. 26-62 concerning the Army's proposed Letter(s) of Offer and Acceptance to the Government of Brazil for defense articles and services estimated to cost $330 million. We will issue a news release to notify the public of this proposed sale upon delivery of this letter to your office.
Recipients:
Speaker of the House of Representatives
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Sincerely,
Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to
Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as
amended
(i) Prospective Purchaser: Government of Brazil.
(ii) Total Estimated Value:
Major Defense Equipment * $200 million.
Other $130 million.
Total $330 million.
Funding Source: National Funds.
(iii) Description and Quantity or Quantities of Articles or Services under Consideration for Purchase:
Major Defense Equipment (MDE):
One hundred (100) FIM-92K Stinger Block I missiles.
Non-MDE: The following non-MDE items will also be included: gripstocks; engineering assistance; integration support services; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics and program support.
(iv) Military Department: Army (BR-B-UAN).
(v) Prior Related Cases, if any: None.
(vi) Sales Commission, Fee, etc., Paid, Offered, or Agreed to be Paid: None known at this time.
(vii) Sensitivity of Technology Contained in the Defense Article or Defense Services Proposed to be Sold: See Attached Annex.
(viii) Date Report Delivered to Congress: June 11, 2026.
* As defined in Section 47(6) of the Arms Export Control Act.
The Government of Brazil has requested to buy one hundred (100) FIM-92K Stinger Block I missiles. The following non-major defense equipment items will also be included: gripstocks; engineering assistance; integration support services; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated total cost is $330 million.
This proposed sale will enable Brazil to assume greater responsibility for its own territorial security and counter narco-terrorist operations within its borders and regional sphere.
The proposed sale will improve Brazil's capability to meet current and future threats by providing the FIM-92K Stinger Block 1 missiles and thereby enhancing its air defense capability. This acquisition supports Brazil's defense modernization efforts aimed at doing more for its own defense by securing South American airspace from illicit trafficking operations. Brazil will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.
The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.
The principal contractors will be RTX Corporation, located in Arlington, VA and Lockheed Martin, located in Syracuse, NY. At this time, the U.S. Government is not aware of any offset agreement proposed in connection with this potential sale. Any offset agreement will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and the contractor.
Implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government or contractor representatives to Brazil.
There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.
Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to
Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act
(vii) Sensitivity of Technology:
1. FIM-92K Stinger Block I is primary in the area of design and production know-how and not end-items. This sensitive and critical technology is inherent in the hybrid microcircuit assemblies; micro-processors; magnetic and amorphous metals; purification; firmware; printed circuit boards; laser roll rate sensor; dual detector assembly; detector filters; optical coatings; ultraviolet sensors; compounding and handling of electronic, electro-optic, and optical materials; test equipment operating instructions; energetic materials fabrication and loading technology; and warhead components and seeker assembly.
2. The highest level of classification of defense articles, components, and services included in this potential sale is SECRET.
3. If a technologically advanced adversary were to obtain knowledge of the specific hardware and software elements, the information could be used to develop countermeasures that might reduce system effectiveness or be used in the development of a system with similar or advanced capabilities.
4. A determination has been made that Brazil can provide substantially the same degree of protection for the sensitive technology being released as the U.S. Government. This proposed sale is necessary in furtherance of the U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives outlined in the Policy Justification.
5. All defense articles and services listed in this transmittal have been authorized for release and export to the Government of Brazil.
Arms Sales Notification
Pages S2888–S2889 · Official textMr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is still available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (4,337 characters)
Please find enclosed the following notification from the Department of State.
Department Notification Number: RSAT 26-56.
Pursuant to the reporting requirements of Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), as amended, we are forwarding Transmittal No. 26-56 concerning the Navy's proposed Letter(s) of Offer and Acceptance to the Government of Kuwait for defense articles and services estimated to cost $235.9 million. We will issue a news release to notify the public of this proposed sale upon delivery of this letter to your office.
Recipients:
Speaker of the House of Representatives
House Committee on Foreign Affairs Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Sincerely,
Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to
Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as
amended
(i) Prospective Purchaser: Government of Kuwait.
(ii) Total Estimated Value:
Major Defense Equipment * $0.
Other $235.9 million.
Total $235.9 million.
Funding Source: National Funds.
(iii) Description and Quantity or Quantities of Articles or Services under Consideration for Purchase:
MDE: None.
Non-MDE: The following non-MDE items will be included: aircraft maintenance support, spare parts, accessories, and unclassified technical and non-technical publications; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; five (5) years of KC-130J aircraft spare and repair parts; support equipment; logistics technical assistance; software support publications; technical documentation; repair and return; personnel training and training equipment; and other related elements of logistics and program support.
(iv) Military Department: Navy (KU-P-GID).
(v) Prior Related Cases, if any: KU-P-SBF; KU-P-GHR.
(vi) Sales Commission, Fee, etc., Paid, Offered, or Agreed to be Paid: None known at this time.
(vii) Sensitivity of Technology Contained in the Defense Article or Defense Services Proposed to be Sold: None.
(viii) Date Report Delivered to Congress: June 15, 2026.
* As defined in Section 47(6) of the Arms Export Control Act.
The Government of Kuwait has requested to buy aircraft maintenance support, spare parts, accessories, and unclassified technical and non-technical publications; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; five (5) years of KC-130J aircraft spare and repair parts; support equipment; logistics technical assistance; software support publications; technical documentation; repair and return; personnel training and training equipment; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated total cost is $235.9 million.
This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-NATO ally that has been an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.
The proposed sale will improve Kuwait's Air Force (KAF) capability to meet current and future threats by contributing to shared security objectives, promote regional stability, and build interoperability with the United States. The KAF utilizes these aircraft to deter threats and protect national resources. This sale will support ongoing sustainment efforts, maintenance, repair, and provide the U.S. Navy program office (NAVAIR PMA 207) with the flexibility to perform the necessary sustainment actions based on KAF priorities. Kuwait will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.
The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.
The principal contractors will be V2X, located in Madison, MS; Aviation Training Consulting located in Atlus, OK; CAE USA located in Tampa, FL; Dowty located in Evendale, OH; and Rolls Royce located in Indianapolis, IN. At this time, the U.S. Government is not aware of any offset agreement proposed in connection with this potential sale. Any offset agreement will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and the contractor.
Implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government or contractor representatives to Kuwait.
There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.
Arms Sales Notification
Page S2889 · Official textMr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is still available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (3,361 characters)
Please find enclosed the following notification from the Department of State.
Department Notification Number: RSAT 26-0U.
Pursuant to the reporting requirements of Section 36(b)(5)(C) of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), as amended, we are forwarding Transmittal No. 26-0U. This notification relates to enhancements or upgrades from the level of sensitivity of technology or capability described in the Section 36(b)(1) AECA certification 23-24 of April 26, 2023.
Recipients:
Speaker of the House of Representatives
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Sincerely,
Report of Enhancement or Upgrade of Sensitivity of Technology
or Capability (Sec. 36(b)(5)(C), AECA)
(i) Prospective Purchaser: Government of Norway.
(ii) Sec. 36(b)(1), AECA Transmittal No.: 23-34; Date: April 26, 2023; Implementing Agency: Air Force.
(iii) Description: On April 26, 2023, Congress was notified by congressional certification transmittal number 23-34 of the possible sale, under Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, of continued sustainment and associated services for four (4) C-130J aircraft beyond Block 6 through 2028. Included were Joint Mission Planning Systems; aircraft components, spare parts, consumables, and accessories; repair and return support; aircraft support and support equipment; unclassified publications and technical documentation; software delivery and support; unclassified Computer Program Identification Number systems; telecommunications support; minor modifications, maintenance, and maintenance support; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of program and logistical support. The estimated total value was $166 million. There was no major defense equipment (MDE) associated with this sale.
This transmittal notifies the inclusion of the following non-MDE items: avionics software support; maps, charts, and software; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated total value of the new items is $344 million. The estimated non-MDE value will increase by $344 million to a revised $510 million, The estimated total case value will increase by $344 million to a revised $510 million. There is no MDE associated with this sale.
(iv) Significance: This notification accounts for requested additional non-MDE items not included in the original notification. The inclusion of this non-MDE represents an increase in capability over what was previously notified. The proposed articles and services will support Norway's capability to meet current and future threats by increasing the reliability of its C-130J fleet, while expanding its national defense capabilities and supporting the common defense of NATO.
(v) Justification: This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a NATO Ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe.
(vi) Sensitivity of Technology:
The Sensitivity of Technology Statement contained in the original notification applies to additional items reported here.
The highest level of classification of defense articles, components, and services included in this potential sale is SECRET.
(vii) Date Report Delivered to Congress: June 17, 2026.
Arms Sales Notification
Pages S2889–S2890 · Official textMr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is still available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Text printed in the Record (6,308 characters)
Please find enclosed the following notification from the Department of State.
Department Notification Number: RSAT 26-67.
Pursuant to the reporting requirements of Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), as amended, we are forwarding Transmittal No. 26-67 concerning the Department of the Army's proposed Letter(s) of Offer and Acceptance to the Government of Singapore for defense articles and services estimated to cost $73 million. We will issue a news release to notify the public of this proposed sale upon delivery of this letter to your office.
Recipients:
Speaker of the House of Representatives
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Sincerely,
Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to
Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as
amended
(i) Prospective Purchaser: Government of Singapore.
(ii) Total Estimated Value:
Major Defense Equipment * $40 million.
Other $33 million.
Total $73 million.
Funding Source: National Funds.
(iii) Description and Quantity or Quantities of Articles or Services under Consideration for Purchase:
Major Defense Equipment (MDE): Eighteen (18) Common Fire Control System upgrade kits for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.
Non-MDE: The following non-MDE items will also be included: support equipment; technical documentation; spare parts; training; U.S. Government and contractor technical support; engineering and logistics support services; field office support; and other related elements of logistics and program support.
(iv) Military Department: Army (SN-B-VIJ; SN-B-VIO).
(v) Prior Related Cases, if any: SN-B-VDO; SN-B-VEN; SN-B-VEP; SN-B-VER; SN-B-VGA; SN-B-VET; SN-B-VFW; SN-B-VFM; SNB-VFB; SN-B-VEW; SN-B-VGM; SN-B-VEQ; SN-B-VES; SN-BVGX; SN-B-VHA; SN-B-VHE; SN-B-VHU; SN-B-VHZ; SN-BVIC; SN-B-VGR.
(vi) Sales Commission, Fee, etc., Paid, Offered, or Agreed to be Paid: None known at this time.
(vii) Sensitivity of Technology Contained in the Defense Article or Defense Services Proposed to be Sold: See Attached Annex.
(viii) Date Report Delivered to Congress: June 15, 2026.
* As defined in Section 47(6) of the Arms Export Control Act.
The Government of Singapore has requested to buy eighteen (18) Common Fire Control System upgrade kits for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. The following non-major defense equipment items will also be included: support equipment; technical documentation; spare parts; training; U.S. Government and contractor technical support; engineering and logistics support services; field office support; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated total cost is $73 million.
This proposed sale will enhance the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a strategic partner that is an important force for political stability and economic progress in Asia.
The proposed sale will improve Singapore's capability to meet current and future threats by enhancing and extending its Army's ability to conduct operations and enable effective training. Singapore will have no difficulty absorbing this training into its armed forces.
The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.
The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin, located in Dallas, TX. At this time, the U.S. Government is not aware of any offset agreement proposed in connection with this potential sale. Any offset agreement will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and the contractor.
Implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government or contractor representatives to Singapore.
There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.
Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to
Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act
(vii) Sensitivity of Technology:
1. The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is a C-130 transportable wheeled launcher mounted on a five-ton family of medium tactical vehicle truck chassis. HIMARS is the modern Army-fielded version of the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) M270 launcher and can fire all the MLRS family of munitions (MFOM), including the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System and Army Tactical Missile System. The MFOM HIMARS can engage targets between 15 and 300 kilometers with global positioning system-aided precision accuracy.
2. The Common Fire Control System (CFCS) is the replacement for the Universal Fire Control System. CFCS addresses obsolescence issues and features the capability to fire MFOMs. The CFCS provides the command and control, man-machine, weapon and launcher interfaces, as well as the embedded training. The CFCS enables a launcher to operate with compatible fire direction systems, navigate to specified fire or reload points, compute the firing solutions, and orient the launcher loader module on the target to deliver the weapon accurately and effectively. The CFCS includes a built-in test and mass storage capability to store critical mission parameters, as well as system configuration and maintenance information. The CFCS provides position navigation and processing, necessary to direct and maintain control of the launcher system, allowing for accurate firing and loading of weapons.
3. The highest level of classification of defense articles, components, and services included in this potential sale is SECRET.
4. If a technologically advanced adversary were to obtain knowledge of the specific hardware and software elements, the information could be used to develop countermeasures that might reduce system effectiveness or be used in the development of a system with similar or advanced capabilities.
5. A determination has been made that Singapore can provide substantially the same degree of protection for the sensitive technology being released as the U.S. Government. This proposed sale is necessary in furtherance of the U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives outlined in the Policy Justification.
6. All defense articles and services listed in this transmittal have been authorized for release and export to the Government of Singapore.
Tribute to Christopher J. Scolese
Pages S2890–S2891 · Official textMr. President, I rise today to recognize and celebrate the career of an outstanding civil servant Dr. Christopher J. Scolese, who will retire this summer after nearly five decades of government service, most recently as the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office. Dr. Scolese has shaped U.S. leadership in space across civil and national security domains, leaving an indelible mark on the Nation's aerospace and national security capabilities, as well as the people and culture of the Nation's space community.
Dr. Scolese began his government career in 1978 as a U.S. naval officer in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. His work focused on developing sophisticated instrumentation and multiprocessor systems for naval and Department of Energy applications while serving at Naval Sea Systems Command. Dr. Scolese was personally selected by Admiral Hyman Rickover for assignment to Naval Reactors, where he contributed to advancing nuclear propulsion technology until completing his Active-Duty service in 1983.
Following a period of service working in government and industry, Dr. Scolese joined NASA, where he was assigned to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. He held multiple senior leadership roles at NASA, including chief engineer, Associate Administrator, Acting Administrator, and director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. His impact on the Nation's civil space program has been profound and enduring, from guiding NASA through the retirement of the Space Shuttle and early planning for what became the Artemis Program, to overseeing milestone achievements at Goddard, including the Earth Observing System and the buildout of the James Webb Space Telescope.
As the first Senate-confirmed Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, Dr. Scolese led the NRO from 2019 through 2026 in its mission of developing, acquiring, launching, and operating U.S. space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Serving under three Presidential administrations, he has championed the most comprehensive technological transformation in the NRO's 65-year history.
Under Dr. Scolese's leadership, the NRO significantly advanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance technology. The agency expanded its overhead capabilities to improve the capacity and precision of its collections and make it harder for America's adversaries to hide. In just a few years, the NRO put more than 200 satellites on orbit--most as part of a proliferated architecture that enables users, including warfighters, analysts, policymakers, and international allies to get reliable information when they need it.
Under Dr. Scolese's leadership, the NRO has strengthened partnerships with other government Agencies, industry, academia, and international allies. The Agency has also expanded its relationships with new and existing commercial partners.
Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Scolese's legacy extends beyond technological achievement to the thousands of professionals he has mentored, developed, empowered, and inspired across NASA, the NRO, and the broader space community. He recognized that America's competitive advantage in space depends on its people, leading him to expand recruitment pipelines, strengthen professional development programs, and create opportunities for emerging talent. His commitment to workforce excellence is reflected in the NRO's expanded Cadre program and highly competitive internship initiative, ensuring that the next generation inherits not just advanced capabilities, but the expertise and dedication required to maintain and further expand them.
I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking Dr. Scolese for his valuable contributions to the space community over his decades of service to the Nation. I also thank Chris' family for their critical role in supporting him throughout this time. Dr. Scolese leaves a legacy of leadership across national security and civil space, one that has profoundly shaped the future of space exploration and intelligence capabilities for generations to come. On behalf of myself and all my colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee, I congratulate Dr. Scolese on the occasion of his retirement and wish him well in his future endeavors.
Recognizing the 150th Anniversary of Lick Observatory
Page S2891 · Official textMr. President, I rise today to recognize a jewel of American science and a California landmark: the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton. June 7, 2026, marked the 150th anniversary of the Act of Congress that reserved land for the construction of this observatory that has been the site of countless scientific discoveries.
Established through the visionary philanthropy of James Lick, whose 1874 endowment of $700,000, valued at over $1 billion today, laid the foundation for what is now the Lick Observatory, Lick Observatory was the world's first permanently staffed mountaintop observatory. When it opened in 1888, it housed the 36-inch Great Refractor, then the largest telescope on Earth, cementing California as an early epicenter of astronomical research.
For 150 years, Lick Observatory has been the site of monumental breakthroughs. In 1892, its researchers achieved the first photographic discovery of a comet and identified a fifth moon of Jupiter. A 1922 Lick Observatory eclipse expedition provided the empirical confirmation of Einstein's general theory of relativity, a moment that fundamentally shifted our understanding of the physical world.
These innovations and discoveries continued into the 20th and now into the 21st century. In the 1990s, Lick Observatory pioneered adaptive optics to pierce through atmospheric distortion and was at the forefront of the search for exoplanets. Its robotic telescopes have monitored over 1,000 supernovae, which provided crucial data revealing the acceleration of the universe's expansion, a discovery honored with the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Today, operating under the University of California Observatories, Lick Observatory remains a vital keystone for education. It serves nine UC campuses and two national laboratories and partners with California's State universities and community colleges, training the next generation of scientists while inspiring tens of thousands of visitors through its outreach programs.
The legacy of Lick Observatory exemplifies the pioneering American spirit and our enduring commitment to discovery. I ask my colleagues to join me in commemorating this 150th anniversary and honoring the observatory for its extraordinary contributions to humanity's understanding of the cosmos.
Tribute to Joabe Barbosa
Page S2891 · Official textMr. President, I rise today to recognize a remarkable achievement by one of my constituents and a beloved member of the Chicago community. Mr. Joabe Barbosa, a graduate student from Brazil pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology at Roosevelt University, completed a monumental and inspiring undertaking last Sunday: running every street in Chicago. He traveled more than 4,000 miles across all 77 of Chicago's neighborhoods becoming, by all accounts, the first individual to do so. I commend Mr. Barbosa for his incredible accomplishment.
Completing the run is impressive in its own right, but what moved me most was Mr. Barbosa's inspiring message of community, humanity, and joy. On every run, in every video, Mr. Barbosa found local families inviting him in to share a meal, neighborhood children wanting to race, communities welcoming him as one of their own, and Chicagoans sharing their stories of togetherness and love.
In a time when division dominates the airwaves, I thank Mr. Barbosa for showing the best of our shared humanity and reminding Chicagoans of the wisdom and truth captured in the enduring words of Dr. Maya Angelou: "We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike."
This past weekend, Mr. Barbosa finished his extraordinary run in true Chicago fashion, gathering thousands of his neighbors to run alongside him from Oak Street and Michigan Avenue to Buckingham Fountain to help him spread a joyous message of love and community.
Mr. Barbosa, I thank you with all my heart for telling this story and for showing the world that Chicago truly is the greatest city in the world.
Remembering Jim Shee
Pages S2891–S2892 · Official textMr. President, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of James Hong Shee, a respected Arizona community leader whose decades of civic engagement, business leadership, and public advocacy helped strengthen communities across our State.
Born into a Chinese and Spanish American family, Jim developed a lifelong appreciation for Arizona's cultural diversity and the importance of building connections among people from different backgrounds. His family operated the Peking Cafe, a longtime Phoenix restaurant that became a gathering place for residents from throughout the community.
Jim dedicated much of his life to expanding economic opportunity and civic participation in Arizona. In 1993, he founded the Arizona Asian Chamber of Commerce, helping establish an organization that has supported Asian-owned businesses and strengthened Arizona's economy for more than three decades. He also founded the Phoenix Asian-Hispanic Alliance, recognizing the importance of collaboration among Arizona's diverse communities.
Throughout his career, Jim worked to ensure that Arizona's Asian American community had a stronger voice in public affairs. A respected leader and advocate, he encouraged greater participation in business, community organizations, and public service. During periods of significant debate over immigration and civil rights issues in Arizona, he spoke out against policies he believed would divide communities and worked to foster constructive dialogue.
Jim's contributions extended beyond the organizations he founded. He worked with civic, business, and community leaders across Arizona to promote greater understanding and cooperation among the State's diverse communities. His commitment to building relationships across communities earned him the respect of leaders and residents throughout Arizona.
Arizona is stronger because of Jim's leadership, advocacy, and commitment to public service. His work expanded opportunities for others and fostered connections across communities that will endure for generations.
My thoughts are with Jim's wife Marian, his family, friends, and all those mourning his loss. We honor Jim Shee's life of service and celebrate the lasting impact he had on Arizona and its people.
Messages from the President
Page S2892 · Official textMessages from the President of the United States were communicated to the Senate by Mr. Hanley, one of his secretaries.
Executive Messages Referred
Page S2892 · Official textIn executive session the Presiding Officer laid before the Senate messages from the President of the United States submitting sundry nominations which were referred to the Committee on Armed Services. (The messages received today are printed at the end of the Senate proceedings.)
Measures Placed on the Calendar
Page S2892 · Official textThe following bill was read the first and second times by unanimous consent, and placed on the calendar:
Text printed in the Record (153 characters)
H.R. 2481. An act to require online dating service providers to provide fraud ban notifications to online dating service members, and for other purposes.
Executive and Other Communications
Pages S2892–S2893 · Official textThe following communications were laid before the Senate, together with accompanying papers, reports, and documents, and were referred as indicated:
Text printed in the Record (11,468 characters)
EC-3902. A communication from the Senior Bureau Official, Legislative Affairs, Department of State, transmitting, pursuant to law, a report entitled "Semiannual Jackson-Vanik Compliance Report for Certain Independent States" received in the Office of the President pro tempore; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
EC-3903. A communication from the Regulations Coordinator, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Amendment and Revocation of Organizational Information Regulations" (RIN0910-AJ24) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
EC-3904. A communication from the Assistant Secretary for Legislation, Department of Health and Human Services, transmitting, pursuant to law, a report entitled "National Maternal Mental Health Hotline Fiscal Year 2025"; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
EC-3905. A communication from the Assistant Secretary for Legislation, Department of Health and Human Services, transmitting, pursuant to law, a report entitled "Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Progress Report on the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program and National Cord Blood Inventory Program"; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
EC-3906. A communication from the Secretary of Energy, transmitting, proposed legislation to amend the Atomic Energy Defense Act to extend the authority to accept, retain, and use external and international contributions to the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation; to the Committee on Armed Services.
EC-3907. A communication from the Secretary of Energy, transmitting, proposed legislation to amend the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 to facilitate the goal to eliminate all cesium-137-based blood irradiators in the United States by December 31, 2027; to the Committee on Armed Services.
EC-3908. A communication from the Secretary of Energy, transmitting, proposed legislation to amend the Atomic Energy Defense Act to increase the threshold for the Department of Energy's requirement to receive specific authorization for construction design funds to the congressional defense committees from $5 million to $10 million; to the Committee on Armed Services.
EC-3909. A communication from the Chief of Staff of the Peace Corps, transmitting, pursuant to law, the Office of Inspector General's Semiannual Report for the period of October 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026 received in the Office of the President pro tempore; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
EC-3910. A communication from the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, transmitting, pursuant to law, the Commission's Semiannual Report of the Inspector General and the Semiannual Management Report for the period from October 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
EC-3911. A communication from the Chief of Staff of the Peace Corps, transmitting, pursuant to law, the Office of Inspector General's Semiannual Report for the period of October 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
EC-3912. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Pydiflumetofen; Pesticide Tolerances" (FRL No. 13308-01-OCSPP) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
EC-3913. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Sodium Nitrate in Pesticide Formulations; Exemption from the Requirement of a Tolerance" (FRL No. 13292-01-OCSPP) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
EC-3914. A communication from the Deputy Associate Director of Offshore Regulatory Programs, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Department of the Interior, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf-Documents Incorporated by Reference" (RIN1014-AA51) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
EC-3915. A communication from the Secretary of Energy, transmitting, proposed legislation to amend the American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2012 to eliminate requirements for annual public workshops and reviews of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration's molybdenum-99 programs by the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
EC-3916. A communication from the Chair, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, transmitting, pursuant to law, a report entitled "Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP; June 2026"; to the Committee on Finance.
EC-3917. A communication from the Regulations Coordinator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Medicaid Program; Strengthening Oversight of Accrediting Organizations (AOs) and Preventing AO Conflicts of Interest, and Related Provisions" (RIN0938-AU88) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Finance.
EC-3918. A communication from the Acting Branch Supervisor of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Finding of Failure to Attain the 2006 24-Hour PM2.5 Standards; California; San Joaquin Valley; Error Correction" (FRL No. 13247-02-R9) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3919. A communication from the Acting Branch Supervisor of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Air Plan Approval; Connecticut; Ozone Ambient Air Quality Standard and Adhesive and Sealants Regulation Revisions" (FRL No. 13029-02-R1) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3920. A communication from the Acting Branch Supervisor of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Air Plan Approval; New York; New York Metropolitan Area Second Ten-Year Limited Maintenance Plan for the 2006 24-Hour PM2.5 Standard" (FRL No. 12788-02-R2) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3921. A communication from the Acting Branch Supervisor of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Partial Withdrawals of Findings of Failure to Submit State Implementation Plan (SIP) Revisions to Amend Provisions Applying to Excess Emissions During Periods of Startup, Shutdown, and Malfunction" (FRL No. 12161-04-OAR) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3922. A communication from the Acting Branch Supervisor of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "California State Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Standards; Notice of Decision Granting a Waiver of Clean Air Act Preemption for California's 2009 and Subsequent Model Year Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards for New Motor Vehicles" (FRL-No. 8927-2) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3923. A communication from the Branch Manager, Branch of Delisting and Foreign Species, Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of Northeastern Bulrush
From the List of Endangered and Threatened Plants" (RIN1018-BD66) received during adjournment of the Senate in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3924. A communication from the Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, transmitting, pursuant to law, a report entitled "Abnormal Occurrences Fiscal Year 2025"; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3925. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "California State Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Standards; Advanced Clean Car Program; Reconsideration of a Previous Withdrawal of a Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision" (FRL No. 9325-01-OAR) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3926. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "California State Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Standards; Notice of Decision Granting a Waiver of Clean Air Act Preemption for California's Advanced Clean Car Program and a Within the Scope Confirmation for California's Zero Emission Vehicle Amendments for 2017 and Earlier Model Years" (FRL No. 9768-01) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3927. A communication from the Acting Branch Chief of the Regulatory Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "California State Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; Small Off-Road Engines Regulations; Notice of Decision" (FRL No. 10890-02-OAR) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
EC-3928. A communication from the Paralegal of the Office of Chief Counsel, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Pipeline Safety: Editorial Corrections to MAOP Reconfirmation Requirement" (RIN2137-AE72) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
EC-3929. A communication from the Paralegal of the Office of Chief Counsel, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, transmitting, pursuant to law, the report of a rule entitled "Hazardous Materials: Streamlining Requirements for the Approval of Certain Energetic Materials" (RIN2137-AF50) received in the Office of the President of the Senate on June 16, 2026; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Reports of Committees
Page S2893 · Official textThe following reports of committees were submitted:
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By Mr. LEE, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute:
S. 1547. A bill to amend title 54, United States Code, to reauthorize the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, and for other purposes.
Introduction of Bills and Joint Resolutions
Pages S2893–S2894 · Official textThe following bills and joint resolutions were introduced, read the first and second times by unanimous consent, and referred as indicated:
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By Ms. CANTWELL (for herself, Mr. Cruz, Ms. Blunt
Rochester, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Padilla, and Mr. Budd):
S. 4802. A bill to provide for the acquisition by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of aircraft for air, atmosphere, and weather reconnaissance and research missions, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
By Mr. MERKLEY:
S. 4803. A bill to amend the Truth in Lending Act to include a home equity investment loan in the definition of a residential mortgage loan for the purposes of that Act, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
By Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. Hickenlooper, and Mr.
Welch):
S. 4804. A bill to require the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation to each establish a pilot program for personal property manufactured home loan purchases; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
By Mrs. HYDE-SMITH (for herself, Mrs. Britt, and Mr.
Kennedy):
S. 4805. A bill to require the United States Executive Directors at the international financial institutions to oppose certain projects involving shrimp production; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
By Ms. LUMMIS:
S. 4806. A bill to clarify that the interconnection of large load facilities directly to facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce is a matter within the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
By Mr. SHEEHY:
S. 4807. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to increase, and provide a cost-of-living adjustment with respect to, the death gratuity for families of deceased members of the Armed Forces; to the Committee on Armed Services.
By Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself and Mr. Moreno):
S. 4808. A bill to amend the Federal Credit Union Act with respect to conversion modernization for privately insured credit unions; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
By Mr. KAINE:
S. 4809. A bill to require the Secretary of State to develop a strategy for supporting free and fair elections in Venezuela, to impose sanctions on individuals who are complicit in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights in Venezuela, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
By Mr. KELLY (for himself and Mr. Budd):
S. 4810. A bill to establish a grant program for education related to semiconductor manufacturing and related industries; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
By Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mrs. Fischer):
S. 4811. A bill to amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to include Indian Tribes in certain provisions relating to priority resource concerns; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
By Mr. PADILLA (for himself, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Boozman,
Mr. Crapo, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Schiff, and
Mr. Sheehy):
S. 4812. A bill to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to modify regulations with respect to drinking water State revolving funds, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
By Mr. TILLIS:
S. 4813. A bill to authorize leases of up to 99 years for land held in trust for federally recognized Indian Tribes; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
By Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr.
Schumer, Ms. Warren, Mr. Kim, Mr. Coons, Mr. Van
Hollen, Mr. Booker, Ms. Alsobrooks, Mr. Warnock, Mr.
Welch, Mrs. Murray, Mr. King, Ms. Duckworth, Mrs.
Gillibrand, Mr. Reed, Mr. Whitehouse, Ms. Hirono, and
Mr. Bennet):
S. 4814. A bill to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for temporary protected status; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mrs. FISCHER (for herself and Mr. Ricketts):
S. 4815. A bill to permanently extend the pilot program of the Department of Veterans Affairs on acceptance by the Department of donated facilities and related improvements and to authorize acceptance of donations of construction services, minor construction or nonrecurring maintenance projects, and targeted contributions, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
By Mr. MURPHY (for himself and Mrs. Gillibrand):
S. 4816. A bill to amend title XX of the Social Security Act to authorize grants and training to support area agencies on aging and other community-based organizations in addressing social isolation among older individuals and adults with disabilities; to the Committee on Finance.
By Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Ms. Duckworth, Mr.
Fetterman, Mr. Markey, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Padilla, Mr.
Reed, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Smith, Ms. Warren, and Mr.
Wyden):
S. 4817. A bill to strengthen protections against child labor violations, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
By Mr. MURPHY:
S. 4818. A bill to establish the Office of Social Connection Policy, to establish a national strategy on social connection, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
By Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. Hawley, Ms.
Klobuchar, Mr. King, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Coons, Mr.
Blumenthal, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Bennet, and Mrs. Shaheen):
S. 4819. A bill to amend title 23, United States Code, to establish an EMS and First Responder Wellness Grant Program, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
By Ms. ALSOBROOKS (for herself and Mr. McCormick):
S. 4820. A bill to amend the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to codify and expand the Regional Export Promotion Program of the Export-Import Bank of the United States; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
By Mrs. MOODY:
S. 4821. A bill to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the use of funds under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program to establish elder justice task forces, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself, Mr. Sullivan, Ms.
Cantwell, Mr. Wyden,
Mr. Merkley, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Reed,
Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Markey, and Ms.
Warren):
S. 4822. A bill to prohibit the National Science Foundation from using Federal funds to descope or decommission the Ocean Observatories Initiative instruments; considered and passed.
By Ms. BALDWIN (for herself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Wyden,
Mr. Markey, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Alsobrooks, Mr. King,
Mr. Lujan, Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Merkley, Mr.
Hickenlooper, Mr. Warner, and Ms. Klobuchar):
S.J. Res. 197. A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027; and Basic Health Program"; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Submission of Concurrent and Senate Resolutions
Page S2894 · Official textThe following concurrent resolutions and Senate resolutions were read, and referred (or acted upon), as indicated:
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By Mr. SCHUMER (for himself and Mrs. Gillibrand):
S. Res. 771. A resolution congratulating the New York Knicks on winning the 2026 National Basketball Association Finals; considered and agreed to.
By Mr. GALLEGO (for himself and Ms. Lummis):
S. Res. 772. A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that under no circumstances should Samuel Bankman-Fried receive executive clemency, including a pardon or commutation, and affirming the Senate's commitment to the rule of law and integrity of the United States financial system; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mrs. MOODY:
S. Res. 773. A resolution recognizing Father's Day and the role a father plays in the lives of children and adults; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mr. MORAN:
S. Res. 774. A resolution designating June as "National Annuity Awareness Month"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. Bennet, Mr.
Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Coons, Mr. Durbin, Ms.
Duckworth, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Hickenlooper, Ms.
Hirono, Mr. Kaine, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr.
Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Murray, Mr.
Padilla, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Reed, Ms. Rosen,
Mr. Sanders, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Warnock, Mr. Welch,
Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Wyden):
S. Res. 775. A resolution reaffirming the importance of the United States promoting the safety, health, and well-being of refugees and displaced persons in the United States and around the world; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
By Mr. BUDD (for himself, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Tillis,
and Ms. Rosen):
S. Res. 776. A resolution honoring the life of Kyle Busch; considered and agreed to.
By Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen):
S. Res. 777. A resolution designating May 1, 2026, as "United States Foreign Service Day" in recognition of the men and women who have served, or are presently serving, in the Foreign Service of the United States, and honoring the members of the Foreign Service who have given their lives in the line of duty; considered and agreed to.
Additional Cosponsors
Pages S2894–S2895 · Official textAt the request of Mr. Kennedy, the name of the Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis) was added as a cosponsor of S. 478, a bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from transmitting certain information to the Department of Justice for use by the national instant criminal background check system. At the request of Mr. Schmitt, the name of the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy) was added as a cosponsor of S. 494, a bill to establish a national plan to coordinate research on epilepsy, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Wicker, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. McCormick) was added as a cosponsor of S. 574, a bill to amend the Animal Health Protection Act to provide compensation for poultry growers and layers in control areas, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Schumer, the names of the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and the Senator from Florida (Mrs. Moody) were added as cosponsors of S. 877, a bill to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative coins in recognition of the life and legacy of Roberto Clemente. At the request of Mr. Moran, the name of the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Alsobrooks) was added as a cosponsor of S. 879, a bill to expand medical, employment, and other benefits for individuals serving as family caregivers for certain veterans, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Durbin, the names of the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons) and the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Merkley) were added as cosponsors of S. 1294, a bill to modernize the business of selling firearms. At the request of Mr. Heinrich, the name of the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1370, a bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to restrict the possession of certain firearms, and for other purposes. At the request of Ms. Rosen, the name of the Senator from New York (Mrs. Gillibrand) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1380, a bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Cotton, the names of the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich) and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker) were added as cosponsors of S. 1552, a bill to promote and protect from discrimination living organ donors. At the request of Mrs. Britt, the name of the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1630, a bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide more opportunities for mothers to succeed, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Cotton, the name of the Senator from Florida (Mrs. Moody) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1705, a bill to require the Secretary of Commerce to issue standards with respect to chip security mechanisms for integrated circuit products, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Durbin, the name of the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons) was added as a cosponsor 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 Mr. Marshall, the name of the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Budd) was added as a cosponsor of S. 1906, a bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the regulation of zootechnical animal food substances. At the request of Mr. Lankford, the name of the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee) was added as a cosponsor of S. 2859, a bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure campus access at public institutions of higher education for religious groups. At the request of Ms. Collins, the name of the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich) was added as a cosponsor 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 names of the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Banks) and the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Cotton) were added as cosponsors 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. Schatz, the name of the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) was added as a cosponsor of S. 3383, a bill to amend the Act of August 9, 1955, to make improvements to that Act, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. McCormick, the name of the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Justice) 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 name of the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) was added as a cosponsor 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. Warnock, the name of the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Alsobrooks) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4167, a bill to establish the Federal Clearinghouse on Grant Opportunities for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Markey, the names of the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Wyden) and the Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Whitehouse) were added as cosponsors of S. 4411, a bill to clarify eligibility for small business loans, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Gallego, the name of the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4421, a bill to amend the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act to expand review by Congress of actions relating to sanctions imposed with respect to the Russian Federation. At the request of Mr. Cassidy, the name of the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4427, a bill to prohibit the Secretary of Labor from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing a proposed standard with respect to heat injury and illness prevention, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Moreno, the names of the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Banks) and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) 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 Mrs. Moody, the name of the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4446, a bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act to prevent the importation of illicit pill press machines with the intent to counterfeit substances, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Schatz, the name of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4610, a bill to promote the development and use of geothermal resources in the Pacific, and for other purposes. At the request of Mr. Moran, the name of the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis) was added as a cosponsor of S. 4744, a bill to amend titles 10 and 38, United States Code, and other Federal laws, to improve benefits for veterans and the administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. At the request of Mr. Cruz, the name of the Senator from Montana (Mr. Daines) was added as a cosponsor of S.J. Res. 56, a joint resolution designating the month of June as "Life Month". At the request of Mr. Crapo, the name of the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Wyden) was added as a cosponsor of S. Con. Res. 6, a concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that tax-exempt fraternal benefit societies have historically provided and continue to provide critical benefits to the people and communities of the United States. At the request of Mr. Whitehouse, the name of the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Sullivan) was added as a cosponsor of S. Res. 759, a resolution recognizing World Oceans Day and celebrating the maritime heritage, ocean leadership, fisheries stewardship, and coastal communities of the United States.
Senate Resolution 771--Congratulating the New York Knicks on Winning the 2026 National Basketball Association Finals
Pages S2895–S2896 · Official textSENATE RESOLUTION 771--CONGRATULATING THE NEW YORK KNICKS ON WINNING THE 2026 NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION FINALS Mr. SCHUMER (for himself and Mrs. Gillibrand) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
Text printed in the Record (2,894 characters)
Whereas, on Saturday, June 13, 2026, the New York Knickerbockers (referred to in this preamble as the "Knicks") won the 2026 National Basketball Association (referred to in this preamble as the "NBA") Finals, defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 by a score of 94-90 to win the series 4-1;
Whereas the Knicks were established 80 years ago in 1946;
Whereas the Knicks have called Madison Square Garden ("the Mecca") their home since 1968;
Whereas the Knicks last won the NBA Finals 53 years ago in 1973 and last appeared in the NBA Finals 27 years ago in 1999;
Whereas the Knicks finished the 2025-2026 NBA regular season with 53 wins and 29 losses, a winning percentage of .646;
Whereas the Knicks defeated the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Cleveland Cavaliers en route to the NBA Finals;
Whereas the Knicks went 16-3 in their playoff run and had the highest point differential and net rating in NBA playoff history;
Whereas the NBA Finals had the highest television ratings of any NBA Finals since
1998, the year of Michael Jordan's last NBA Finals run;
Whereas, in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the Knicks had the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, overcoming a 29-point second half deficit to take a commanding 3-1 series lead;
Whereas, in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, OG Anunoby won the game with a tip-in with 1.2 seconds left, which many are now calling the greatest play in the history of New York sports and one of the greatest in the history of the NBA;
Whereas the Knicks came back from double digit deficits in every game they won in the NBA Finals, becoming the first team in history to do that;
Whereas Jalen Brunson was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, finishing the series with a 45-point game on the road, tying Michael Jordan for the most points scored in a closeout game on the road;
Whereas Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges became the first trio of teammates to ever win a championship together in college (Villanova) and in the NBA; and
Whereas this Knicks team united millions of New Yorkers with their grit, resilience, and unrivaled excellence: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) congratulates the New York Knicks (referred to in this resolution as the "Knicks") on winning the 2026 National Basketball Association Finals; and
(2) recognizes the Knicks for--
(A) their ability to unite New Yorkers of all backgrounds behind a common cause;
(B) the excitement and spirit they brought to the streets of New York and basketball fans around the world; and
(C) the inspiration they provided to millions of people to believe in themselves and never give up; and
(3) respectfully directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to--
(A) the owner of the Knicks, James L. Dolan;
(B) the president of the Knicks, Leon Rose; and
(C) the coach of the Knicks, Mike Brown.
Senate Resolution 772--Expressing the Sense of the Senate That Under No Circumstances Should Samuel Bankman-Fried Receive Executive Clemency, Including a Pardon or Commutation, and Affirming The...
Page S2896 · Official textCIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED RECEIVE EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY, INCLUDING A PARDON OR COMMUTATION, AND AFFIRMING THE SENATE'S COMMITMENT TO THE RULE OF LAW AND INTEGRITY OF THE UNITED STATES FINANCIAL SYSTEM Mr. GALLEGO (for himself and Ms. Lummis) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:
Text printed in the Record (4,078 characters)
Whereas Samuel Bankman-Fried co-founded FTX, a digital asset exchange that grew to become one of the largest in the world in only 3 years after its founding, and Alameda Research, a digital asset hedge fund, trading on the trust and confidence of millions of customers and investors worldwide;
Whereas, on November 2, 2023, a Federal jury in the Southern District of New York found Bankman-Fried guilty on all 7 counts with which he was charged, including 2 counts of wire fraud, 1 count of securities fraud, 1 count of commodities fraud, 1 count of money laundering conspiracy, 1 count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers, and 1 count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on lenders;
Whereas Federal prosecutors described the FTX collapse as "one of the biggest financial frauds in American history", in which Bankman-Fried deliberately and secretly diverted billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to Alameda Research, which he used as his personal "piggy bank", according to the Securities and Exchange Commission;
Whereas, on March 28, 2024, United States District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in Federal prison and ordered the forfeiture of $11,000,000,000, finding that FTX customers suffered losses more than $8,000,000,000, equity investors lost more than $1,700,000,000, and lenders to Alameda Research lost more than $1,300,000,000;
Whereas Bankman-Fried and his co-conspirators used stolen customer funds to purchase luxury real estate in the Bahamas, provide personal loans to himself and associates, and fund a lavish lifestyle wholly inconsistent with the interests of the customers and investors who had entrusted their funds to FTX;
Whereas Bankman-Fried has refused to accept responsibility for his crimes, continued to claim innocence and to characterize his prosecution as "lawfare", and has spent his time in prison lobbying for clemency rather than cooperating with efforts to make victims whole;
Whereas efforts of the FTX bankruptcy estate to compensate victims remain ongoing, with claims still unresolved;
Whereas Bankman-Fried formally submitted a petition for a presidential pardon to the Office of the Pardon Attorney of the Department of Justice in 2026, with the application listed as "pardon after completion of sentence" and currently pending in Department of Justice records;
Whereas clemency would erase the conviction of Bankman-Fried, weaken deterrence, and send a deeply damaging message that perpetrators of large-scale financial fraud can escape permanent accountability; and
Whereas the people of the United States, and the millions of victims who lost savings, investments, and livelihoods to the FTX fraud, deserve an unambiguous statement from their elected representatives that Samuel Bankman-Fried is not above the law and remains fully accountable for his role in one of the most brazen financial crimes in the Nation's history and that accountability is essential to maintaining public confidence in United States financial markets: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) expresses the unambiguous sense of the Senate that Samuel Bankman-Fried should not, under any circumstances, receive a presidential pardon, commutation, or any other form of Federal clemency;
(2) affirms that the 25-year sentence imposed upon Bankman-Fried reflects the extraordinary scale and deliberateness of his crimes, his lack of remorse, and the catastrophic harm inflicted upon millions of victims, and that such a sentence serves the interests of justice;
(3) rejects any characterization of the FTX prosecution as "lawfare", and affirms the integrity of the Federal criminal justice process that produced Bankman-Fried's conviction by a unanimous jury and sentence by an independent Federal judge; and
(4) reaffirms the Senate's commitment to protecting the integrity of United States financial markets, safeguarding investors and consumers, holding accountable those who commit large-scale fraud and theft, and ensuring that the rule of law applies equally to all persons.
Senate Resolution 773--Recognizing Father's Day and the Role a Father Plays in the Lives of Children and Adults
Pages S2896–S2897 · Official textSENATE RESOLUTION 773--RECOGNIZING FATHER'S DAY AND THE ROLE A FATHER PLAYS IN THE LIVES OF CHILDREN AND ADULTS Mrs. MOODY submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:
Text printed in the Record (2,639 characters)
Whereas Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of
June and will be celebrated in the United States on Sunday,
June 21, 2026;
Whereas fathers play an important role in the lives of
their children by improving their--
(1) emotional well-being;
(2) social well-being;
(3) educational success; and
(4) economic well-being;
Whereas children with present or engaged fathers are--
(1) less likely to repeat a grade;
(2) more likely to enter college or find stable employment
after high school;
(3) less likely to go to jail;
(4) less likely to experience a teen birth; and
(5) less likely to experience mental health disorders;
Whereas children without present or engaged fathers--
(1) represent the vast majority of runaway children;
(2) represent the vast majority of juveniles in State-
operated institutions;
(3) are more likely to have children outside of marriage or
partnership;
(4) are more likely to be involved in gangs; and
(5) are much more likely to live in poverty;
Whereas the genuine love of a father is irreplaceable, and
the positive outcomes generated by the love and support of a
father prove both the irreplaceable role a father fills and
the responsibility fathers have in caring for their children
and families: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) acknowledges the importance of efforts by fathers to
engage and to provide continuous physical and emotional
support to children and families;
(2) acknowledges that sustained engagement by a father
throughout the life of a child is a privileged responsibility
that fulfills the father as much as the child; and
(3) wishes all fathers and father figures in the United
States a happy Father's Day.
Mrs. MOODY. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge the Presiding Officer as a father and so many others that this weekend will be celebrated as part of our Nation's day of celebration of all of our fathers here in our country. This is especially meaningful to me because I think it is so important to highlight a group of very special individuals that have played such a large role in my life. And I know everyone here today, including the pages that help us out, is going to be spending the weekend celebrating their fathers too, as they should.
Dads play an indelible role in our lives, and I am proud to be married to a great dad. In fact, when I became the attorney general of the great free State of Florida, I had a young child at home, and my husband, who is a true hero, a hero dad--he is a career law enforcement officer--really stepped up. Our entire family was involved in that effort when I served.
Just to illustrate, when I became the attorney general, I was the first mom of a school-age child on the Florida cabinet. So I really relied on my incredible husband Justin--and what an amazing dad. Just to illustrate, I wanted to put up a picture of my family at the time--my young son--when I became the attorney general, and without their support, we wouldn't have done all that we did to protect the great State, strengthen our communities, and make it the free State of Florida that it is today. My husband Justin works long hours as a law enforcement officer, as you can see. More recently, when I became a U.S. Senator, he is still waking up every day, being a dad first and foremost but then putting on a badge and a bulletproof vest and going to work to protect others while he supports everybody else in the community as much as he supports those of us at home. I just have to say I know I am not alone as a mom that wants to praise the dad in her life. In fact, the first celebration of Father's Day in 1910 was spurred on and founded by a mom. She had just become a mom--her name was Sonora Smart Dodd--and she recognized after hearing a Mother's Day sermon that she thought we should give something that was just as emphatic and passionate to support our dads. So it was a mom that launched and initiated the first Father's Day recognition back in 1910. So it is an honor for me, as one of the very few moms of a kid under 18 in the U.S. Senate, to be the one to recognize Father's Day this upcoming weekend and introduce a resolution recognizing Father's Day and the role that fathers play in the lives of children and adults. I have introduced that for the Record, and it is an honor to do so. I remember so many times when my law enforcement husband would go away for extended periods of time--whether it was to become a firearms instructor with the DEA or when he went to the National Academy at Quantico for months--he would come home--fly late at night--to make sports games or to help with homework. I know all fathers around the Nation give 110 percent to their kids, and as Father's Day approaches, I wanted the U.S. Senate to recognize how important having good fathers in children's lives is. I was so proud of my own State when I was attorney general and we passed the Responsible Dad Act, which provided mentoring, one-on-one support, and evidence-based educational programming to help enhance parenting skills and help fathers stay actively involved in their kids lives. I am so proud of the Senate. Just today--and I know the Presiding Officer joins me in this--on the HELP Committee, we passed out legislation just today, before I came in here, as part of the Healthy Start Reauthorization Act that supports dads being involved in their kids' lives. It also supports mentoring, a dad initiative, and we know that is so important for our young kids to develop into healthy, independent adults. So I recognize my own benefit from having a father that was engaged. He showed me how to live a life of service professionally. I have also benefited from having father figures in my extended family that have played a large role in my success in life, and I will always be grateful. With that, I thank the Presiding Officer for permitting me time to introduce the resolution to recognize this weekend as Father's Day and to say thank you and to give encouragement to the fathers across our country that will raise the next generation of leaders that will guide our country for the next 250 years.
Senate Resolution 774--Designating June as "National Annuity Awareness Month"
Page S2897 · Official textMr. MORAN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:
Text printed in the Record (2,090 characters)
Whereas annuities provide a predictable way to meet immediate, ongoing, and future financial obligations and objectives in retirement;
Whereas surveys consistently indicate that the vast majority of individuals in the United States are looking for a financial solution that provides the benefits offered by annuities, specifically the ability to address the critical concern of running out of money during retirement;
Whereas outliving retirement savings can--
(1) create a financial hardship that reduces the standard of living in retirement;
(2) defeat the fulfillment of legacy goals; and
(3) require dependence on family and friends for monetary support;
Whereas millions of individuals in the United States currently lack an adequate level of guaranteed income in retirement to ensure a secure financial future for themselves and their loved ones;
Whereas research indicates that an owner of an annuity has a higher confidence in overall retirement readiness;
Whereas an annuity is the only product in the financial marketplace that can provide guaranteed lifetime income;
Whereas determining the type of annuity to buy and when to take income is one of the most important financial decisions a consumer will ever make, and individuals and families can benefit greatly from the expert guidance of a financial professional; and
Whereas numerous stakeholders who support annuities have designated June as "National Annuity Awareness Month", the goals of which are--
(1) to educate consumers on annuity benefits;
(2) to support access to annuities to meet the individual financial goals of consumers; and
(3) to encourage savers to seek professional guidance to implement annuities effectively in income and legacy planning: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) designates June as "National Annuity Awareness Month"; and
(2) calls on the United States Government, the States, localities, schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and the people of the United States to observe National Annuity Awareness Month with appropriate programs and activities.
Senate Resolution 775--Reaffirming the Importance of the United States Promoting the Safety, Health, and Well-Being of Refugees and Displaced Persons in the United States and Around the World
Pages S2897–S2899 · Official textMrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Coons, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Hickenlooper, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Kain, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Reed, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Warnock, Mr. Welch, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Wyden) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
Text printed in the Record (7,030 characters)
Whereas, June 20, 2026, is an international day designated by the United Nations as "World Refugee Day", to recognize refugees around the globe and celebrate the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their homes to escape conflict or persecution due to their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group;
Whereas, July 28, 2026, is the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, held at Geneva on July 28, 1951, a landmark achievement that codified a definition for "refugee", established the foundational principle of non-refoulement, and outlined the rights of refugees and the legal obligations of nation states to protect such rights;
Whereas, in 2026, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (referred to in this preamble as "UNHCR") reported that, as of the end of 2025--
(1) there were more than 117,000,000 displaced people who had been forced from their homes worldwide, including more than 41,600,000 refugees, 9,000,000 asylum seekers, and 68,700,000 internally displaced persons;
(2) 68 percent of all refugees worldwide were hosted in low- and middle-income countries and fewer than 1 percent of refugees are ever resettled;
(3) 70 percent of all refugees worldwide were in protracted situations, having been forcibly displaced from their country of origin for at least 5 years;
(4) approximately 1,300,000 Syrian refugees returned to Syria during 2025 out of the roughly 6,000,000 Syrian refugees as of the end of 2024 who had been displaced by years of conflict;
(5) nearly 2,000,000 internally displaced Syrians returned to their area of origin, but Syria remains affected by one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, despite positive political changes and renewed hope for returns following the fall of the Assad regime at the end of 2024;
(6) approximately 8,900,000 Ukrainians had been forcibly displaced as a result of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia, including 5,200,000 Ukrainian refugees, which represents an increase compared to the end of 2024;
(7) there were an estimated 3,700,000 Afghan refugees around the world, representing a decrease compared to the end of 2024 in part due to restrictive government policies toward Afghans in certain refugee-hosting countries, which placed vulnerable Afghans, including women and girls, at risk of persecution;
(8) approximately 11,900,000 people were forcibly displaced due to the ongoing conflict in Sudan, including 9,100,000 internally displaced persons, representing the largest internal displacement crisis globally, and an estimated 2,800,000 refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, many of whom are women or children;
(9) there were more than 6,000,000 people displaced from Venezuela, the majority of whom were being hosted in Latin America;
(10) more than 1,400,000 people had been forcibly displaced in Haiti due to widespread violence, representing a nearly 40 percent increase compared to the end of 2024;
(11) more than 90 percent of the population of Gaza (approximately 2,000,000 people) had been internally displaced since October 2023;
(12) the Democratic Republic of the Congo had one of the largest internal displacement crises, with 3,900,000 people newly displaced due to the ongoing conflict even as 3,600,000 people returned to their area of origin, often involuntarily, due to the forced closure of internal displacement settlements by the de facto authorities;
(13) an estimated 1,200,000 Rohingya refugees resided in Bangladesh, constituting the largest refugee settlement in the world, with thousands more Rohingya refugees residing in nearby countries; and
(14) in the Sahel region, which encompasses Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, an estimated 3,900,000 people were forcibly displaced;
Whereas, the vast majority of people fleeing persecution do not have access to refugee resettlement and instead must seek protection through asylum or other humanitarian relief;
Whereas, welcoming people from around the world who have been oppressed and persecuted is a tenet of our Nation and the United States is home to a diverse population of refugees and immigrants who contribute to the economic strengths and cultural richness of our communities;
Whereas, since seeking asylum is a protected right under United States domestic and international law, the United States is legally obligated to contribute to the maintenance of a humane and functioning international asylum system;
Whereas, the principle of non-refoulement is also a central tenet of the United States refugee and asylum systems and thousands of people living in the United States who immigrated from countries around the world would be subject to harm if they were deported to their countries of origin or to third countries due to widespread conflict or persecution in such countries;
Whereas, the United States Refugee Admissions Program, which was established in 1980--
(1) is a lifesaving pillar of global humanitarian efforts;
(2) advances United States national security and foreign policy goals; and
(3) supports regional host countries;
Whereas, Executive Order 14163 (90 Fed. Reg. 8459; relating to realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program), which was issued on January 20, 2025, indefinitely suspending all refugee admissions to the United States, remains in place and continues to put at risk the lives and well-being of refugees fleeing violence and persecution, including Iranians, Afghans, Burmese Rohingya, Sudanese, and Somalis;
Whereas, President Trump set the fiscal year 2026 Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions at a record low of 7,500 individuals, prioritizing the resettlement of Afrikaners from South Africa, such that Afrikaners made up over 95 percent of arrivals during fiscal year 2026 as of May 2026;
Whereas, President Trump's decision to increase the fiscal year 2026 Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions by 10,000, exclusively for the resettlement of Afrikaners from South Africa, is a politically motivated and unjust decision that excludes those most in need of protection, including tens of thousands of already approved and thoroughly vetted refugees who have fled persecution;
Whereas, the Trump administration has failed to implement the Lautenberg-Specter Program, which Congress reauthorized for fiscal year 2026, to screen and admit religious minorities in the former Soviet Union and Iran who are facing persecution and discrimination, including 15,000 religious minorities in Iran;
Whereas, the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to United States foreign assistance have reduced support to refugees abroad, including through the reduction in food rations to refugees in camps, threatening to destabilize fragile situations;
Whereas, as of June 2026, the ongoing refugee admissions ban remains in effect;
Whereas--
(1) more than 100,000 refugees who had been conditionally approved for refugee status by U.S.
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Citizenship and Immigration Services remain indefinitely stranded;
(2) more than 22,000 refugees who were considered "ready for departure" and who had completed all necessary medical checks, security screenings, and interviews remain indefinitely stranded;
(3) more than 12,000 refugees who had flights booked to travel to the United States, many of whom had begun to move and sell belongings in preparation for their resettlement, remain indefinitely stranded; and
(4) more than 800 Afghan allies, about \1/2\ of whom are women and children, evacuated to the Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar are refugees, who have a clear path to resettle in the United States, but remain indefinitely stranded;
Whereas, the Trump administration's actions to detain dozens of approved refugees, who underwent years of vetting prior to approval and traveled thousands of miles from home to reexamine their refugee cases, only to determine once again that they were properly approved for refugee status, was a violation of our Nation's laws and commitments to refugees;
Whereas the Constitution of the United States protects all individuals within its jurisdiction, regardless of citizenship status and should afford noncitizens in the United States, including refugees and asylum seekers, full due process before deportation or other adverse action affecting their protection;
Whereas, attempts to suspend refugee admissions, bar individuals based on religion or nationality, or implement blanket asylum bans and indiscriminate removal or detention policies are inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, the Refugee Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-212), our treaty obligations, and established international human rights norms;
Whereas, resettlement is an essential part of a comprehensive strategy to respond to refugee crises, promote regional stability, and strengthen United States national security;
Whereas, resettlement to the United States is available for the most vulnerable refugees who undergo rigorous security vetting and medical screening processes;
Whereas, the United States supports the efforts of the UNHCR to increase protection for, and the global resettlement of, LGBTQI+ refugees overseas;
Whereas, women and girls have an increased risk of sexual violence, exploitation, and trafficking while they are traveling to seek safe living conditions;
Whereas, according to a study by the Department of Health and Human Services, between 2005 and 2019, refugees and asylees in the United States contributed an estimated $581,000,000,000 in total revenue across all levels of government;
Whereas, most refugees integrate and quickly become self-sufficient members of their respective communities by joining the workforce, paying taxes, supporting local commerce, helping to address labor demand in critical industries, and creating new jobs; and
Whereas, robust funding for international and domestic protection and assistance for refugees and other displaced populations bolsters United States national security, foreign policy, economic, and humanitarian interests: Now, therefore be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes the urgency to establish and follow comprehensive, fair, and humane policies to address forced migration and refugee challenges;
(2) reaffirms the bipartisan commitment of the United States to promote the safety, health, and well-being of millions of refugees and asylum seekers, including the education of refugee children and displaced persons fleeing war, persecution, or torture in search of protection, peace, hope, and freedom;
(3) recognizes the many individuals who have risked their lives working, either individually or on behalf of nongovernmental organizations or international agencies, such as UNHCR, to provide lifesaving assistance and protection for people around the world who have been displaced from their homes;
(4) reaffirms the imperative to fully restore United States asylum protections enshrined in the Refugee Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-212) by rejecting harmful bans and restrictions that limit refugees' access to protections and due process at the United States border;
(5) reaffirms the importance of the United States Refugee Admissions Program as a critical tool of the United States Government--
(A) to strengthen national and regional security; and
(B) to encourage international solidarity with host countries;
(6) calls upon President Trump to lift the indefinite suspension of the United States Refugee Admissions Program and to fully restore resettlement to the United States; and
(7) calls upon the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the United States Ambassador to the United Nations--
(A) to uphold the United States' international leadership role in responding to displacement crises with humanitarian assistance and to strengthen its leadership role in the protection of vulnerable refugee populations that endure gender-based violence, torture, human trafficking, persecution, violence against religious minorities, forced conscription, genocide, and exploitation;
(B) to work in partnership with the international community to find solutions to existing conflicts, prevent new conflicts from emerging, and tackle the root causes of involuntary migration;
(C) to increase support for the efforts of the UNHCR and advance the work of nongovernmental organizations to protect refugees and asylum seekers regardless of their country of origin, race, ethnicity, or religious beliefs;
(D) to increase efforts to alleviate pressures, through humanitarian and development assistance, on frontline refugee host countries that absorb the majority of the world's refugees, while effectively advocating for refugee well-being, including access to education and livelihoods;
(E) to meaningfully include refugees and displaced populations in creating and achieving the policy solutions affecting them;
(F) to respond to the global refugee crisis by meeting robust refugee admissions goals;
(G) to implement the United States' pledges made at the Global Refugee Forum held in Geneva in December 2023 to expand refugee protection;
(H) to address barriers faced by refugees with disabilities by ensuring accessible infrastructure and the availability of disability-related services and social protection schemes; and
(I) to reaffirm the goals of "World Refugee Day" and reiterate the United States' strong commitment to protect refugees and asylum seekers who live without adequate material, social, or legal protections.
Senate Resolution 776--Honoring the Life of Kyle Busch
Page S2899 · Official textMr. BUDD (for himself, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Tillis, and Ms. Rosen) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
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Whereas Kyle Thomas Busch was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 2, 1985, and passed at the age of 41 on May 21, 2026, in Charlotte, North Carolina;
Whereas Busch began racing go-karts in his hometown, following in his brother Kurt Busch's footsteps;
Whereas, in 1998, at the age of 13, Busch started racing Legends Cars, and, in 2001, at the age of 16, Busch made his NASCAR national series debut in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series at Indianapolis Raceway Park;
Whereas, in 2003, after signing a contract as a developmental driver for Hendrick Motorsports, Busch made his debut in the now NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series at the Charlotte Motor Speedway;
Whereas, in a remarkable 2-year stretch, Busch won 5 races, finished second in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship standings, made his NASCAR Cup Series debut, became the youngest winner in NASCAR Cup Series history, and was named Rookie of the Year in both series;
Whereas, in 2009, as a member of Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch was crowned the Series Champion, with 9 wins, 25 top-5 finishes, and 30 top-10 finishes during the season;
Whereas, in 2010, Busch launched the Kyle Busch Motorsports race team, competing in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, and the organization captured 2 championships (2015 and 2017) and tallied a total of 100 wins, with Busch winning the last one for the organization in 2023;
Whereas, in the winter of 2010, Busch married his wife Samantha on New Year's Eve;
Whereas, in 2015 and 2016, Busch won one of the crown-jewel events of NASCAR, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway;
Whereas, in 2015 and 2019, Busch claimed the NASCAR Cup Series Championship, both while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing;
Whereas, in 2018, Busch won yet another crown-jewel event, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, becoming the only driver in the modern era to win a race at all active Cup Series tracks;
Whereas Busch twice won an ESPY Award in the category of "Best Driver";
Whereas, in 2023, now as a member of Richard Childress Racing, Busch was named one of NASCAR's 75 greatest drivers;
Whereas Busch is the only driver to win all 3 of NASCAR's national series races in a race weekend, doing so twice at Bristol Motor Speedway;
Whereas Busch had 19 consecutive seasons with a NASCAR Cup Series win (2005 through 2023), the longest of any driver;
Whereas Busch rounded out his career as the winningest driver across NASCAR's 3 national series, with a record of 234 victories, including 63 Cup Series wins, 102 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series wins, and 69 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins;
Whereas Busch built a passionate fanbase through his bold and unapologetic "Rowdy" persona, and with his fierce competitiveness and signature post-win bow to fans, cemented himself as one of the most recognizable competitors in motorsports;
Whereas Busch earned the respect of both opposing drivers and fans through his commitment to providing thrilling entertainment to NASCAR crowds with his performative driving style;
Whereas Busch embraced his role as a champion driver and devoted father, proudly mentored and coached his son, Brexton, who began his own journey in motorsports, and helped to foster the passion for racing in the next generation; and
Whereas Busch leaves behind his wife Samantha, his 2 children, Brexton and Lennix, his parents, and his brother: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) has heard with profound sorrow and deep regret the announcement of the death of Kyle Thomas Busch; and
(2) respectfully requests that the Secretary of the Senate communicate this resolution to the House of Representatives.
Senate Resolution 777--Designating May 1, 2026, as "United States Foreign Service Day" in Recognition of the Men and Women Who Have Served, or Are Presently Serving, in the Foreign Service of The...
Page S2899 · Official textSENATE RESOLUTION 777--DESIGNATING MAY 1, 2026, AS "UNITED STATES FOREIGN SERVICE DAY" IN RECOGNITION OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE SERVED, OR ARE PRESENTLY SERVING, IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND HONORING THE MEMBERS OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES IN THE LINE OF DUTY Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
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Whereas the Foreign Service of the United States (referred to in this preamble as the "Foreign Service") was established through the enactment of the Act entitled "An Act for the reorganization and improvement of the Foreign Service of the United States, and for other purposes", approved May 24, 1924 (43 Stat. 140, chapter 182) (commonly known as the "Rogers Act of 1924"), and is now celebrating its 102nd anniversary;
Whereas the Rogers Act of 1924 established a career organization based on competitive examination and merit promotion;
Whereas the diplomatic, consular, communications, trade, development, security, public diplomacy, and commercial diplomacy that Foreign Service personnel perform constitute the first and most cost-effective instrument of the United States to protect and promote United States interests abroad, making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous;
Whereas the men and women of the Foreign Service and their families are increasingly exposed to risks and danger, even in times of peace, and many have died in the service of the United States;
Whereas employees of the Foreign Service work daily--
(1) to ensure the national security of the United States;
(2) to provide assistance to United States citizens overseas;
(3) to preserve peace, freedom, and economic prosperity around the world;
(4) to promote internationally recognized human rights and democracy and their positive relationship to United States security interests;
(5) to promote transparency and provide accurate information on international developments;
(6) to cultivate new markets for United States products and services, including energy exports, and develop new investment opportunities that create jobs in the United States and promote prosperity;
(7) to combat illegal trade in goods and services, including illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing, illicit financial flows, trafficking in persons, and illegal drugs;
(8) to promote economic development; and
(9) to provide emergency and humanitarian assistance to respond to crises around the world and to fight disease;
Whereas the foreign affairs agencies and the American Foreign Service Association have observed Foreign Service Day in May for many years; and
Whereas it is both appropriate and just for the United States as a whole to recognize the dedication of the men and women of the Foreign Service and to honor the members of the Foreign Service who have given their lives in the loyal pursuit of their duties and responsibilities representing the interests of the United States and of its citizens: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) honors the men and women who have served, or are presently serving, in the Foreign Service of the United States for their dedicated and important service to the United States;
(2) calls on the people of the United States to reflect on the service and sacrifice of past, present, and future employees of the Foreign Service of the United States, wherever they serve, with appropriate ceremonies and activities; and
(3) designates May 1, 2026, as "United States Foreign Service Day".
Text of Amendments
Pages S2900–S2911 · Official textSA 5830. Mr. RICKETTS (for himself and Mrs. Fischer) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5823 proposed by Mr. Thune (for Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself and Ms. Warren)) to the bill H.R. 6644, a bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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In section 1001(a)(5) of the amendment, strike subparagraph (B) and insert the following:
(B) does not include--
(i) a manufactured home, as defined in section 603 of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5402); or
(ii) a home acquired pursuant to an employer-sponsored home sale relocation program whereby an employer, either directly or via a third-party relocation-related entity, temporarily acquires and sells a residential home solely to facilitate an employment-related move and not as an investment strategy and subsequently sells the home within 365 days of its acquisition date.
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SA 5831. Mr. SCOTT of Florida submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5823 proposed by Mr. Thune (for Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself and Ms. Warren)) to the bill H.R. 6644, a bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the end of title VIII, add the following:
SEC. 806. ADDITIONAL REPORTS.
(a) Annual Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for not less than 10 years, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall issue a report that measures and tracks the affordability of housing in the United States, which shall include comprehensive analysis on housing affordability for middle income homeowners, using the metric of annual housing costs as not more than 30 percent of gross income for the definition of affordability.
(b) GAO Report on Outcomes.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and again not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall issue a report on the outcomes of this Act and the amendments made by this Act, including how this Act--
(1) affected housing supply outcomes in the period covered by the report, including whether--
(A) the Act directly increased the production of single-family housing units;
(B) permit issuance rates materially different; and
(C) approval times for new privately-owned residential construction permits changed;
(2) affected affordability and the housing market during the period covered by the report, including--
(A) a decomposition of the drivers of homeownership affordability that were directly affected by this Act;
(B) whether median home prices decreased, and if so, by how much;
(C) whether the Act directly caused an increase in construction of single-family homes;
(D) any house price to income ratio changes that can be directly attributed to the Act; and
(E) whether homeownership of single-family homes became more attainable after the enactment of the Act as compared to before the enactment of the Act; and
(3) affected Federal expenditures, including--
(A) the total Federal outlays under each title of the Act during the period covered by the report;
(B) whether expenditures were duplicative of existing programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Agriculture, or the Federal Housing Finance Agency; and
(C) whether the Act increased Federal outlays or increased the Federal deficit during the period covered by the report.
______
SA 5832. Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Kim, and Mr. Daines) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. _____. CREDIT MONITORING.
(a) In General.--The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 605A(k) (15 U.S.C. 1681c-1(k))--
(A) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
"(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
"(A) Armed forces.--The term `armed forces' has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code.
"(B) Armed forces member consumer.--The term `armed forces member consumer' means a consumer who, regardless of duty status, is a member of the armed forces."; and
(B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking "active duty military consumer" and inserting "armed forces member consumer"; and
(2) in section 625(b)(1)(K) (15 U.S.C. 1681t(b)(1)(K)), by striking "active duty military consumers" and inserting "armed forces member consumers".
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect on
the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
______
SA 5833. Ms. ROSEN (for herself, Ms. Cortez Masto, and Mrs. Blackburn) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:
SEC. ___1. SHORT TITLE.
This subtitle may be cited as the "Sergeant Dave Crete Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada Veterans Act of 2026" or the "Sergeant Dave Crete FORGOTTEN Veterans Act of 2026".
SEC. ___2. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle:
(1) Active military, naval, air, or space service.--The term "active military, naval, air, or space service" has the meaning given that term in section 101(24) of title 38, United States Code.
(2) Covered location.--The term "covered location" means--
(A) any facility on the most recent list of facilities covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.) published in the Federal Register by the Department of Energy; or
(B) with respect to service on or after January 27, 1951, any location within the Nevada Test and Training Range or the Nevada National Security Site (as defined on May 19, 2026).
(3) Toxic exposure.--The term "toxic exposure" has the meaning given that term in section 101(37) of title 38, United States Code.
SEC. ___3. COORDINATION WITH DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO
IDENTIFY VETERANS WHO PERFORMED MILITARY
SERVICE AT COVERED LOCATIONS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall establish and carry out a process to identify veterans who served at a covered location and may have encountered toxic exposure during active military, naval, air, or space service.
(b) Use of Available Information.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall use--
(1) military personnel and deployment records maintained by the Department of Defense; and
(2) information provided by veterans through the registry established under section 7.
(c) No Affirmative Evidence Required.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not require a veteran to provide affirmative evidence of exposure to a specific toxic substance if service at a covered location is established.
SEC. ___4. TREATMENT AS RADIATION-RISK ACTIVITIES BY
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
Section 1112(c)(3)(B) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:
"(viii) Active military, naval, air, or space service, or onsite participation in any aspect of the development, construction, operation, or maintenance of a military installation (as defined in section 2801 of title 10), within the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site, as defined on May 19, 2026, during the period beginning on January 27, 1951, and ending on the date which the Secretary of Defense, with independent verification, certifies that the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site no longer pose radiation risk to personnel present, or enactment of the Sergeant Dave Crete Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada Veterans Act of 2026, whichever is later.".
SEC. ___5. PRESUMPTION OF TOXIC EXPOSURE FOR VETERANS WHO
SERVED AT COVERED LOCATIONS AND PRESUMPTION OF
SERVICE CONNECTION FOR CERTAIN DISEASES.
Section 1119(c)(1) of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A)(viii), by striking "; or" and inserting a semicolon;
(2) in subparagraph (B)(ix), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
"(C) at any time, performed active military, naval, air, or space service while assigned to a duty station in, including airspace above, any facility on the most recent list of facilities covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.) published in the Federal Register by the Department of Energy; or
"(D) on or after January 27, 1951, performed active military, naval, air, or space service while assigned to a duty station in, including airspace above, any location within the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site, as defined on May 19, 2026.".
SEC. ___6. STUDY ON TOXIC EXPOSURES AT COVERED LOCATIONS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall seek to enter into an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services or another appropriate scientific organization to study potential toxic exposures and environmental hazards at covered locations.
(b) Study.--The study required under subsection (a) shall--
(1) identify exposures associated with military occupations of veterans who served at covered locations, including exposures relating to chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phenomena; and
(2) review the literature to determine associations between such exposures and the incidence or prevalence of overall cancer morbidity and overall cancer mortality, and determine, to the extent possible, the prevalence and mortality of cancers among such veterans by using available sources of data, which may include--
(A) health care and other administrative databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the military departments, respectively; and
(B) the national death index maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(c) Transfer Authority.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Defense to carry out the study required under subsection (a) may be transferred without regard to section 2215 of title 10, United States Code, to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to pay for the study.
(d) Report.--At the conclusion of the study required under subsection (a), the Department of Health and Human Services or other appropriate scientific organization, as the case may be, shall submit to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives, the President of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the Chair of the National Research Council a report containing the results of the study.
SEC. ___7. ESTABLISHMENT OF COVERED LOCATION VETERAN
REGISTRY.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish and maintain a registry of veterans who served at covered locations who may have encountered toxic exposure during active military, naval, air, or space service (in this section referred to as the "registry").
(b) Purposes.--The registry shall be used to--
(1) collect, process, maintain, and consolidate epidemiological information required to analyze incidence of adverse health effects among veterans who served in covered locations;
(2) facilitate coordination between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to verify service;
(3) inform veterans of available health care, benefits, and screenings; and
(4) support outreach, research, and claims adjudication related to toxic exposure.
(c) Opt-out and Recruitment.--
(1) Opt-out.--Participants must have the opportunity to opt-out of inclusion in the registry.
(2) Recruitment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall recruit veterans described in subsection (a) who are not represented in data sources of the Department of Defense or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(d) Data-sharing.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall share information collected through the registry with the Secretary of Defense, consistent with applicable privacy and security laws, for purposes of identifying affected veterans and improving care and benefits delivery.
SEC. ___8. CLASSIFICATION OF CERTAIN FACILITIES AS LOCATIONS
WHERE CONTAMINATION OCCURRED AND MEMBERS OF THE
ARMED FORCES WERE EXPOSED TO TOXIC SUBSTANCES.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense shall classify the following locations as a location where contamination occurred:
(1) On and after January 27, 1951, the Nevada Test and Training Range, including the Nevada National Security Site (as such site is defined on May 19, 2026).
(2) Any facility on the most recent list of facilities covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.) published in the Federal Register by the Secretary of Energy.
(b) Identification Process.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish a process to identify members of the Armed Forces and former members of the Armed Forces that were stationed at a facility specified in subsection (a).
(2) Documentation.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish a process to permit members of the Armed Forces and former members of the Armed Forces to provide documentation or evidence of their assignment at a facility specified in subsection (a) to assist the Secretary in identifying those members and former members under paragraph (1).
(3) Efforts.--The Secretary of Defense shall make all efforts to identify individuals
described in paragraph (1) and shall not require members of the Armed Forces or former members of the Armed Forces to submit evidence of their stationing.
(c) Sharing of Information.--The Secretary of Defense shall share with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs all information and documentation gathered under subsection (b) in order to provide the Secretary of Veterans Affairs with adequate documentation of the service of members of the Armed Forces and former members of the Armed Forces at facilities specified in subsection (a) and any injuries, exposures, or illnesses related to such service, for the purpose of establishing any claim for benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to which such members and former members are legally entitled.
______
SA 5834. Ms. ROSEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place in title VII, insert the following:
SEC. 7__. AUTHORIZATION FOR VIRTUAL FOLLOW-UP SPECIALTY CARE
UNDER TRICARE PRIME ACROSS STATE LINES.
Section 1094(d) of title 10, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking "or (4)" and inserting "(4), or (5)"; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
"(5) A health-care professional referred to in paragraph (1) as being described in this paragraph is a health-care professional who--
"(A) has provided specialty care to a patient under TRICARE Prime in-person; and
"(B) is providing virtual follow-up specialty care under TRICARE Prime to the patient while the patient is located in an isolated location, as determined by the Secretary of Defense.".
______
SA 5835. Ms. ROSEN (for herself and Mr. Cramer) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the end of subtitle C of title V, add the following:
SEC. 529E. COMBAT STATUS IDENTIFIER EQUIVALENT FOR REMOTELY
PILOTED AIRCRAFT CREW.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretaries of the military departments, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall establish a status identifier or equivalent recognition to denote the combat participation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) crew members who conduct operations in direct support of combat missions. The identifier shall be designed to enable appropriate consideration by the Department of Veterans Affairs in the administration of benefits and services that account for combat-related service, consistent with how traditional combat designators are treated.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the Department of Defense to categorize service described in subsection (a) as equivalent to service involving physical presence in a combat zone.
______
SA 5836. Ms. ROSEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. PROTECTION PROVISIONS FOR DEPLOYED SMALL BUSINESS
OWNERS SERVING IN THE RESERVES.
(a) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term "active duty" has the meaning given that term in section 101 of title 10, United States Code;
(2) the terms "credit" and "creditor" have the meanings given such terms in section 702 of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691a);
(3) the term "reserve component" means a component specified in section 10101 of title 10, United States Code; and
(4) the term "small business concern" has the meaning given that term under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
(b) Waiver.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for any Federal economic assistance program for which the eligibility of a small business concern for the assistance, or the amount of the assistance to be made available to a small business concern, is calculated based on the average monthly or total compensation of the employees, or the number of employees, of the small business concern during a specified period, if the small business concern is owned and controlled by a member of a reserve component who is deployed for active duty for a period of not less than 30 days during all or a portion of the period during which the assistance will be used, the calculation of the average monthly or total compensation of the employees, or the number of employees, of the small business concern during the specified period shall include any employee who is employed by the small business concern--
(A) to fulfill the essential duties and responsibilities of the owner during the period the owner is on active duty; and
(B) during the period--
(i) beginning 90 days before the date on which the owner commences serving on active duty; and
(ii) ending 90 days after the date on which the owner ceases serving on active duty.
(2) Orders.--To be eligible to have the amount of assistance calculated in accordance with paragraph (1), the owner of a small business concern shall provide to the applicable Federal official a copy of the orders directing the owner to report for active duty for a period of not less than 30 days.
(c) Preservation of MREIDL Eligibility.--Section 7(b)(3) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
"(I) Whether a small business concern is eligible for a loan under this paragraph shall be determined without regard to whether the small business concern is eligible for any other economic assistance, or the amount of any other economic assistance that has been received by the small business concern, from the Federal Government.".
(d) Prohibition on Credit Discrimination.--
(1) In general.--It shall be unlawful for any creditor to discriminate in the terms or conditions of credit offered or provided to any small business concern owned by a member of a reserve component due to a military deployment or any temporary effects of a military deployment.
(2) Enforcement.--A violation of this subsection shall be treated as a violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.).
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SA 5837. Ms. ROSEN (for herself, Ms. Cortez Masto, and Mrs. Blackburn) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:
SEC. ___. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle:
(1) Active military, naval, air, or space service.--The term "active military, naval, air, or space service" has the meaning given that term in section 101(24) of title 38, United States Code.
(2) Covered location.--The term "covered location" means--
(A) any facility on the most recent list of facilities covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.) published in the Federal Register by the Department of Energy; or
(B) with respect to service on or after January 27, 1951, any location within the Nevada Test and Training Range or the Nevada National Security Site (as defined on May 19, 2026).
(3) Toxic exposure.--The term "toxic exposure" has the meaning given that term in section 101(37) of title 38, United States Code.
SEC. ___. COORDINATION WITH DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO IDENTIFY
VETERANS WHO PERFORMED MILITARY SERVICE AT
COVERED LOCATIONS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall establish and carry out a process to identify veterans who served at a covered location and may have encountered toxic exposure during active military, naval, air, or space service.
(b) Use of Available Information.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall use--
(1) military personnel and deployment records maintained by the Department of Defense; and
(2) information provided by veterans through the registry established under section 7.
(c) No Affirmative Evidence Required.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not require a veteran to provide affirmative evidence of exposure to a specific toxic substance if service at a covered location is established.
SEC. ___. TREATMENT AS RADIATION-RISK ACTIVITIES BY
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
Section 1112(c)(3)(B) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:
"(viii) Active military, naval, air, or space service, or onsite participation in any aspect of the development, construction, operation, or maintenance of a military installation (as defined in section 2801 of title 10), within the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site, as defined on May 19, 2026, during the period beginning on January 27, 1951, and ending on the date which the Secretary of Defense, with independent verification, certifies that the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site no longer pose radiation risk to personnel present, or enactment of this clause, whichever is later.".
SEC. ___. STUDY ON TOXIC EXPOSURES AT COVERED LOCATIONS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall seek to enter into an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services or another appropriate scientific organization to study potential toxic exposures and environmental hazards at covered locations.
(b) Study.--The study required under subsection (a) shall--
(1) identify exposures associated with military occupations of veterans who served at covered locations, including exposures relating to chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phenomena; and
(2) review the literature to determine associations between such exposures and the incidence or prevalence of overall cancer morbidity and overall cancer mortality, and determine, to the extent possible, the prevalence and mortality of cancers among such veterans by using available sources of data, which may include--
(A) health care and other administrative databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the military departments, respectively; and
(B) the national death index maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(c) Transfer Authority.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Defense to carry out the study required under subsection (a) may be transferred without regard to section 2215 of title 10, United States Code, to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to pay for the study.
(d) Report.--At the conclusion of the study required under subsection (a), the Department of Health and Human Services or other appropriate scientific organization, as the case may be, shall submit to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives, the President of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the Chair of the National Research Council a report containing the results of the study.
SEC. ___. ESTABLISHMENT OF COVERED LOCATION VETERAN REGISTRY.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish and maintain a registry of veterans who served at covered locations who may have encountered toxic exposure during active military, naval, air, or space service (in this section referred to as the "registry").
(b) Purposes.--The registry shall be used to--
(1) collect, process, maintain, and consolidate epidemiological information required to analyze incidence of adverse health effects among veterans who served in covered locations;
(2) facilitate coordination between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to verify service;
(3) inform veterans of available health care, benefits, and screenings; and
(4) support outreach, research, and claims adjudication related to toxic exposure.
(c) Opt-out and Recruitment.--
(1) Opt-out.--Participants must have the opportunity to opt-out of inclusion in the registry.
(2) Recruitment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall recruit veterans described in subsection (a) who are not represented in data sources of the Department of Defense or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(d) Data-sharing.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall share information collected through the registry with the Secretary of Defense, consistent with applicable privacy and security laws, for purposes of identifying affected veterans and improving care and benefits delivery.
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SA 5838. Mr. PAUL submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5823 proposed by Mr. Thune (for Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself and Ms. Warren)) to the bill H.R. 6644, a bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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Strike section 1001.
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SA 5839. Mr. PAUL submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5823 proposed by Mr. Thune (for Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself and Ms. Warren)) to the bill H.R. 6644, a bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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Strike section 1001 and insert the following:
SEC. 1001. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States prohibit the Federal Government and State governments from depriving any person of their property without due process of law.
(2) The origin of those clauses can be traced to Chapter 29 of Magna Carta, which was executed by King Henry III in 1225.
(3) For centuries, the Anglo-American commitment to the rule of law recognized that no person would be deprived of his right to freely acquire, use, and dispose of property without a fair trial or just compensation.
(4) Even during the Jim Crow era, in which the state legalized discrimination, property rights served as an antidote to government-imposed racism. The 1917 case Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60 (1917), in which the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously struck down a segregationist housing restriction, stands for the proposition that property rights strengthen civil rights.
(5) In Buchanan v. Warley, the Supreme Court found, "Property is more than the mere thing which a person owns. It is elementary that it includes the right to acquire, use, and dispose of it. The Constitution protects these essential attributes of property.".
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that Congress rededicates itself to the concepts of property and contract rights as inalterable principles of individual liberty and rejects any attempt to prohibit property owners from selling homes to investors of any kind, regardless of the size of the firm.
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SA 5840. Mr. MORAN (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. SAFEGUARDS ACT OF 2026.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the "Spending Aviation Fees for Equipment, Guaranteeing Upgraded and Advanced Risk Detection and Safety Act of 2026" or the "SAFEGUARDS Act of 2026".
(b) Improving the Aviation Security Capital Fund.--Section 44923(h) of title 49, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
"(h) Aviation Security Capital Fund.--
"(1) In general.--There is established within the Department of Homeland Security a fund to be known as the Aviation Security Capital Fund (in this subsection referred to as the `Fund').
"(2) Source of funding.--
"(A) Fiscal year 2004 through 2025.--In each of fiscal years 2004 through 2025, the first $250,000,000 derived from fees received under section 44940(a)(1) shall be available to be deposited in the Fund in paragraph (1). The Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall impose the fee authorized by section 44940(a)(1) so as to collect at least $250,000,000 in each of such fiscal years for deposit into the Fund.
"(B) Fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2036.--In each of fiscal years 2026 through 2036, the first $400,000,000 derived from fees received under section 44940(a)(1) shall be available to be deposited in the Fund under paragraph (1). The Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall impose the fee authorized by section 44940(a)(1) so as to collect at least $400,000,000 in each of such fiscal years for deposit into the Fund.
"(3) Grant authority.--Amounts in the Fund shall be available to the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to make grants for projects under subsection (a).".
(c) Establishment of the Aviation Security Checkpoint Technology Fund.--
(1) In general.--Section 44923 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by--
(A) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection (j); and
(B) by inserting after subsection (h) the following new subsection (i):
"(i) Aviation Security Checkpoint Technology Fund.--
"(1) In general.--There is established within the Department of Homeland Security a fund to be known as the Aviation Security Checkpoint Technology Fund (in this subsection referred to as the `ASCT Fund').
"(2) Funding.--In each of fiscal years 2026 through 2036, after the first $400,000,000 is deposited into the Aviation Security Capital Fund pursuant to subsection (h)(2)(B), the next $250,000,000 from fees received under section 44940(a)(1) shall be available to be deposited in the ASCT Fund. The Administrator of
the Transportation Security Administration shall impose the fee authorized by section 44940(a)(1) so as to collect not less than $250,000,000 in each of such fiscal years for deposit into the ASCT Fund. Amounts in the ASCT Fund shall be available until expended to the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to fund the procurement, sustainment, and deployment of--
"(A) aviation security checkpoint technology, including computed tomography scanners, explosives trace detection equipment, liquid explosive detection systems, advanced imaging technology, or credential authentication technology machines; and
"(B) exit lane technology.
"(3) Grant authority.--Amounts in the ASCT Fund shall be available to the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to make grants under this section.".
(2) Technical and conforming amendments.--Section 44940(i) of title 49, United States Code, is amended--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking "section 44923(h)" and inserting "subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923"; and
(B) in paragraph (4), by redesignating subparagraphs (M) and (N) as subparagraphs (I) and (J), respectively.
(d) Reports to Congress.--
(1) Initial report.--Prior to carrying out the use of funds and disbursements for fiscal year 2026 under subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923 of title 49, United States Code, the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall provide a briefing to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and submit to such committees a report that includes--
(A) a detailed description of the use of funds and disbursements authorized by section 44923(h) of title 49, United States Code, for fiscal year 2004 through fiscal year 2025, including a detailed description of projects and capital needs addressed through the Aviation Security Capital Fund for each airport security category; and
(B) projected aviation security project and capital needs for each airport security category for fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2036.
(2) Annual report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall provide a briefing to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and submit to such committees a report that includes--
(A) a detailed description of the projects and capital needs addressed pursuant to subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923 of title 49, United States Code; and
(B) an identification of the most critical aviation security capital needs for each airport security category as determined by the Administrator.
(e) Biennial Inspector General Audits.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the date that is two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter through fiscal year 2036, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security shall conduct an audit of the oversight by the Transportation Security Administration of any applicable grant and disbursements made pursuant to subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923 of title 49, United States Code.
(2) Considerations.--In conducting an audit under paragraph (1), the Inspector General shall assess the efficacy of such oversight of grant and disbursements made with respect to--
(A) satisfying the statutory direction in subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923 of title 49, United States Code;
(B) addressing aviation security capital needs at airports representative of each airport security category; and
(C) preventing fraud, waste, and abuse of funds allocated for such purposes.
(3) Briefings to congress.--Not later than 30 days after completing an audit pursuant to paragraph (1), the Inspector General shall provide to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives a briefing on the findings of such audit.
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SA 5841. Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Kim, and Mr. Blumenthal) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her tothe bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the end of title XII, add the following:
SEC. 1270A. OPEN TECHNOLOGY FUND.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the "Open Technology Fund Reauthorization Act".
(b) Authority.--The Open Technology Fund is an independent nonprofit corporation that is authorized to receive amounts appropriated by Congress for the purpose of promoting, consistent with United States law, unrestricted access to uncensored sources of information through the internet.
(c) Board of Directors.--
(1) In general.--The Open Technology Fund shall be governed by a Board of Directors that--
(A) is bipartisan;
(B) except as otherwise provided in this section, has the sole responsibility to oversee the operations of the Open Technology Fund, within the jurisdiction of its incorporation;
(C) is composed of not fewer than 5 members, who shall be qualified individuals who are not employed in the public sector; and
(D) shall appoint successors in the event of a vacancy on the Board of Directors, in accordance with applicable bylaws.
(2) Not federal employees.--No employee of the Open Technology Fund may be a Federal employee.
(d) Functions.--In furtherance of the purpose described in subsection (b), the Open Technology Fund shall--
(1) seek to advance freedom of the press and unrestricted access to the internet in repressive environments oversees;
(2) research, develop, implement, and maintain--
(A) technologies that circumvent techniques used by authoritarian governments, nonstate actors, and others to block or censor access to the internet, including circumvention tools that bypass internet blocking, filtering, and other censorship techniques used to limit or block legitimate access to content and information; and
(B) secure communication tools and other forms of privacy and security technology that facilitate the creation and distribution of news and enable audiences to access media content on censored websites;
(3) advance internet freedom by supporting private and public sector research, development, implementation, and maintenance of technologies that provide secure and uncensored access to the internet to counter attempts by authoritarian governments, nonstate actors, and others to improperly restrict freedom online;
(4) research and analyze emerging technical threats and develop innovative solutions through collaboration with the private and public sectors to maintain the technological advantage of the United States Government over authoritarian governments, nonstate actors, and others;
(5) develop, acquire, and distribute requisite internet freedom technologies and techniques, consistent with United States foreign policy priorities;
(6) prioritize programs for countries the governments of which restrict freedom of expression on the internet, and that are important to the national interest of the United States, and are consistent with section 7050(b)(2)(C) of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-94); and
(7) carry out any other effort consistent with the purposes of this section or in furtherance of global internet freedom or press freedom overseas if requested or approved by an Act of Congress.
(e) Methodology.--In carrying out subsection (d), the Open Technology Fund shall--
(1) support fully open-source tools, code, and components, to the extent practicable, to ensure such supported tools and technologies are as secure, transparent, and accessible as possible, and require that any such tools, components, code, or technology supported by the Open Technology Fund remain fully open-source, to the extent practicable;
(2) support technologies that undergo comprehensive security audits to ensure that such technologies are secure and have not been compromised in a manner detrimental to the interest of the United States or to individuals and organizations benefitting from programs supported by the Open Technology Fund;
(3) review and update periodically as necessary security auditing procedures used by the Open Technology Fund to reflect current industry security standards;
(4) establish safeguards to mitigate the use of such supported technologies for illicit purposes;
(5) solicit project proposals through an open, transparent, and competitive application process to attract innovative applications and reduce barriers to entry;
(6) seek input from technical, regional, and subject matter experts from a wide range of relevant disciplines, to review, provide feedback, and evaluate proposals to ensure the most competitive projects are funded;
(7) implement an independent review process, through which proposals are reviewed by such experts to ensure the highest degree of technical review and due diligence;
(8) maximize cooperation with the public and private sectors, as well as foreign allies and partner countries, to maximize efficiencies and eliminate duplication of efforts; and
(9) utilize any other methodology that is considered an industry best practice in furtherance of the mission of the Open Technology Fund.
(f) Grants to the Open Technology Fund.--Any agreement with the Department of State or other Federal department or agency governing the expenditure of amounts appropriated to the Open Technology Fund shall be subject to the following limitations and restrictions:
(1) The headquarters of the Open Technology Fund and its senior administrative
and managerial staff shall be located in a location which ensures economy, operational effectiveness, and public accountability.
(2) Amounts appropriated by Congress to the Open Technology Fund shall be made subject to an agreement that--
(A) requires such amounts be used only for activities consistent with this section;
(B) permits the termination of such amounts without fiscal obligation to the United States if the Open Technology Fund fails to substantially comply the requirements set forth in the grant;
(C) requires any contract entered into by the Open Technology Fund to specify that all obligations are assumed by the Open Technology Fund and not by the United States Government;
(D) prohibits the Open Technology Fund from entering into an obligation before receiving funding from the United States Government; and
(E) requires any lease agreements entered into by the Open Technology Fund to be assignable to the United States Government, to the extent possible.
(3) Administrative and managerial costs for operation of the Open Technology Fund--
(A) should be kept to a minimum; and
(B) to the maximum extent feasible, should not exceed the costs that would have been incurred if the Open Technology Fund had been operated as a Federal entity rather than as an independent nonprofit corporation.
(4) Amounts appropriated by Congress to the Open Technology Fund may not be used for any activity the purpose of which is influencing the passage or defeat of legislation being considered by Congress.
(g) Assistance to Broadcasting Entities.--The Open Technology Fund should render assistance to broadcasting entities and United States Government-supported exile media grantees to the extent necessary for censorship circumvention and secure communications.
(h) Not a Federal Agency or Instrumentality.--Nothing in this section may be construed to make the Open Technology Fund a Federal agency or instrumentality.
(i) Relationship to Other United States Government-funded Internet Freedom Programs.--The Open Technology Fund shall coordinate with internet freedom programs of the Department of State and other relevant United States Government departments, in order to share information and best-practices relating to the implementation of subsections (d) and (e).
(j) Annual Report.--The Open Technology Fund shall highlight, in its annual report, internet freedom activities, including a comprehensive assessment of the Open Technology Fund's activities relating to the implementation of subsections (d) and (e). Each such report shall include--
(1) an assessment of the current state of global internet freedom, including trends in censorship and surveillance technologies and internet shutdowns, and the threats such pose to journalists, citizens, and human rights and civil-society organizations; and
(2) a description of the technology projects supported by the Open Technology Fund and the associated impact of such projects in the prior year, including the countries and regions in which such technologies were deployed, and any associated metrics indicating audience usage of such technologies, as well as future-year technology project initiatives.
(k) Audit Authorities.--
(1) In general.--Financial transactions of the Open Technology Fund relating to functions carried out under this section may be audited by the Government Accountability Office in accordance with such principles and procedures and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States. Any such audit shall be conducted at the place or places at which accounts of the Open Technology Fund are normally kept.
(2) Access by government accountability office.--The Government Accountability Office shall have access to all books, accounts, records, reports, files, papers, and property belonging to or in use by the Open Technology Fund pertaining to financial transactions as may be necessary to facilitate an audit. The Government Accountability Office shall be afforded full facilities for verifying transactions with any assets held by depositories, fiscal agents, and custodians. All such books, accounts, records, reports, files, papers, and property of the Open Technology Fund shall remain in the possession and custody of the Open Technology Fund.
(3) Exercise of authorities.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Inspector General of the Department of State is authorized to exercise the authorities of chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the "Inspector General Act of 1978"), with respect to the Open Technology Fund.
(l) Global Internet Freedom.--Section 9707(d) of the Department of State Authorization Act of 2002 (22 U.S.C. 6217(d)) is amended--
(1) in the subsection heading, by striking "United States Agency for Global Media" and inserting "Open Technology Fund";
(2) in paragraph (1), by striking "the Chief Executive Officer of the USAGM, in consultation with";
(3) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking "the USAGM or"; and
(4) in paragraph (3)--
(A) by striking the paragraph header and inserting "open technology fund";
(B) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking "The Chief Executive Officer of the USAGM, in consultation with the President" and inserting "The President";
(C) in subparagraph (A), by striking "international broadcasting programs and incorporate such programs into" and inserting "with international broadcasting programs to advise on"; and
(D) in subparagraph (C), by striking "in accordance with USAGM's annual language service prioritization review" and inserting "in consultation with international broadcasting program priorities".
(m) Repeal.--Section 309A of the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6208a) is repealed.
(n) Conforming Amendments.--The United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 304(d), by striking "the Open Technology Fund,";
(2) in section 305(c)(1), by striking "the Open Technology Fund,";
(3) in section 306(e)(1), by striking "the Open Technology Fund,"; and
(4) in section 310(d), by striking "the Open Technology Fund,".
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SA 5842. Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself and Mr. Lujan) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for discal 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (1,377 characters)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. _____. FEDERAL CARJACKING ENFORCEMENT.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the "Federal Carjacking Enforcement Act".
(b) Motor Vehicles.--Section 2119 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ", with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm" and inserting "knowingly";
(2) in paragraph (1), by striking "both," and inserting "both;";
(3) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
"(2) be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 25 years, or both, if--
"(A)(i) the motor vehicle is taken, or attempted to be taken, with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm; or
"(ii) the person taking, or attempting to take, the motor vehicle brandishes or discharges a firearm (as defined in section 921) during or in relation to such taking or attempted taking; and
"(B) serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365, including any conduct that, if the conduct occurred in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, would violate section 2241 or 2242) results; and"; and
(4) in paragraph (3), by striking "if death results," and inserting "if the motor vehicle is taken, or attempted to be taken, with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm, and death results,".
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SA 5843. Mr. WARNOCK submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (2,362 characters)
At the appropriate place in title XXVIII, insert the following:
SEC. 28___. RADON TESTING OF MILITARY HOUSING OWNED OR
CONTROLLED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
(a) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report identifying the installations of the Department of Defense that have military housing owned or controlled by the Federal Government that should be monitored for levels of radon at or above the action level established by the Environmental Protection Agency, including those installations evaluated in the report dated April 30, 2020, and entitled, "Evaluation of the DoD's Management of Health and Safety Hazards in Government-Owned and Government-Controlled Military Family Housing" (DODIG-2020-082).
(b) Testing Procedures and Standards.--The Secretary of each military department shall establish procedures at installations identified under subsection (a) under the jurisdiction of the Secretary concerned for testing for radon at military housing owned or controlled by the Federal Government that are consistent with current national consensus standards and are in compliance with applicable Federal regulations in order to ensure radon levels at such housing are below recommended levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency, whether through--
(1) regular testing (a minimum of one time every five years for all housing, and a minimum of one time every two years for housing that is above recommended radon levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency until radon levels are reduced to at or below such levels) of such housing; or
(2) the installation of monitoring equipment in such housing.
(c) Notification Regarding Need for Mitigation.--If, as a result of testing conducted pursuant to procedures established under subsection (b), a unit of military housing owned or controlled by the Federal Government requires radon mitigation to ensure radon levels are below recommended levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency, the head of the installation providing the housing unit shall submit to the Secretary of the military department concerned, not later than seven days after the determination of the need for radon mitigation, the mitigation plan for the housing unit.
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SA 5844. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (529 characters)
At the appropriate place in title III, insert the following:
SEC. 3__. EXPANSION OF USE OF INDUSTRIAL BASE FUND FOR SHIPS,
SUBMARINES, AND DRYDOCK AND SHIP REPAIR.
Section 4817(g)(1)(L) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting before the period at the end the following: ", including investments that improve throughput, capacity, schedule reliability, and safety at public or private shipbuilding and ship repair facilities, and critical drydock and ship repair infrastructure components and systems".
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SA 5845. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (3,770 characters)
At the appropriate place in title III, insert the following:
SEC. 3__. STUDY ON READINESS OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS IN THE
CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES FOR AN UNMANNED
AIRCRAFT SYSTEM ATTACK.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall enter into an agreement with a federally funded research and development center to conduct an independent study of the readiness of three covered military installations for an unmanned aircraft system attack on military personnel and infrastructure at such installations and the resilience of such installations to such attack.
(b) Requirements for Study.--In carrying out the study required under subsection (a) at a covered military installation, the federally funded research and development center with which the Secretary has entered into an agreement to carry out the study at such installation shall--
(1) detail the current capabilities of such installation to deter an unmanned aircraft system attack and any gap in such capabilities; and
(2) submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the findings with respect to such study.
(c) Elements.--The study required by subsection (a) at each covered military installation shall include the following:
(1) An assessment of future threats to military installations from unmanned aircraft systems and other drone-like warfare.
(2) An identification of counter-unmanned aircraft system capacities that already exist at the installation.
(3) An identification of the counter-unmanned aircraft system capacities that are needed at the installation.
(d) Swarm Attack Exercises.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall require that swarm attack exercises be conducted to assess the readiness and security of covered military installations selected for purposes of the study under subsection (a) and to evaluate the ability of such installations to perform critical missions during an ongoing unmanned aircraft system attack.
(2) Exclusion.--A swarm attack exercise conducted under paragraph (1) may exclude, if technically feasible, housing areas, commissaries, exchanges, and morale, welfare, and recreation facilities.
(3) Policy and schedule for exercises.--The Secretary of Defense shall--
(A) provide a uniform policy for the military departments and the Defense Agencies with respect to conducting swarm attack exercises under paragraph (1); and
(B) through fiscal year 2036, establish a schedule of swarm attack exercises for the military departments and the Defense Agencies, with each military department and Defense Agency scheduled to conduct such an exercise on each covered military installation selected for purposes of the study under subsection (a) sufficient to allow that military department or Defense Agency to meet the goals of this section.
(e) Production of Data.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall require the Secretary of each military department and the head of each Defense Agency to conduct monitoring, measuring, and testing to produce the data necessary to comply with this section.
(2) Provision of data.--Any data produced under paragraph (1) shall be made available to the Commander of the United States Northern Command upon request.
(f) Report.--Not later than one year after the commencement of the study required under subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the results of the study.
(g) Covered Military Installation Defined.--In this section, the term "covered military installation" means a military installation located in the continental United States.
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SA 5846. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ____. PILOT PROGRAM FOR ONE-WAY AND COUNTER-UNMANNED
AIRCRAFT SYSTEM DRONE TESTBED.
(a) Pilot Program Authorized.--The Secretary of the Army shall establish a pilot program to test, evaluate, and demonstrate the integration of approved munition payloads with approved unmanned aircraft systems, including one-way unmanned aircraft systems and counter-unmanned aircraft system platforms.
(b) Purpose.--The purposes of the pilot program required by subsection (a) shall are--
(1) to accelerate the integration of modular payloads onto multiple drone platforms;
(2) to reduce time-to-field for lethal and non-lethal drone-enabled munitions capabilities;
(3) to standardize payload-to-platform interfaces; and
(4) to support rapid prototyping, validation, and transition of drone-enabled munitions into programs of record.
(c) Location.--
(1) In general.--The Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition shall, acting through the Joint Capability Program Executive for Ammunition and Energetics, determine the location or locations at which the pilot program required by subsection (a) is conducted.
(2) Considerations.--In selecting a location under paragraph (1), the Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition shall consider--
(A) the availability of munitions and energetics subject-matter expertise, including the interface of munitions with drones;
(B) proximity to live fire testing range space and range availability, prioritizing joint base facilities; and
(C) existing infrastructure capable of supporting rapid prototyping, integration, and live-fire testing.
(d) Components.--The pilot program required by subsection (a) may include--
(1) transition and integration of common Electronic Safe and Arming Device designs;
(2) incorporation of the Picatinny Common Lethality Integration Kit and the Small Open Payload Interface;
(3) development and standardization of technology and practices supporting payload-to-drone connectivity;
(4) prototyping, demonstration, and technology transfer of munition systems integrated with unmanned aircraft systems; and
(5) development of standardized drone interface documentation and validated integration processes for counter-unmanned aircraft system platforms, including energetic payload applications.
(e) Coordination.--In carrying out the pilot program required by subsection (a), the Secretary shall coordinate with the Joint Capability Program Executive for Ammunition and Energetics, Development Command (DEVCOM), relevant program executive offices, and other Department of Defense components as the Secretary considers appropriate.
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SA 5847. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. __. PILOT PROGRAM FOR BRAVE-1 MODELED TECHNOLOGY
PLATFORM TO IMPROVE FEEDBACK LOOP AND SPEED UP
MILITARY INNOVATION.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 360 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, establish and carry out a pilot program to test a digital feedback platform designed to improve the collection, analysis, and transmission of operational feedback from members of the Armed Forces to inform defense innovation, acquisition, and sustainment decisions.
(2) Designation.--The pilot program required by paragraph (1) shall be known as the "Brave Model" (in this section the "Pilot Program").
(b) Locations.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall select not fewer than three and not more than six units of the Armed Forces to participate in the Pilot Program, including at least one unit from each of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
(2) Considerations.--In selecting units under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consider--
(A) units stationed overseas who are less connected to resupplying chains;
(B) units employing a mix of advanced and legacy systems; and
(C) units with varying levels of access to maintenance, resupply, and technical support infrastructure.
(c) Objectives.--The objectives of the Pilot Program are--
(1) to develop a feedback loop modeled after BRAVE-1 in Ukraine, so that the government and industry can jointly receive data directly from the Armed Forces;
(2) to reduce delays in identifying and addressing equipment failures and capability gaps;
(3) to enable more rapid iteration and improvement of military systems through data driven insights; and
(4) to evaluate the feasibility of establishing a sustained capability within the Department of Defense to support continuous operator-driven innovation.
(d) Briefings.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the completion of the Pilot Program, the Secretary shall provide to the appropriate congressional committees a briefing that includes--
(1) an assessment of the effectiveness of the Pilot Program in achieving the objectives set forth in subsection (c);
(2) a comparison of the speed and effectiveness of identifying and addressing equipment issues in units participating in the Pilot Program versus units not participating in the Pilot Program;
(3) a description of key capability gaps and system failures identified through the Pilot Program; and
(4) recommendations regarding whether to expand, modify, or terminate the Pilot Program.
(e) Termination.--The Pilot Program shall terminate on the date that is two years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(f) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, the term "appropriate congressional committees" means--
(1) the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives.
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SA 5848. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. UNIVERSITY AFFILIATED RESEARCH CENTER QUANTUM
INFORMATION SCIENCE RESEARCH.
(a) Feasibility and Advisability Assessment.--The Secretary of Defense shall, in consultation with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering--
(1) assess the feasibility and advisability of expanding the scope, capacity, or capabilities of an existing university affiliated research center that operates at the Office of the Secretary of Defense level to support quantum science, engineering, and national security applications; and
(2) submit a recommendation regarding the feasibility and advisability of such expansion to the congressional defense committees.
(b) Determination.--Not later than 15 days after submitting the assessment required under subsection (a), the Secretary shall determine whether it is feasible and advisable to expand such a university affiliated research center and--
(1) for a positive determination, submit to the congressional defense committees a plan described in subsection (c); and
(2) for a negative determination, submit to the congressional defense committees a justification for such determination that includes the data and analysis supporting such determination.
(c) Plan.--If the Secretary of Defense determines that expanding a university affiliated research center is feasible and advisable under subsection (b), the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a plan for such expansion, including an assessment of the institutional capacity of the covered educational institution at which such university affiliated research center is operated.
(d) Elements.--The plan described in subsection (c) shall include the following:
(1) An assessment of the existing capabilities of the university affiliated research center and associated research programs at the host institution in quantum science, systems integration, quantum engineering, and related fields.
(2) An assessment of the ability of the university affiliated research center--
(A) to conduct basic and applied research in quantum technologies relevant to national defense;
(B) to integrate quantum technologies across multiple military departments and defense agencies; and
(C) to support the mission of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in advancing cross-cutting technologies.
(3) An assessment of the activities and investments necessary--
(A) to augment facilities, laboratories, or secure research environments--
(i) to support research, development, test, and evaluation activities relating to quantum technologies;
(ii) to access, secure, and conduct research involving sensitive or classified information; and
(iii) to respond rapidly to emerging Department-wide requirements in quantum-enabled capabilities;
(B) expand the participation of the university affiliated research center and affiliated research centers and laboratories at the host institution supporting the university affiliated research center mission in Department of Defense research, engineering, and workforce development activities relating to quantum technologies; and
(C) to improve the ability of the university affiliated research center to support the transition of quantum technologies into operational use.
(4) Recommendations identifying actions that may be taken by the Secretary, the Under Secretary, Congress, and other stakeholders to strengthen the role of such university affiliated research center in advancing quantum technologies for national security purposes.
(5) Any specific goals, incentives, and metrics developed by the Secretary to increase and measure the capacity of such university affiliated research center to support Department-wide quantum capabilities.
(e) Report Required.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall--
(1) submit to the congressional defense committees a report that includes the plan developed under subsection (c); and
(2) make the plan available on a publicly accessible website of the Department of Defense.
(f) Support for Expansion.--
(1) In general.--The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering may establish a program to provide contracts, grants, or other agreements to support the expansion of the university affiliated research center described in subsection (a), including through collaborative research activities with affiliated research centers and laboratories at the host institution.
(2) Purposes.--The purposes described in this paragraph are the following:
(A) Enhancing workforce and research infrastructure capabilities in quantum science and engineering.
(B) Expanding the ability of the university affiliated research center to recruit and retain faculty and technical experts in quantum-related fields.
(C) Supporting collaboration with Federal laboratories, Federally funded research and development centers, and private sector entities.
(D) Accelerating the development, testing, and transition of quantum technologies for Department-wide applications.
(E) Any other purposes the Under Secretary determines appropriate for strengthening quantum capabilities.
(g) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term "institution of higher education" has the meaning given such term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).
(2) The term "quantum technologies" includes quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum networking, quantum communications, and quantum materials.
(3) The term "University Affiliated Research Center operating at the Office of the Secretary of Defense level" means a university affiliated research center that supports research, engineering, and analytical activities that address cross-cutting priorities of the Department of Defense and are not limited to a single military department.
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SA 5849. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEFENSE DIGITAL ENGINEERING
CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR MODEL-BASED
ACQUISITION, SECURE DATA TRANSFER, AND
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and in coordination with the Secretary of the Navy, establish a center of excellence at an accredited institution of higher education located within an established defense innovation corridor that maintains--
(A) active defense research programs across not fewer than two military departments;
(B) an operational digital engineering hub or equivalent facility;
(C) a planned or existing facility of not less than 200,000 gross square feet with the capability to achieve sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) accreditation; and
(D) demonstrated capability in model-based systems engineering, additive manufacturing for defense applications, and cybersecurity.
(2) Designation.--The center of exellence established under paragraph (1) shall be known as the "Defense Digital Engineering Center of Excellence" (in this section the "Center").
(b) Mission.--The Center shall serve as a nationally designated hub for the following three interconnected defense digital engineering pillars:
(1) Secure data transfer and digital engineering demilitarized zone (dmz).--(A) The Center shall establish and maintain an accredited secure data transfer capability to serve as a trusted intermediary for the exchange of model-based digital engineering artifacts between military laboratories, shipyards, operational platforms, government agencies, and industry partners.
(B) Such capability shall support both large-scale digital engineering programs, including programs of record, and smaller-scale initiatives such as additive manufacturing digital thread applications for equipment obsolescence management.
(C) The Center shall develop and maintain interoperability standards for digital artifact exchange that are compatible with existing and emerging Department of Defense data architectures.
(2) Model-based acquisition pilot program.--(A) The Secretary of the Navy, in coordination with the Center, shall establish a pilot program to develop and test model-based technical data packages for not fewer than one naval acquisition program of record.
(B) The pilot program shall demonstrate a continuous digital thread from requirements development through design, construction, and sustainment, with the objective of eliminating duplicative data recreation by government and industry stakeholders.
(C) The Center shall develop reference architectures, data exchange standards, and interoperability protocols for model-based Technical Data Packages in coordination with the Naval Sea Systems Command, relevant Program Executive Offices, and industry partners.
(D) Not later than two years after the establishment of the pilot program, the Secretary of the Navy shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report evaluating the cost savings, schedule improvements, and technical quality improvements achieved relative to static, document-centric acquisition processes.
(3) Tip of a spear training (toast) workforce development program.--(A) The Center shall develop and deliver role-specific digital engineering training programs, to be known as "Tip of a Spear Training" or "TOAST" programs, for Department of Defense and Department of the Navy leadership and management personnel.
(B) TOAST programs shall be designed at not fewer than three proficiency levels--
(i) executive level, for flag and general officers, Senior Executive Service personnel, and program executive officers;
(ii) program management level, for program managers, ship design managers, and design integration managers; and
(iii) working level, for systems engineers, requirements management personnel, and technical warrant holders.
(C) The Center may award certificates of completion and shall coordinate with the Defense Acquisition University to ensure TOAST programs satisfy continuing education and certification requirements under chapter 87 of title 10, United States Code.
(D) Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Center shall enroll not fewer than 50 Department of Defense personnel in TOAST programs, with a target of 200 personnel per year by the third year of operation.
(c) Coordination.--The Center shall coordinate with--
(1) the Naval Sea Systems Command, Program Executive Offices, and relevant systems commands;
(2) the Office of the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense;
(3) the Defense Acquisition University;
(4) the Defense Innovation Unit;
(5) relevant Federally funded research and development centers; and
(6) private sector industry partners, including shipbuilders, defense contractors, and technology firms.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Defense to carry out this section, $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2027, of which--
(1) not more than $10,000,000 shall be for the establishment and initial accreditation of the Secure Data Transfer and Digital Engineering DMZ capability under subsection (c)(1);
(2) not more than $10,000,000 shall be for the Model-Based Acquisition Pilot Program under subsection (c)(2); and
(3) not more than $5,000,000 shall be for the development and initial delivery of TOAST workforce development programs under subsection (c)(3).
(e) Annual Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 5 years, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the activities, outcomes, and expenditures of the Center, including an assessment of the feasibility and advisability of designating additional institutions of higher education as affiliated nodes in a national defense digital engineering network.
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SA 5850. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. __. LIMITATION AND REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO
EXPEDITIONARY COMBAT AVIATION BRIGADES.
(a) Limitation.--None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for any of fiscal years 2027 through 2031 for the Army may be obligated or expended to retire, deactivate, schedule to deactivate, or proceed with any other action that would reduce the aircraft, capabilities, resources, or personnel available, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, for the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades unless the Secretary of the Army submits to the congressional defense committees--
(1) a certification that the Secretary of the Army plans to recapitalize any such aircraft for the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades and to otherwise restore any such capabilities, resources, or personnel levels reduced; and
(2) the plan of the Secretary of the Army for the actions specified in paragraph (1).
(b) Requirement to Restore.--
(1) Requirement.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, for any Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade that, prior to such date of enactment, the Secretary of the Army retired or deactivated (or carried out any other activity to reduce the aircraft, capabilities, resources, or personnel thereof), the Secretary of the Army shall reinstate or reactivate such brigade, or otherwise restore such brigade to the levels preceding such reduction, as the case may be.
(2) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the implementation of this subsection.
(c) Plan Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a plan to sustain and modernize the aircraft used by the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the Department of the Army for the operation of aircraft, and training for such operation, by the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades $35,000,000 for fiscal year 2027.
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SA 5851. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. PROTECT ACT.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the "Preservation of Rights and Ownership of Traditional Emblems, Crests, and Tributes Act" or the "PROTECT Act".
(b) Registration of Trademarks.--
(1) In general.--Section 2 of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the registration
and protection of trademarks used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain international conventions, and for other purposes", approved July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the "Trademark Act of 1946") (15 U.S.C. 1052), is amended--
(A) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g);
(B) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
"(f) Is authorized, issued, or controlled by the Government for the purposes of Department of Defense or Armed Forces awards, decorations, campaign and service ribbons, or medals, except that such a mark may be registered at the discretion of the agency or department of the Government that controls the official use of the mark."; and
(C) in subsection (g), as so redesignated--
(i) in the first sentence, by striking "and (e)(5)" and inserting "(e)(5), and (f)"; and
(ii) by adding at the end the following: "Nothing in subsection (f) may be construed to prohibit the continued use of a mark on or after the date of enactment of the Preservation of Rights and Ownership of Traditional Emblems, Crests, and Tributes Act by any person or entity, including a nonprofit organization, if that person or entity was using that mark before that date of enactment and that use was lawful before that date of enactment, except that, on and after that date of enactment, no person or entity other than an agency or department of the Government described in that subsection may register such a mark on the principal register.".
(2) Technical and conforming amendments.--The Act entitled "An Act to provide for the registration and protection of trademarks used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain international conventions, and for other purposes", approved July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the "Trademark Act of 1946") (15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.), is amended--
(A) in section 1(d)(1) (15 U.S.C. 1051(d)(1)), by striking "subsections (a) through (e) of section 2" and inserting "subsections (a) through (f) of section 2"; and
(B) in section 26 (15 U.S.C. 1094), by striking "2(f)" and inserting "2(g)".
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SA 5852. Mr. CRUZ (for himself and Mr. Budd) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:
SEC. ___. TREATMENT OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND HOMESCHOOLING
LAWS OF STATES UNDER SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL
RELIEF ACT.
(a) In General.--Title VII of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 4021 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
"SEC. 708. COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND HOMESCHOOLING LAWS OF
STATES.
"(a) In General.--A dependent child of a servicemember who
is educated at home and is covered by military orders for a
permanent change of station to a location shall be considered
in compliance with all compulsory education and homeschooling
provisions of law of the State of the location, if such
dependent child is in compliance with all the compulsory
education and homeschooling provisions of law of such State
or the State of the legal residence of the servicemember.
"(b) Definition of Child.--In this section, the term
`child' has the meaning given such term in section 101 of
title 38, United States Code.".
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section
1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after the item
relating to section 707 the following new item: "Sec. 708. Compulsory education and homeschooling laws of States.".
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SA 5853. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place in title XII, insert the following:
SEC. 12__. LIMITATION ON ENGAGEMENT WITH MEXICO UNTIL MEXICO
PROVIDES WATER PURSUANT TO TREATY OBLIGATIONS.
(a) Report Required.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report regarding deliveries of water by Mexico pursuant to the Treaty relating to the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande, signed at Washington February 3, 1944 (9 Bevans 1166), between the United States and Mexico (in this section referred to as the "Treaty").
(2) Elements.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall include--
(A) a determination of whether Mexico has, during the calendar year preceding the submission of the report, delivered to the United States a minimum of 350,000 acre-feet of water;
(B) an assessment of Mexico's capabilities for delivering 1,750,000 acre-feet of water by the final year of the five-year cycle described in the Treaty; and
(C) an identification of significant economic sectors or activities in Mexico that are situated in, or substantially dependent upon, irrigation districts that benefit from--
(i) water delivered to Mexico by the United States; or
(ii) the 6 tributaries of the Rio Grande from which Mexico is obligated to deliver water pursuant to the Treaty.
(b) Limitation on Engagement.--
(1) In general.--If, in a report required by subsection (a), the Secretary makes a negative determination under paragraph (2)(A) of that subsection, the President--
(A) shall deny all non-Treaty requests by Mexico; and
(B) may limit or terminate engagement with the Government of Mexico related to the sectors or activities in Mexico identified under subsection (a)(2)(C), other than engagement to counter the flow of fentanyl, fentanyl precursors, xylazine, and other synthetic drugs into the United States.
(2) Exception.--The limitation described in paragraph (1)(A) shall not apply to a non-Treaty request by Mexico if the Secretary submits to the appropriate committees of Congress, not later than 120 days after the submission of the report described in paragraph (1), and every 120 days thereafter, a certification that--
(A) the water delivered through such channels--
(i) will be used exclusively to address an ongoing ecological, environmental, or humanitarian emergency; and
(ii) will not be used for--
(I) municipal purposes; (II) industrial purposes; (III) normal water supply needs; (IV) water infrastructure deficiencies; or (V) maintenance work; and
(B) fulfilling the request is vital to the national interests of the United States.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term "appropriate committees of Congress" means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.
(2) Non-treaty request.--The term "non-Treaty request" means an emergency request for special delivery channels for the delivery of water made pursuant to any current or future Minute of the International Boundary and Water Commission based on the principles established in Commission Minute No. 240, entitled "Emergency Deliveries of Colorado River Waters for Use in Tijuana", dated June 13, 1972, as subsequently amended and extended, most recently by Commission Minute No. 327, entitled "Emergency Deliveries of Colorado River Waters For Use In the City of Tijuana, Baja California", dated January 28, 2022.
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SA 5854. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the end of title XII, add the following:
Subtitle F--Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting
Protection Act
SEC. 1271. SHORT TITLE.
This subtitle may be cited as the "Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act".
SEC. 1272. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term "appropriate congressional committees" means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.
(2) Forced organ harvesting.--The term "forced organ harvesting" means the removal of one or more organs from an individual by means of coercion, abduction, deception, fraud, or abuse of power or a position of vulnerability.
(3) Intelligence community.--The term "intelligence community" has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).
(4) Organ.--The term "organ" has the meaning given the term "human organ" in section 301(c)(1) of the National Organ Transplant Act (42 U.S.C. 274e(c)(1)).
SEC. 1273. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Public and private organizations have persistently expressed concerns regarding organ transplant policies and practices in the People's Republic of China, including allegations of forced organ harvesting of those
targeted by authorities of the People's Republic of China based on religious beliefs, ethnic background, or other affiliations.
(2) The 2023 International Religious Freedom Report of the Department of State stated, "Civil society organizations continued to express concern over reports that authorities [of the People's Republic of China] forced members of religious organizations, in particular Falun Gong members and ethnic Uyghurs, to serve as organ donors.".
(3) The Government of the People's Republic of China has failed to provide a full, credible, and independently verifiable response to repeated international calls for increased accountability and transparency for its organ transplant policies and practices, particularly allegations related to forced organ harvesting.
(4) The United States Government, including the intelligence community, has yet to provide its formal assessment of allegations related to systemic organ harvesting practices by the Government of the People's Republic of China, including against Falun Gong practitioners.
SEC. 1274. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that the United States Government should--
(1) investigate allegations of systemic forced organ harvesting in the People's Republic of China, including incidents involving Falun Gong practitioners; and
(2) condemn illegal, coercive, non-consensual, or non-transparent organ procurement and transplantation practices, including forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.
SEC. 1275. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FORCED
ORGAN HARVESTING WITHIN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC
OF CHINA.
(a) Imposition of Sanctions.--The President shall impose the sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to each foreign person included in the most recent list submitted under subsection (b).
(b) List of Persons.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a list of foreign persons that the President determines to have knowingly and directly engaged in or facilitated forced organ harvesting within the People's Republic of China.
(2) Updates of lists.--The President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an updated list under paragraph (1)--
(A) as new information becomes available;
(B) not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act; and
(C) annually thereafter until the date of termination under subsection (h).
(3) Form.--The list required by paragraph (1), and any updates to the list required by paragraph (2), shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(c) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this subsection are the following:
(1) Blocking of property.--The President shall exercise all of the powers granted to the President by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (except that the requirements of section 202 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in property and interests in property of a foreign person on the most recent list submitted under subsection (b) if such property and interests in property are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.
(2) Inadmissibility of certain individuals.--
(A) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole.--An alien included in the most recent list submitted under subsection (b) is--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into the United States or to receive any other benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visa revoked.--
(i) In general.--An alien described in subparagraph (A) is subject to revocation of any visa or other entry documentation regardless of when the visa or other entry documentation is or was issued.
(ii) Immediate effect.--A revocation under clause (i) shall, in accordance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i))--
(I) take effect immediately; and
(II) automatically cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation that is in the alien's possession.
(3) Exception.--Sanctions under paragraph (2) shall not apply to an alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the United States is necessary to permit the United States to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United States, or other applicable international obligations of the United States.
(d) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person who violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of regulations promulgated to carry out subsection (a) to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person who commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of that Act.
(e) Exception To Comply With National Security.--The following activities shall be exempt from sanctions under this section:
(1) Activities subject to the reporting requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.).
(2) Any authorized intelligence or law enforcement activities of the United States.
(f) Exception Relating to Provision of Humanitarian Assistance.--Sanctions under this section may not be imposed with respect to transactions or the facilitation of transactions for--
(1) the sale of agricultural commodities, food, or medicine;
(2) the provision of humanitarian assistance;
(3) financial transactions relating to humanitarian assistance or for humanitarian purposes; or
(4) transporting goods or services that are necessary to carry out operations relating to humanitarian assistance or humanitarian purposes.
(g) Waiver Authority.--
(1) Waiver.--The President may, on a case by case basis, waive the imposition of any sanction under this section if the President determines such waiver is in the national security interests of the United States.
(2) Reports.--Not later than 120 days after the date on which the President submits the first list under subsection (b)(1), and every 120 days thereafter until the date of termination under subsection (h), the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the extent to which the President has used the waiver authority under paragraph (1) during the 120-day period preceding submission of the report.
(h) Sunset.--The authority to impose sanctions under this section shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(i) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Admission; admitted; alien; lawfully admitted for permanent residence.--The terms "admission", "admitted", "alien", and "lawfully admitted for permanent residence" have the meanings given those terms in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).
(2) Foreign person.--The term "foreign person" means an individual or entity that is not a United States person.
(3) Knowingly.--The term "knowingly", with respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, means that a person had actual knowledge, or should have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the result.
(4) United states person.--The term "United States person" means--
(A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States;
(B) an entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States, including a foreign branch of such an entity; or
(C) any person located in the United States.
SEC. 1276. REPORT ON ORGAN TRANSPLANT POLICIES AND PRACTICES
OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and the heads of relevant elements of the intelligence community, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the organ transplant policies and practices of the People's Republic of China.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under subsection (a) shall include--
(1) a formal determination as to whether the Government of the People's Republic of China engages, or formerly engaged, in systemic forced organ harvesting practices and policies;
(2) a summary of de jure and de facto policies toward organ transplantation in the People's Republic of China, including with respect to prisoners of conscience (including practitioners of Falun Gong), other prisoners, and victims of forced organ harvesting;
(3)(A) the number of organ transplants that are known to occur or are estimated to occur on an annual basis in the People's Republic of China;
(B) the number of known or estimated voluntary organ donors in the People's Republic of China;
(C) an assessment of the sources of organs for transplant in the People's Republic of China; and
(D) an assessment of the time, in days, that it takes to procure an organ for transplant within the medical system of the People's Republic of China and an assessment of whether such timetable is possible based on the number of known or estimated voluntary organ donors in the People's Republic of China;
(4) a list of all United States grants during the 10 years before the date of the enactment of this Act that have supported research on organ transplantation in the People's Republic of China or in collaboration between an entity of the People's Republic of China and a United States entity; and
(5) if the determination made under paragraph (1) is that the Government of the People's Republic of China engages, or formerly engaged, in systemic forced organ harvesting practices and policies, a determination as to
whether forced organ harvesting within the People's Republic of China constitutes an "atrocity" (as such term is defined in section 6 of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-441; 22 U.S.C.
Text printed in the Record (612 characters)
2656 note)).
(c) Form.--The report required under subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
SEC. 1277. EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF GOODS.
(a) In General.--The authorities and requirements to impose sanctions authorized under this subtitle shall not include the authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.
(b) Good Defined.--In this section, the term "good" means any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data.
Text of Senate Amendment 5830
Page S2900 · Official textSA 5830. Mr. RICKETTS (for himself and Mrs. Fischer) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5823 proposed by Mr. Thune (for Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself and Ms. Warren)) to the bill H.R. 6644, a bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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In section 1001(a)(5) of the amendment, strike subparagraph (B) and insert the following:
(B) does not include--
(i) a manufactured home, as defined in section 603 of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5402); or
(ii) a home acquired pursuant to an employer-sponsored home sale relocation program whereby an employer, either directly or via a third-party relocation-related entity, temporarily acquires and sells a residential home solely to facilitate an employment-related move and not as an investment strategy and subsequently sells the home within 365 days of its acquisition date.
Text of Senate Amendment 5831
Page S2900 · Official textSA 5831. Mr. SCOTT of Florida submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5823 proposed by Mr. Thune (for Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself and Ms. Warren)) to the bill H.R. 6644, a bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the end of title VIII, add the following:
SEC. 806. ADDITIONAL REPORTS.
(a) Annual Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for not less than 10 years, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall issue a report that measures and tracks the affordability of housing in the United States, which shall include comprehensive analysis on housing affordability for middle income homeowners, using the metric of annual housing costs as not more than 30 percent of gross income for the definition of affordability.
(b) GAO Report on Outcomes.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and again not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall issue a report on the outcomes of this Act and the amendments made by this Act, including how this Act--
(1) affected housing supply outcomes in the period covered by the report, including whether--
(A) the Act directly increased the production of single-family housing units;
(B) permit issuance rates materially different; and
(C) approval times for new privately-owned residential construction permits changed;
(2) affected affordability and the housing market during the period covered by the report, including--
(A) a decomposition of the drivers of homeownership affordability that were directly affected by this Act;
(B) whether median home prices decreased, and if so, by how much;
(C) whether the Act directly caused an increase in construction of single-family homes;
(D) any house price to income ratio changes that can be directly attributed to the Act; and
(E) whether homeownership of single-family homes became more attainable after the enactment of the Act as compared to before the enactment of the Act; and
(3) affected Federal expenditures, including--
(A) the total Federal outlays under each title of the Act during the period covered by the report;
(B) whether expenditures were duplicative of existing programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Agriculture, or the Federal Housing Finance Agency; and
(C) whether the Act increased Federal outlays or increased the Federal deficit during the period covered by the report.
Text of Senate Amendment 5832
Pages S2900–S2901 · Official textSA 5832. Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Kim, and Mr. Daines) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. _____. CREDIT MONITORING.
(a) In General.--The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 605A(k) (15 U.S.C. 1681c-1(k))--
(A) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
"(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
"(A) Armed forces.--The term `armed forces' has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code.
"(B) Armed forces member consumer.--The term `armed forces member consumer' means a consumer who, regardless of duty status, is a member of the armed forces."; and
(B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking "active duty military consumer" and inserting "armed forces member consumer"; and
(2) in section 625(b)(1)(K) (15 U.S.C. 1681t(b)(1)(K)), by striking "active duty military consumers" and inserting "armed forces member consumers".
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect on
the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
Text of Senate Amendment 5833
Pages S2901–S2902 · Official textSA 5833. Ms. ROSEN (for herself, Ms. Cortez Masto, and Mrs. Blackburn) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:
SEC. ___1. SHORT TITLE.
This subtitle may be cited as the "Sergeant Dave Crete Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada Veterans Act of 2026" or the "Sergeant Dave Crete FORGOTTEN Veterans Act of 2026".
SEC. ___2. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle:
(1) Active military, naval, air, or space service.--The term "active military, naval, air, or space service" has the meaning given that term in section 101(24) of title 38, United States Code.
(2) Covered location.--The term "covered location" means--
(A) any facility on the most recent list of facilities covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.) published in the Federal Register by the Department of Energy; or
(B) with respect to service on or after January 27, 1951, any location within the Nevada Test and Training Range or the Nevada National Security Site (as defined on May 19, 2026).
(3) Toxic exposure.--The term "toxic exposure" has the meaning given that term in section 101(37) of title 38, United States Code.
SEC. ___3. COORDINATION WITH DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO
IDENTIFY VETERANS WHO PERFORMED MILITARY
SERVICE AT COVERED LOCATIONS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall establish and carry out a process to identify veterans who served at a covered location and may have encountered toxic exposure during active military, naval, air, or space service.
(b) Use of Available Information.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall use--
(1) military personnel and deployment records maintained by the Department of Defense; and
(2) information provided by veterans through the registry established under section 7.
(c) No Affirmative Evidence Required.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not require a veteran to provide affirmative evidence of exposure to a specific toxic substance if service at a covered location is established.
SEC. ___4. TREATMENT AS RADIATION-RISK ACTIVITIES BY
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
Section 1112(c)(3)(B) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:
"(viii) Active military, naval, air, or space service, or onsite participation in any aspect of the development, construction, operation, or maintenance of a military installation (as defined in section 2801 of title 10), within the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site, as defined on May 19, 2026, during the period beginning on January 27, 1951, and ending on the date which the Secretary of Defense, with independent verification, certifies that the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site no longer pose radiation risk to personnel present, or enactment of the Sergeant Dave Crete Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada Veterans Act of 2026, whichever is later.".
SEC. ___5. PRESUMPTION OF TOXIC EXPOSURE FOR VETERANS WHO
SERVED AT COVERED LOCATIONS AND PRESUMPTION OF
SERVICE CONNECTION FOR CERTAIN DISEASES.
Section 1119(c)(1) of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A)(viii), by striking "; or" and inserting a semicolon;
(2) in subparagraph (B)(ix), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
"(C) at any time, performed active military, naval, air, or space service while assigned to a duty station in, including airspace above, any facility on the most recent list of facilities covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.) published in the Federal Register by the Department of Energy; or
"(D) on or after January 27, 1951, performed active military, naval, air, or space service while assigned to a duty station in, including airspace above, any location within the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site, as defined on May 19, 2026.".
SEC. ___6. STUDY ON TOXIC EXPOSURES AT COVERED LOCATIONS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall seek to enter into an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services or another appropriate scientific organization to study potential toxic exposures and environmental hazards at covered locations.
(b) Study.--The study required under subsection (a) shall--
(1) identify exposures associated with military occupations of veterans who served at covered locations, including exposures relating to chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phenomena; and
(2) review the literature to determine associations between such exposures and the incidence or prevalence of overall cancer morbidity and overall cancer mortality, and determine, to the extent possible, the prevalence and mortality of cancers among such veterans by using available sources of data, which may include--
(A) health care and other administrative databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the military departments, respectively; and
(B) the national death index maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(c) Transfer Authority.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Defense to carry out the study required under subsection (a) may be transferred without regard to section 2215 of title 10, United States Code, to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to pay for the study.
(d) Report.--At the conclusion of the study required under subsection (a), the Department of Health and Human Services or other appropriate scientific organization, as the case may be, shall submit to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives, the President of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the Chair of the National Research Council a report containing the results of the study.
SEC. ___7. ESTABLISHMENT OF COVERED LOCATION VETERAN
REGISTRY.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish and maintain a registry of veterans who served at covered locations who may have encountered toxic exposure during active military, naval, air, or space service (in this section referred to as the "registry").
(b) Purposes.--The registry shall be used to--
(1) collect, process, maintain, and consolidate epidemiological information required to analyze incidence of adverse health effects among veterans who served in covered locations;
(2) facilitate coordination between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to verify service;
(3) inform veterans of available health care, benefits, and screenings; and
(4) support outreach, research, and claims adjudication related to toxic exposure.
(c) Opt-out and Recruitment.--
(1) Opt-out.--Participants must have the opportunity to opt-out of inclusion in the registry.
(2) Recruitment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall recruit veterans described in subsection (a) who are not represented in data sources of the Department of Defense or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(d) Data-sharing.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall share information collected through the registry with the Secretary of Defense, consistent with applicable privacy and security laws, for purposes of identifying affected veterans and improving care and benefits delivery.
SEC. ___8. CLASSIFICATION OF CERTAIN FACILITIES AS LOCATIONS
WHERE CONTAMINATION OCCURRED AND MEMBERS OF THE
ARMED FORCES WERE EXPOSED TO TOXIC SUBSTANCES.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense shall classify the following locations as a location where contamination occurred:
(1) On and after January 27, 1951, the Nevada Test and Training Range, including the Nevada National Security Site (as such site is defined on May 19, 2026).
(2) Any facility on the most recent list of facilities covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.) published in the Federal Register by the Secretary of Energy.
(b) Identification Process.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish a process to identify members of the Armed Forces and former members of the Armed Forces that were stationed at a facility specified in subsection (a).
(2) Documentation.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish a process to permit members of the Armed Forces and former members of the Armed Forces to provide documentation or evidence of their assignment at a facility specified in subsection (a) to assist the Secretary in identifying those members and former members under paragraph (1).
(3) Efforts.--The Secretary of Defense shall make all efforts to identify individuals
described in paragraph (1) and shall not require members of the Armed Forces or former members of the Armed Forces to submit evidence of their stationing.
(c) Sharing of Information.--The Secretary of Defense shall share with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs all information and documentation gathered under subsection (b) in order to provide the Secretary of Veterans Affairs with adequate documentation of the service of members of the Armed Forces and former members of the Armed Forces at facilities specified in subsection (a) and any injuries, exposures, or illnesses related to such service, for the purpose of establishing any claim for benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to which such members and former members are legally entitled.
Text of Senate Amendment 5834
Page S2902 · Official textSA 5834. Ms. ROSEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place in title VII, insert the following:
SEC. 7__. AUTHORIZATION FOR VIRTUAL FOLLOW-UP SPECIALTY CARE
UNDER TRICARE PRIME ACROSS STATE LINES.
Section 1094(d) of title 10, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking "or (4)" and inserting "(4), or (5)"; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
"(5) A health-care professional referred to in paragraph (1) as being described in this paragraph is a health-care professional who--
"(A) has provided specialty care to a patient under TRICARE Prime in-person; and
"(B) is providing virtual follow-up specialty care under TRICARE Prime to the patient while the patient is located in an isolated location, as determined by the Secretary of Defense.".
Text of Senate Amendment 5835
Page S2902 · Official textSA 5835. Ms. ROSEN (for herself and Mr. Cramer) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the end of subtitle C of title V, add the following:
SEC. 529E. COMBAT STATUS IDENTIFIER EQUIVALENT FOR REMOTELY
PILOTED AIRCRAFT CREW.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretaries of the military departments, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall establish a status identifier or equivalent recognition to denote the combat participation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) crew members who conduct operations in direct support of combat missions. The identifier shall be designed to enable appropriate consideration by the Department of Veterans Affairs in the administration of benefits and services that account for combat-related service, consistent with how traditional combat designators are treated.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the Department of Defense to categorize service described in subsection (a) as equivalent to service involving physical presence in a combat zone.
Text of Senate Amendment 5836
Page S2902 · Official textSA 5836. Ms. ROSEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. PROTECTION PROVISIONS FOR DEPLOYED SMALL BUSINESS
OWNERS SERVING IN THE RESERVES.
(a) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term "active duty" has the meaning given that term in section 101 of title 10, United States Code;
(2) the terms "credit" and "creditor" have the meanings given such terms in section 702 of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691a);
(3) the term "reserve component" means a component specified in section 10101 of title 10, United States Code; and
(4) the term "small business concern" has the meaning given that term under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
(b) Waiver.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for any Federal economic assistance program for which the eligibility of a small business concern for the assistance, or the amount of the assistance to be made available to a small business concern, is calculated based on the average monthly or total compensation of the employees, or the number of employees, of the small business concern during a specified period, if the small business concern is owned and controlled by a member of a reserve component who is deployed for active duty for a period of not less than 30 days during all or a portion of the period during which the assistance will be used, the calculation of the average monthly or total compensation of the employees, or the number of employees, of the small business concern during the specified period shall include any employee who is employed by the small business concern--
(A) to fulfill the essential duties and responsibilities of the owner during the period the owner is on active duty; and
(B) during the period--
(i) beginning 90 days before the date on which the owner commences serving on active duty; and
(ii) ending 90 days after the date on which the owner ceases serving on active duty.
(2) Orders.--To be eligible to have the amount of assistance calculated in accordance with paragraph (1), the owner of a small business concern shall provide to the applicable Federal official a copy of the orders directing the owner to report for active duty for a period of not less than 30 days.
(c) Preservation of MREIDL Eligibility.--Section 7(b)(3) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
"(I) Whether a small business concern is eligible for a loan under this paragraph shall be determined without regard to whether the small business concern is eligible for any other economic assistance, or the amount of any other economic assistance that has been received by the small business concern, from the Federal Government.".
(d) Prohibition on Credit Discrimination.--
(1) In general.--It shall be unlawful for any creditor to discriminate in the terms or conditions of credit offered or provided to any small business concern owned by a member of a reserve component due to a military deployment or any temporary effects of a military deployment.
(2) Enforcement.--A violation of this subsection shall be treated as a violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.).
Text of Senate Amendment 5837
Pages S2902–S2903 · Official textSA 5837. Ms. ROSEN (for herself, Ms. Cortez Masto, and Mrs. Blackburn) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
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At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:
SEC. ___. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle:
(1) Active military, naval, air, or space service.--The term "active military, naval, air, or space service" has the meaning given that term in section 101(24) of title 38, United States Code.
(2) Covered location.--The term "covered location" means--
(A) any facility on the most recent list of facilities covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.) published in the Federal Register by the Department of Energy; or
(B) with respect to service on or after January 27, 1951, any location within the Nevada Test and Training Range or the Nevada National Security Site (as defined on May 19, 2026).
(3) Toxic exposure.--The term "toxic exposure" has the meaning given that term in section 101(37) of title 38, United States Code.
SEC. ___. COORDINATION WITH DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO IDENTIFY
VETERANS WHO PERFORMED MILITARY SERVICE AT
COVERED LOCATIONS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall establish and carry out a process to identify veterans who served at a covered location and may have encountered toxic exposure during active military, naval, air, or space service.
(b) Use of Available Information.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall use--
(1) military personnel and deployment records maintained by the Department of Defense; and
(2) information provided by veterans through the registry established under section 7.
(c) No Affirmative Evidence Required.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not require a veteran to provide affirmative evidence of exposure to a specific toxic substance if service at a covered location is established.
SEC. ___. TREATMENT AS RADIATION-RISK ACTIVITIES BY
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
Section 1112(c)(3)(B) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:
"(viii) Active military, naval, air, or space service, or onsite participation in any aspect of the development, construction, operation, or maintenance of a military installation (as defined in section 2801 of title 10), within the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site, as defined on May 19, 2026, during the period beginning on January 27, 1951, and ending on the date which the Secretary of Defense, with independent verification, certifies that the area that comprises the Nevada Test and Training Range and the Nevada National Security Site no longer pose radiation risk to personnel present, or enactment of this clause, whichever is later.".
SEC. ___. STUDY ON TOXIC EXPOSURES AT COVERED LOCATIONS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall seek to enter into an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services or another appropriate scientific organization to study potential toxic exposures and environmental hazards at covered locations.
(b) Study.--The study required under subsection (a) shall--
(1) identify exposures associated with military occupations of veterans who served at covered locations, including exposures relating to chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phenomena; and
(2) review the literature to determine associations between such exposures and the incidence or prevalence of overall cancer morbidity and overall cancer mortality, and determine, to the extent possible, the prevalence and mortality of cancers among such veterans by using available sources of data, which may include--
(A) health care and other administrative databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the military departments, respectively; and
(B) the national death index maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(c) Transfer Authority.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Defense to carry out the study required under subsection (a) may be transferred without regard to section 2215 of title 10, United States Code, to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to pay for the study.
(d) Report.--At the conclusion of the study required under subsection (a), the Department of Health and Human Services or other appropriate scientific organization, as the case may be, shall submit to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives, the President of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the Chair of the National Research Council a report containing the results of the study.
SEC. ___. ESTABLISHMENT OF COVERED LOCATION VETERAN REGISTRY.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish and maintain a registry of veterans who served at covered locations who may have encountered toxic exposure during active military, naval, air, or space service (in this section referred to as the "registry").
(b) Purposes.--The registry shall be used to--
(1) collect, process, maintain, and consolidate epidemiological information required to analyze incidence of adverse health effects among veterans who served in covered locations;
(2) facilitate coordination between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to verify service;
(3) inform veterans of available health care, benefits, and screenings; and
(4) support outreach, research, and claims adjudication related to toxic exposure.
(c) Opt-out and Recruitment.--
(1) Opt-out.--Participants must have the opportunity to opt-out of inclusion in the registry.
(2) Recruitment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall recruit veterans described in subsection (a) who are not represented in data sources of the Department of Defense or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(d) Data-sharing.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall share information collected through the registry with the Secretary of Defense, consistent with applicable privacy and security laws, for purposes of identifying affected veterans and improving care and benefits delivery.
Text of Senate Amendment 5838
Page S2903 · Official textSA 5838. Mr. PAUL submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5823 proposed by Mr. Thune (for Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself and Ms. Warren)) to the bill H.R. 6644, a bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (20 characters)
Strike section 1001.
Text of Senate Amendment 5839
Page S2903 · Official textSA 5839. Mr. PAUL submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5823 proposed by Mr. Thune (for Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself and Ms. Warren)) to the bill H.R. 6644, a bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (1,667 characters)
Strike section 1001 and insert the following:
SEC. 1001. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States prohibit the Federal Government and State governments from depriving any person of their property without due process of law.
(2) The origin of those clauses can be traced to Chapter 29 of Magna Carta, which was executed by King Henry III in 1225.
(3) For centuries, the Anglo-American commitment to the rule of law recognized that no person would be deprived of his right to freely acquire, use, and dispose of property without a fair trial or just compensation.
(4) Even during the Jim Crow era, in which the state legalized discrimination, property rights served as an antidote to government-imposed racism. The 1917 case Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60 (1917), in which the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously struck down a segregationist housing restriction, stands for the proposition that property rights strengthen civil rights.
(5) In Buchanan v. Warley, the Supreme Court found, "Property is more than the mere thing which a person owns. It is elementary that it includes the right to acquire, use, and dispose of it. The Constitution protects these essential attributes of property.".
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that Congress rededicates itself to the concepts of property and contract rights as inalterable principles of individual liberty and rejects any attempt to prohibit property owners from selling homes to investors of any kind, regardless of the size of the firm.
Text of Senate Amendment 5840
Pages S2903–S2904 · Official textSA 5840. Mr. MORAN (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (6,747 characters)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. SAFEGUARDS ACT OF 2026.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the "Spending Aviation Fees for Equipment, Guaranteeing Upgraded and Advanced Risk Detection and Safety Act of 2026" or the "SAFEGUARDS Act of 2026".
(b) Improving the Aviation Security Capital Fund.--Section 44923(h) of title 49, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
"(h) Aviation Security Capital Fund.--
"(1) In general.--There is established within the Department of Homeland Security a fund to be known as the Aviation Security Capital Fund (in this subsection referred to as the `Fund').
"(2) Source of funding.--
"(A) Fiscal year 2004 through 2025.--In each of fiscal years 2004 through 2025, the first $250,000,000 derived from fees received under section 44940(a)(1) shall be available to be deposited in the Fund in paragraph (1). The Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall impose the fee authorized by section 44940(a)(1) so as to collect at least $250,000,000 in each of such fiscal years for deposit into the Fund.
"(B) Fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2036.--In each of fiscal years 2026 through 2036, the first $400,000,000 derived from fees received under section 44940(a)(1) shall be available to be deposited in the Fund under paragraph (1). The Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall impose the fee authorized by section 44940(a)(1) so as to collect at least $400,000,000 in each of such fiscal years for deposit into the Fund.
"(3) Grant authority.--Amounts in the Fund shall be available to the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to make grants for projects under subsection (a).".
(c) Establishment of the Aviation Security Checkpoint Technology Fund.--
(1) In general.--Section 44923 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by--
(A) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection (j); and
(B) by inserting after subsection (h) the following new subsection (i):
"(i) Aviation Security Checkpoint Technology Fund.--
"(1) In general.--There is established within the Department of Homeland Security a fund to be known as the Aviation Security Checkpoint Technology Fund (in this subsection referred to as the `ASCT Fund').
"(2) Funding.--In each of fiscal years 2026 through 2036, after the first $400,000,000 is deposited into the Aviation Security Capital Fund pursuant to subsection (h)(2)(B), the next $250,000,000 from fees received under section 44940(a)(1) shall be available to be deposited in the ASCT Fund. The Administrator of
the Transportation Security Administration shall impose the fee authorized by section 44940(a)(1) so as to collect not less than $250,000,000 in each of such fiscal years for deposit into the ASCT Fund. Amounts in the ASCT Fund shall be available until expended to the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to fund the procurement, sustainment, and deployment of--
"(A) aviation security checkpoint technology, including computed tomography scanners, explosives trace detection equipment, liquid explosive detection systems, advanced imaging technology, or credential authentication technology machines; and
"(B) exit lane technology.
"(3) Grant authority.--Amounts in the ASCT Fund shall be available to the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to make grants under this section.".
(2) Technical and conforming amendments.--Section 44940(i) of title 49, United States Code, is amended--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking "section 44923(h)" and inserting "subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923"; and
(B) in paragraph (4), by redesignating subparagraphs (M) and (N) as subparagraphs (I) and (J), respectively.
(d) Reports to Congress.--
(1) Initial report.--Prior to carrying out the use of funds and disbursements for fiscal year 2026 under subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923 of title 49, United States Code, the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall provide a briefing to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and submit to such committees a report that includes--
(A) a detailed description of the use of funds and disbursements authorized by section 44923(h) of title 49, United States Code, for fiscal year 2004 through fiscal year 2025, including a detailed description of projects and capital needs addressed through the Aviation Security Capital Fund for each airport security category; and
(B) projected aviation security project and capital needs for each airport security category for fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2036.
(2) Annual report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall provide a briefing to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and submit to such committees a report that includes--
(A) a detailed description of the projects and capital needs addressed pursuant to subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923 of title 49, United States Code; and
(B) an identification of the most critical aviation security capital needs for each airport security category as determined by the Administrator.
(e) Biennial Inspector General Audits.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the date that is two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter through fiscal year 2036, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security shall conduct an audit of the oversight by the Transportation Security Administration of any applicable grant and disbursements made pursuant to subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923 of title 49, United States Code.
(2) Considerations.--In conducting an audit under paragraph (1), the Inspector General shall assess the efficacy of such oversight of grant and disbursements made with respect to--
(A) satisfying the statutory direction in subsections (h) and (i) of section 44923 of title 49, United States Code;
(B) addressing aviation security capital needs at airports representative of each airport security category; and
(C) preventing fraud, waste, and abuse of funds allocated for such purposes.
(3) Briefings to congress.--Not later than 30 days after completing an audit pursuant to paragraph (1), the Inspector General shall provide to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives a briefing on the findings of such audit.
Text of Senate Amendment 5841
Pages S2904–S2905 · Official textSA 5841. Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Kim, and Mr. Blumenthal) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her tothe bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (11,634 characters)
At the end of title XII, add the following:
SEC. 1270A. OPEN TECHNOLOGY FUND.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the "Open Technology Fund Reauthorization Act".
(b) Authority.--The Open Technology Fund is an independent nonprofit corporation that is authorized to receive amounts appropriated by Congress for the purpose of promoting, consistent with United States law, unrestricted access to uncensored sources of information through the internet.
(c) Board of Directors.--
(1) In general.--The Open Technology Fund shall be governed by a Board of Directors that--
(A) is bipartisan;
(B) except as otherwise provided in this section, has the sole responsibility to oversee the operations of the Open Technology Fund, within the jurisdiction of its incorporation;
(C) is composed of not fewer than 5 members, who shall be qualified individuals who are not employed in the public sector; and
(D) shall appoint successors in the event of a vacancy on the Board of Directors, in accordance with applicable bylaws.
(2) Not federal employees.--No employee of the Open Technology Fund may be a Federal employee.
(d) Functions.--In furtherance of the purpose described in subsection (b), the Open Technology Fund shall--
(1) seek to advance freedom of the press and unrestricted access to the internet in repressive environments oversees;
(2) research, develop, implement, and maintain--
(A) technologies that circumvent techniques used by authoritarian governments, nonstate actors, and others to block or censor access to the internet, including circumvention tools that bypass internet blocking, filtering, and other censorship techniques used to limit or block legitimate access to content and information; and
(B) secure communication tools and other forms of privacy and security technology that facilitate the creation and distribution of news and enable audiences to access media content on censored websites;
(3) advance internet freedom by supporting private and public sector research, development, implementation, and maintenance of technologies that provide secure and uncensored access to the internet to counter attempts by authoritarian governments, nonstate actors, and others to improperly restrict freedom online;
(4) research and analyze emerging technical threats and develop innovative solutions through collaboration with the private and public sectors to maintain the technological advantage of the United States Government over authoritarian governments, nonstate actors, and others;
(5) develop, acquire, and distribute requisite internet freedom technologies and techniques, consistent with United States foreign policy priorities;
(6) prioritize programs for countries the governments of which restrict freedom of expression on the internet, and that are important to the national interest of the United States, and are consistent with section 7050(b)(2)(C) of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-94); and
(7) carry out any other effort consistent with the purposes of this section or in furtherance of global internet freedom or press freedom overseas if requested or approved by an Act of Congress.
(e) Methodology.--In carrying out subsection (d), the Open Technology Fund shall--
(1) support fully open-source tools, code, and components, to the extent practicable, to ensure such supported tools and technologies are as secure, transparent, and accessible as possible, and require that any such tools, components, code, or technology supported by the Open Technology Fund remain fully open-source, to the extent practicable;
(2) support technologies that undergo comprehensive security audits to ensure that such technologies are secure and have not been compromised in a manner detrimental to the interest of the United States or to individuals and organizations benefitting from programs supported by the Open Technology Fund;
(3) review and update periodically as necessary security auditing procedures used by the Open Technology Fund to reflect current industry security standards;
(4) establish safeguards to mitigate the use of such supported technologies for illicit purposes;
(5) solicit project proposals through an open, transparent, and competitive application process to attract innovative applications and reduce barriers to entry;
(6) seek input from technical, regional, and subject matter experts from a wide range of relevant disciplines, to review, provide feedback, and evaluate proposals to ensure the most competitive projects are funded;
(7) implement an independent review process, through which proposals are reviewed by such experts to ensure the highest degree of technical review and due diligence;
(8) maximize cooperation with the public and private sectors, as well as foreign allies and partner countries, to maximize efficiencies and eliminate duplication of efforts; and
(9) utilize any other methodology that is considered an industry best practice in furtherance of the mission of the Open Technology Fund.
(f) Grants to the Open Technology Fund.--Any agreement with the Department of State or other Federal department or agency governing the expenditure of amounts appropriated to the Open Technology Fund shall be subject to the following limitations and restrictions:
(1) The headquarters of the Open Technology Fund and its senior administrative
and managerial staff shall be located in a location which ensures economy, operational effectiveness, and public accountability.
(2) Amounts appropriated by Congress to the Open Technology Fund shall be made subject to an agreement that--
(A) requires such amounts be used only for activities consistent with this section;
(B) permits the termination of such amounts without fiscal obligation to the United States if the Open Technology Fund fails to substantially comply the requirements set forth in the grant;
(C) requires any contract entered into by the Open Technology Fund to specify that all obligations are assumed by the Open Technology Fund and not by the United States Government;
(D) prohibits the Open Technology Fund from entering into an obligation before receiving funding from the United States Government; and
(E) requires any lease agreements entered into by the Open Technology Fund to be assignable to the United States Government, to the extent possible.
(3) Administrative and managerial costs for operation of the Open Technology Fund--
(A) should be kept to a minimum; and
(B) to the maximum extent feasible, should not exceed the costs that would have been incurred if the Open Technology Fund had been operated as a Federal entity rather than as an independent nonprofit corporation.
(4) Amounts appropriated by Congress to the Open Technology Fund may not be used for any activity the purpose of which is influencing the passage or defeat of legislation being considered by Congress.
(g) Assistance to Broadcasting Entities.--The Open Technology Fund should render assistance to broadcasting entities and United States Government-supported exile media grantees to the extent necessary for censorship circumvention and secure communications.
(h) Not a Federal Agency or Instrumentality.--Nothing in this section may be construed to make the Open Technology Fund a Federal agency or instrumentality.
(i) Relationship to Other United States Government-funded Internet Freedom Programs.--The Open Technology Fund shall coordinate with internet freedom programs of the Department of State and other relevant United States Government departments, in order to share information and best-practices relating to the implementation of subsections (d) and (e).
(j) Annual Report.--The Open Technology Fund shall highlight, in its annual report, internet freedom activities, including a comprehensive assessment of the Open Technology Fund's activities relating to the implementation of subsections (d) and (e). Each such report shall include--
(1) an assessment of the current state of global internet freedom, including trends in censorship and surveillance technologies and internet shutdowns, and the threats such pose to journalists, citizens, and human rights and civil-society organizations; and
(2) a description of the technology projects supported by the Open Technology Fund and the associated impact of such projects in the prior year, including the countries and regions in which such technologies were deployed, and any associated metrics indicating audience usage of such technologies, as well as future-year technology project initiatives.
(k) Audit Authorities.--
(1) In general.--Financial transactions of the Open Technology Fund relating to functions carried out under this section may be audited by the Government Accountability Office in accordance with such principles and procedures and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States. Any such audit shall be conducted at the place or places at which accounts of the Open Technology Fund are normally kept.
(2) Access by government accountability office.--The Government Accountability Office shall have access to all books, accounts, records, reports, files, papers, and property belonging to or in use by the Open Technology Fund pertaining to financial transactions as may be necessary to facilitate an audit. The Government Accountability Office shall be afforded full facilities for verifying transactions with any assets held by depositories, fiscal agents, and custodians. All such books, accounts, records, reports, files, papers, and property of the Open Technology Fund shall remain in the possession and custody of the Open Technology Fund.
(3) Exercise of authorities.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Inspector General of the Department of State is authorized to exercise the authorities of chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the "Inspector General Act of 1978"), with respect to the Open Technology Fund.
(l) Global Internet Freedom.--Section 9707(d) of the Department of State Authorization Act of 2002 (22 U.S.C. 6217(d)) is amended--
(1) in the subsection heading, by striking "United States Agency for Global Media" and inserting "Open Technology Fund";
(2) in paragraph (1), by striking "the Chief Executive Officer of the USAGM, in consultation with";
(3) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking "the USAGM or"; and
(4) in paragraph (3)--
(A) by striking the paragraph header and inserting "open technology fund";
(B) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking "The Chief Executive Officer of the USAGM, in consultation with the President" and inserting "The President";
(C) in subparagraph (A), by striking "international broadcasting programs and incorporate such programs into" and inserting "with international broadcasting programs to advise on"; and
(D) in subparagraph (C), by striking "in accordance with USAGM's annual language service prioritization review" and inserting "in consultation with international broadcasting program priorities".
(m) Repeal.--Section 309A of the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6208a) is repealed.
(n) Conforming Amendments.--The United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 304(d), by striking "the Open Technology Fund,";
(2) in section 305(c)(1), by striking "the Open Technology Fund,";
(3) in section 306(e)(1), by striking "the Open Technology Fund,"; and
(4) in section 310(d), by striking "the Open Technology Fund,".
Text of Senate Amendment 5842
Page S2905 · Official textSA 5842. Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself and Mr. Lujan) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for discal 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (1,369 characters)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. _____. FEDERAL CARJACKING ENFORCEMENT.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the "Federal Carjacking Enforcement Act".
(b) Motor Vehicles.--Section 2119 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ", with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm" and inserting "knowingly";
(2) in paragraph (1), by striking "both," and inserting "both;";
(3) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
"(2) be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 25 years, or both, if--
"(A)(i) the motor vehicle is taken, or attempted to be taken, with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm; or
"(ii) the person taking, or attempting to take, the motor vehicle brandishes or discharges a firearm (as defined in section 921) during or in relation to such taking or attempted taking; and
"(B) serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365, including any conduct that, if the conduct occurred in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, would violate section 2241 or 2242) results; and"; and
(4) in paragraph (3), by striking "if death results," and inserting "if the motor vehicle is taken, or attempted to be taken, with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm, and death results,".
Text of Senate Amendment 5843
Pages S2905–S2906 · Official textSA 5843. Mr. WARNOCK submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (2,354 characters)
At the appropriate place in title XXVIII, insert the following:
SEC. 28___. RADON TESTING OF MILITARY HOUSING OWNED OR
CONTROLLED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
(a) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report identifying the installations of the Department of Defense that have military housing owned or controlled by the Federal Government that should be monitored for levels of radon at or above the action level established by the Environmental Protection Agency, including those installations evaluated in the report dated April 30, 2020, and entitled, "Evaluation of the DoD's Management of Health and Safety Hazards in Government-Owned and Government-Controlled Military Family Housing" (DODIG-2020-082).
(b) Testing Procedures and Standards.--The Secretary of each military department shall establish procedures at installations identified under subsection (a) under the jurisdiction of the Secretary concerned for testing for radon at military housing owned or controlled by the Federal Government that are consistent with current national consensus standards and are in compliance with applicable Federal regulations in order to ensure radon levels at such housing are below recommended levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency, whether through--
(1) regular testing (a minimum of one time every five years for all housing, and a minimum of one time every two years for housing that is above recommended radon levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency until radon levels are reduced to at or below such levels) of such housing; or
(2) the installation of monitoring equipment in such housing.
(c) Notification Regarding Need for Mitigation.--If, as a result of testing conducted pursuant to procedures established under subsection (b), a unit of military housing owned or controlled by the Federal Government requires radon mitigation to ensure radon levels are below recommended levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency, the head of the installation providing the housing unit shall submit to the Secretary of the military department concerned, not later than seven days after the determination of the need for radon mitigation, the mitigation plan for the housing unit.
Text of Senate Amendment 5844
Page S2906 · Official textSA 5844. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (521 characters)
At the appropriate place in title III, insert the following:
SEC. 3__. EXPANSION OF USE OF INDUSTRIAL BASE FUND FOR SHIPS,
SUBMARINES, AND DRYDOCK AND SHIP REPAIR.
Section 4817(g)(1)(L) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting before the period at the end the following: ", including investments that improve throughput, capacity, schedule reliability, and safety at public or private shipbuilding and ship repair facilities, and critical drydock and ship repair infrastructure components and systems".
Text of Senate Amendment 5845
Page S2906 · Official textSA 5845. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (3,762 characters)
At the appropriate place in title III, insert the following:
SEC. 3__. STUDY ON READINESS OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS IN THE
CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES FOR AN UNMANNED
AIRCRAFT SYSTEM ATTACK.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall enter into an agreement with a federally funded research and development center to conduct an independent study of the readiness of three covered military installations for an unmanned aircraft system attack on military personnel and infrastructure at such installations and the resilience of such installations to such attack.
(b) Requirements for Study.--In carrying out the study required under subsection (a) at a covered military installation, the federally funded research and development center with which the Secretary has entered into an agreement to carry out the study at such installation shall--
(1) detail the current capabilities of such installation to deter an unmanned aircraft system attack and any gap in such capabilities; and
(2) submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the findings with respect to such study.
(c) Elements.--The study required by subsection (a) at each covered military installation shall include the following:
(1) An assessment of future threats to military installations from unmanned aircraft systems and other drone-like warfare.
(2) An identification of counter-unmanned aircraft system capacities that already exist at the installation.
(3) An identification of the counter-unmanned aircraft system capacities that are needed at the installation.
(d) Swarm Attack Exercises.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall require that swarm attack exercises be conducted to assess the readiness and security of covered military installations selected for purposes of the study under subsection (a) and to evaluate the ability of such installations to perform critical missions during an ongoing unmanned aircraft system attack.
(2) Exclusion.--A swarm attack exercise conducted under paragraph (1) may exclude, if technically feasible, housing areas, commissaries, exchanges, and morale, welfare, and recreation facilities.
(3) Policy and schedule for exercises.--The Secretary of Defense shall--
(A) provide a uniform policy for the military departments and the Defense Agencies with respect to conducting swarm attack exercises under paragraph (1); and
(B) through fiscal year 2036, establish a schedule of swarm attack exercises for the military departments and the Defense Agencies, with each military department and Defense Agency scheduled to conduct such an exercise on each covered military installation selected for purposes of the study under subsection (a) sufficient to allow that military department or Defense Agency to meet the goals of this section.
(e) Production of Data.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall require the Secretary of each military department and the head of each Defense Agency to conduct monitoring, measuring, and testing to produce the data necessary to comply with this section.
(2) Provision of data.--Any data produced under paragraph (1) shall be made available to the Commander of the United States Northern Command upon request.
(f) Report.--Not later than one year after the commencement of the study required under subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the results of the study.
(g) Covered Military Installation Defined.--In this section, the term "covered military installation" means a military installation located in the continental United States.
Text of Senate Amendment 5846
Page S2906 · Official textSA 5846. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (2,658 characters)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ____. PILOT PROGRAM FOR ONE-WAY AND COUNTER-UNMANNED
AIRCRAFT SYSTEM DRONE TESTBED.
(a) Pilot Program Authorized.--The Secretary of the Army shall establish a pilot program to test, evaluate, and demonstrate the integration of approved munition payloads with approved unmanned aircraft systems, including one-way unmanned aircraft systems and counter-unmanned aircraft system platforms.
(b) Purpose.--The purposes of the pilot program required by subsection (a) shall are--
(1) to accelerate the integration of modular payloads onto multiple drone platforms;
(2) to reduce time-to-field for lethal and non-lethal drone-enabled munitions capabilities;
(3) to standardize payload-to-platform interfaces; and
(4) to support rapid prototyping, validation, and transition of drone-enabled munitions into programs of record.
(c) Location.--
(1) In general.--The Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition shall, acting through the Joint Capability Program Executive for Ammunition and Energetics, determine the location or locations at which the pilot program required by subsection (a) is conducted.
(2) Considerations.--In selecting a location under paragraph (1), the Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition shall consider--
(A) the availability of munitions and energetics subject-matter expertise, including the interface of munitions with drones;
(B) proximity to live fire testing range space and range availability, prioritizing joint base facilities; and
(C) existing infrastructure capable of supporting rapid prototyping, integration, and live-fire testing.
(d) Components.--The pilot program required by subsection (a) may include--
(1) transition and integration of common Electronic Safe and Arming Device designs;
(2) incorporation of the Picatinny Common Lethality Integration Kit and the Small Open Payload Interface;
(3) development and standardization of technology and practices supporting payload-to-drone connectivity;
(4) prototyping, demonstration, and technology transfer of munition systems integrated with unmanned aircraft systems; and
(5) development of standardized drone interface documentation and validated integration processes for counter-unmanned aircraft system platforms, including energetic payload applications.
(e) Coordination.--In carrying out the pilot program required by subsection (a), the Secretary shall coordinate with the Joint Capability Program Executive for Ammunition and Energetics, Development Command (DEVCOM), relevant program executive offices, and other Department of Defense components as the Secretary considers appropriate.
Text of Senate Amendment 5847
Pages S2906–S2907 · Official textSA 5847. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (3,109 characters)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. __. PILOT PROGRAM FOR BRAVE-1 MODELED TECHNOLOGY
PLATFORM TO IMPROVE FEEDBACK LOOP AND SPEED UP
MILITARY INNOVATION.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 360 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, establish and carry out a pilot program to test a digital feedback platform designed to improve the collection, analysis, and transmission of operational feedback from members of the Armed Forces to inform defense innovation, acquisition, and sustainment decisions.
(2) Designation.--The pilot program required by paragraph (1) shall be known as the "Brave Model" (in this section the "Pilot Program").
(b) Locations.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall select not fewer than three and not more than six units of the Armed Forces to participate in the Pilot Program, including at least one unit from each of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
(2) Considerations.--In selecting units under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consider--
(A) units stationed overseas who are less connected to resupplying chains;
(B) units employing a mix of advanced and legacy systems; and
(C) units with varying levels of access to maintenance, resupply, and technical support infrastructure.
(c) Objectives.--The objectives of the Pilot Program are--
(1) to develop a feedback loop modeled after BRAVE-1 in Ukraine, so that the government and industry can jointly receive data directly from the Armed Forces;
(2) to reduce delays in identifying and addressing equipment failures and capability gaps;
(3) to enable more rapid iteration and improvement of military systems through data driven insights; and
(4) to evaluate the feasibility of establishing a sustained capability within the Department of Defense to support continuous operator-driven innovation.
(d) Briefings.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the completion of the Pilot Program, the Secretary shall provide to the appropriate congressional committees a briefing that includes--
(1) an assessment of the effectiveness of the Pilot Program in achieving the objectives set forth in subsection (c);
(2) a comparison of the speed and effectiveness of identifying and addressing equipment issues in units participating in the Pilot Program versus units not participating in the Pilot Program;
(3) a description of key capability gaps and system failures identified through the Pilot Program; and
(4) recommendations regarding whether to expand, modify, or terminate the Pilot Program.
(e) Termination.--The Pilot Program shall terminate on the date that is two years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(f) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, the term "appropriate congressional committees" means--
(1) the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives.
Text of Senate Amendment 5848
Page S2907 · Official textSA 5848. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (5,887 characters)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. UNIVERSITY AFFILIATED RESEARCH CENTER QUANTUM
INFORMATION SCIENCE RESEARCH.
(a) Feasibility and Advisability Assessment.--The Secretary of Defense shall, in consultation with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering--
(1) assess the feasibility and advisability of expanding the scope, capacity, or capabilities of an existing university affiliated research center that operates at the Office of the Secretary of Defense level to support quantum science, engineering, and national security applications; and
(2) submit a recommendation regarding the feasibility and advisability of such expansion to the congressional defense committees.
(b) Determination.--Not later than 15 days after submitting the assessment required under subsection (a), the Secretary shall determine whether it is feasible and advisable to expand such a university affiliated research center and--
(1) for a positive determination, submit to the congressional defense committees a plan described in subsection (c); and
(2) for a negative determination, submit to the congressional defense committees a justification for such determination that includes the data and analysis supporting such determination.
(c) Plan.--If the Secretary of Defense determines that expanding a university affiliated research center is feasible and advisable under subsection (b), the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a plan for such expansion, including an assessment of the institutional capacity of the covered educational institution at which such university affiliated research center is operated.
(d) Elements.--The plan described in subsection (c) shall include the following:
(1) An assessment of the existing capabilities of the university affiliated research center and associated research programs at the host institution in quantum science, systems integration, quantum engineering, and related fields.
(2) An assessment of the ability of the university affiliated research center--
(A) to conduct basic and applied research in quantum technologies relevant to national defense;
(B) to integrate quantum technologies across multiple military departments and defense agencies; and
(C) to support the mission of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in advancing cross-cutting technologies.
(3) An assessment of the activities and investments necessary--
(A) to augment facilities, laboratories, or secure research environments--
(i) to support research, development, test, and evaluation activities relating to quantum technologies;
(ii) to access, secure, and conduct research involving sensitive or classified information; and
(iii) to respond rapidly to emerging Department-wide requirements in quantum-enabled capabilities;
(B) expand the participation of the university affiliated research center and affiliated research centers and laboratories at the host institution supporting the university affiliated research center mission in Department of Defense research, engineering, and workforce development activities relating to quantum technologies; and
(C) to improve the ability of the university affiliated research center to support the transition of quantum technologies into operational use.
(4) Recommendations identifying actions that may be taken by the Secretary, the Under Secretary, Congress, and other stakeholders to strengthen the role of such university affiliated research center in advancing quantum technologies for national security purposes.
(5) Any specific goals, incentives, and metrics developed by the Secretary to increase and measure the capacity of such university affiliated research center to support Department-wide quantum capabilities.
(e) Report Required.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall--
(1) submit to the congressional defense committees a report that includes the plan developed under subsection (c); and
(2) make the plan available on a publicly accessible website of the Department of Defense.
(f) Support for Expansion.--
(1) In general.--The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering may establish a program to provide contracts, grants, or other agreements to support the expansion of the university affiliated research center described in subsection (a), including through collaborative research activities with affiliated research centers and laboratories at the host institution.
(2) Purposes.--The purposes described in this paragraph are the following:
(A) Enhancing workforce and research infrastructure capabilities in quantum science and engineering.
(B) Expanding the ability of the university affiliated research center to recruit and retain faculty and technical experts in quantum-related fields.
(C) Supporting collaboration with Federal laboratories, Federally funded research and development centers, and private sector entities.
(D) Accelerating the development, testing, and transition of quantum technologies for Department-wide applications.
(E) Any other purposes the Under Secretary determines appropriate for strengthening quantum capabilities.
(g) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term "institution of higher education" has the meaning given such term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).
(2) The term "quantum technologies" includes quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum networking, quantum communications, and quantum materials.
(3) The term "University Affiliated Research Center operating at the Office of the Secretary of Defense level" means a university affiliated research center that supports research, engineering, and analytical activities that address cross-cutting priorities of the Department of Defense and are not limited to a single military department.
Text of Senate Amendment 5849
Pages S2907–S2908 · Official textSA 5849. Mr. KIM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (6,103 characters)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEFENSE DIGITAL ENGINEERING
CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR MODEL-BASED
ACQUISITION, SECURE DATA TRANSFER, AND
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and in coordination with the Secretary of the Navy, establish a center of excellence at an accredited institution of higher education located within an established defense innovation corridor that maintains--
(A) active defense research programs across not fewer than two military departments;
(B) an operational digital engineering hub or equivalent facility;
(C) a planned or existing facility of not less than 200,000 gross square feet with the capability to achieve sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) accreditation; and
(D) demonstrated capability in model-based systems engineering, additive manufacturing for defense applications, and cybersecurity.
(2) Designation.--The center of exellence established under paragraph (1) shall be known as the "Defense Digital Engineering Center of Excellence" (in this section the "Center").
(b) Mission.--The Center shall serve as a nationally designated hub for the following three interconnected defense digital engineering pillars:
(1) Secure data transfer and digital engineering demilitarized zone (dmz).--(A) The Center shall establish and maintain an accredited secure data transfer capability to serve as a trusted intermediary for the exchange of model-based digital engineering artifacts between military laboratories, shipyards, operational platforms, government agencies, and industry partners.
(B) Such capability shall support both large-scale digital engineering programs, including programs of record, and smaller-scale initiatives such as additive manufacturing digital thread applications for equipment obsolescence management.
(C) The Center shall develop and maintain interoperability standards for digital artifact exchange that are compatible with existing and emerging Department of Defense data architectures.
(2) Model-based acquisition pilot program.--(A) The Secretary of the Navy, in coordination with the Center, shall establish a pilot program to develop and test model-based technical data packages for not fewer than one naval acquisition program of record.
(B) The pilot program shall demonstrate a continuous digital thread from requirements development through design, construction, and sustainment, with the objective of eliminating duplicative data recreation by government and industry stakeholders.
(C) The Center shall develop reference architectures, data exchange standards, and interoperability protocols for model-based Technical Data Packages in coordination with the Naval Sea Systems Command, relevant Program Executive Offices, and industry partners.
(D) Not later than two years after the establishment of the pilot program, the Secretary of the Navy shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report evaluating the cost savings, schedule improvements, and technical quality improvements achieved relative to static, document-centric acquisition processes.
(3) Tip of a spear training (toast) workforce development program.--(A) The Center shall develop and deliver role-specific digital engineering training programs, to be known as "Tip of a Spear Training" or "TOAST" programs, for Department of Defense and Department of the Navy leadership and management personnel.
(B) TOAST programs shall be designed at not fewer than three proficiency levels--
(i) executive level, for flag and general officers, Senior Executive Service personnel, and program executive officers;
(ii) program management level, for program managers, ship design managers, and design integration managers; and
(iii) working level, for systems engineers, requirements management personnel, and technical warrant holders.
(C) The Center may award certificates of completion and shall coordinate with the Defense Acquisition University to ensure TOAST programs satisfy continuing education and certification requirements under chapter 87 of title 10, United States Code.
(D) Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Center shall enroll not fewer than 50 Department of Defense personnel in TOAST programs, with a target of 200 personnel per year by the third year of operation.
(c) Coordination.--The Center shall coordinate with--
(1) the Naval Sea Systems Command, Program Executive Offices, and relevant systems commands;
(2) the Office of the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense;
(3) the Defense Acquisition University;
(4) the Defense Innovation Unit;
(5) relevant Federally funded research and development centers; and
(6) private sector industry partners, including shipbuilders, defense contractors, and technology firms.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Defense to carry out this section, $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2027, of which--
(1) not more than $10,000,000 shall be for the establishment and initial accreditation of the Secure Data Transfer and Digital Engineering DMZ capability under subsection (c)(1);
(2) not more than $10,000,000 shall be for the Model-Based Acquisition Pilot Program under subsection (c)(2); and
(3) not more than $5,000,000 shall be for the development and initial delivery of TOAST workforce development programs under subsection (c)(3).
(e) Annual Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 5 years, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the activities, outcomes, and expenditures of the Center, including an assessment of the feasibility and advisability of designating additional institutions of higher education as affiliated nodes in a national defense digital engineering network.
Text of Senate Amendment 5850
Page S2908 · Official textSA 5850. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (2,225 characters)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. __. LIMITATION AND REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO
EXPEDITIONARY COMBAT AVIATION BRIGADES.
(a) Limitation.--None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for any of fiscal years 2027 through 2031 for the Army may be obligated or expended to retire, deactivate, schedule to deactivate, or proceed with any other action that would reduce the aircraft, capabilities, resources, or personnel available, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, for the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades unless the Secretary of the Army submits to the congressional defense committees--
(1) a certification that the Secretary of the Army plans to recapitalize any such aircraft for the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades and to otherwise restore any such capabilities, resources, or personnel levels reduced; and
(2) the plan of the Secretary of the Army for the actions specified in paragraph (1).
(b) Requirement to Restore.--
(1) Requirement.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, for any Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade that, prior to such date of enactment, the Secretary of the Army retired or deactivated (or carried out any other activity to reduce the aircraft, capabilities, resources, or personnel thereof), the Secretary of the Army shall reinstate or reactivate such brigade, or otherwise restore such brigade to the levels preceding such reduction, as the case may be.
(2) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the implementation of this subsection.
(c) Plan Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a plan to sustain and modernize the aircraft used by the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the Department of the Army for the operation of aircraft, and training for such operation, by the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades $35,000,000 for fiscal year 2027.
Text of Senate Amendment 5851
Pages S2908–S2909 · Official textSA 5851. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (2,418 characters)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. PROTECT ACT.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the "Preservation of Rights and Ownership of Traditional Emblems, Crests, and Tributes Act" or the "PROTECT Act".
(b) Registration of Trademarks.--
(1) In general.--Section 2 of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the registration
and protection of trademarks used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain international conventions, and for other purposes", approved July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the "Trademark Act of 1946") (15 U.S.C. 1052), is amended--
(A) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g);
(B) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
"(f) Is authorized, issued, or controlled by the Government for the purposes of Department of Defense or Armed Forces awards, decorations, campaign and service ribbons, or medals, except that such a mark may be registered at the discretion of the agency or department of the Government that controls the official use of the mark."; and
(C) in subsection (g), as so redesignated--
(i) in the first sentence, by striking "and (e)(5)" and inserting "(e)(5), and (f)"; and
(ii) by adding at the end the following: "Nothing in subsection (f) may be construed to prohibit the continued use of a mark on or after the date of enactment of the Preservation of Rights and Ownership of Traditional Emblems, Crests, and Tributes Act by any person or entity, including a nonprofit organization, if that person or entity was using that mark before that date of enactment and that use was lawful before that date of enactment, except that, on and after that date of enactment, no person or entity other than an agency or department of the Government described in that subsection may register such a mark on the principal register.".
(2) Technical and conforming amendments.--The Act entitled "An Act to provide for the registration and protection of trademarks used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain international conventions, and for other purposes", approved July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the "Trademark Act of 1946") (15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.), is amended--
(A) in section 1(d)(1) (15 U.S.C. 1051(d)(1)), by striking "subsections (a) through (e) of section 2" and inserting "subsections (a) through (f) of section 2"; and
(B) in section 26 (15 U.S.C. 1094), by striking "2(f)" and inserting "2(g)".
Text of Senate Amendment 5852
Page S2909 · Official textSA 5852. Mr. CRUZ (for himself and Mr. Budd) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (1,257 characters)
At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:
SEC. ___. TREATMENT OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND HOMESCHOOLING
LAWS OF STATES UNDER SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL
RELIEF ACT.
(a) In General.--Title VII of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 4021 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
"SEC. 708. COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND HOMESCHOOLING LAWS OF
STATES.
"(a) In General.--A dependent child of a servicemember who
is educated at home and is covered by military orders for a
permanent change of station to a location shall be considered
in compliance with all compulsory education and homeschooling
provisions of law of the State of the location, if such
dependent child is in compliance with all the compulsory
education and homeschooling provisions of law of such State
or the State of the legal residence of the servicemember.
"(b) Definition of Child.--In this section, the term
`child' has the meaning given such term in section 101 of
title 38, United States Code.".
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section
1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after the item
relating to section 707 the following new item: "Sec. 708. Compulsory education and homeschooling laws of States.".
Text of Senate Amendment 5853
Page S2909 · Official textSA 5853. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (3,610 characters)
At the appropriate place in title XII, insert the following:
SEC. 12__. LIMITATION ON ENGAGEMENT WITH MEXICO UNTIL MEXICO
PROVIDES WATER PURSUANT TO TREATY OBLIGATIONS.
(a) Report Required.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report regarding deliveries of water by Mexico pursuant to the Treaty relating to the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande, signed at Washington February 3, 1944 (9 Bevans 1166), between the United States and Mexico (in this section referred to as the "Treaty").
(2) Elements.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall include--
(A) a determination of whether Mexico has, during the calendar year preceding the submission of the report, delivered to the United States a minimum of 350,000 acre-feet of water;
(B) an assessment of Mexico's capabilities for delivering 1,750,000 acre-feet of water by the final year of the five-year cycle described in the Treaty; and
(C) an identification of significant economic sectors or activities in Mexico that are situated in, or substantially dependent upon, irrigation districts that benefit from--
(i) water delivered to Mexico by the United States; or
(ii) the 6 tributaries of the Rio Grande from which Mexico is obligated to deliver water pursuant to the Treaty.
(b) Limitation on Engagement.--
(1) In general.--If, in a report required by subsection (a), the Secretary makes a negative determination under paragraph (2)(A) of that subsection, the President--
(A) shall deny all non-Treaty requests by Mexico; and
(B) may limit or terminate engagement with the Government of Mexico related to the sectors or activities in Mexico identified under subsection (a)(2)(C), other than engagement to counter the flow of fentanyl, fentanyl precursors, xylazine, and other synthetic drugs into the United States.
(2) Exception.--The limitation described in paragraph (1)(A) shall not apply to a non-Treaty request by Mexico if the Secretary submits to the appropriate committees of Congress, not later than 120 days after the submission of the report described in paragraph (1), and every 120 days thereafter, a certification that--
(A) the water delivered through such channels--
(i) will be used exclusively to address an ongoing ecological, environmental, or humanitarian emergency; and
(ii) will not be used for--
(I) municipal purposes; (II) industrial purposes; (III) normal water supply needs; (IV) water infrastructure deficiencies; or (V) maintenance work; and
(B) fulfilling the request is vital to the national interests of the United States.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term "appropriate committees of Congress" means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.
(2) Non-treaty request.--The term "non-Treaty request" means an emergency request for special delivery channels for the delivery of water made pursuant to any current or future Minute of the International Boundary and Water Commission based on the principles established in Commission Minute No. 240, entitled "Emergency Deliveries of Colorado River Waters for Use in Tijuana", dated June 13, 1972, as subsequently amended and extended, most recently by Commission Minute No. 327, entitled "Emergency Deliveries of Colorado River Waters For Use In the City of Tijuana, Baja California", dated January 28, 2022.
Text of Senate Amendment 5854
Pages S2909–S2911 · Official textSA 5854. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, 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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Text printed in the Record (11,960 characters)
At the end of title XII, add the following:
Subtitle F--Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting
Protection Act
SEC. 1271. SHORT TITLE.
This subtitle may be cited as the "Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act".
SEC. 1272. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term "appropriate congressional committees" means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.
(2) Forced organ harvesting.--The term "forced organ harvesting" means the removal of one or more organs from an individual by means of coercion, abduction, deception, fraud, or abuse of power or a position of vulnerability.
(3) Intelligence community.--The term "intelligence community" has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).
(4) Organ.--The term "organ" has the meaning given the term "human organ" in section 301(c)(1) of the National Organ Transplant Act (42 U.S.C. 274e(c)(1)).
SEC. 1273. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Public and private organizations have persistently expressed concerns regarding organ transplant policies and practices in the People's Republic of China, including allegations of forced organ harvesting of those
targeted by authorities of the People's Republic of China based on religious beliefs, ethnic background, or other affiliations.
(2) The 2023 International Religious Freedom Report of the Department of State stated, "Civil society organizations continued to express concern over reports that authorities [of the People's Republic of China] forced members of religious organizations, in particular Falun Gong members and ethnic Uyghurs, to serve as organ donors.".
(3) The Government of the People's Republic of China has failed to provide a full, credible, and independently verifiable response to repeated international calls for increased accountability and transparency for its organ transplant policies and practices, particularly allegations related to forced organ harvesting.
(4) The United States Government, including the intelligence community, has yet to provide its formal assessment of allegations related to systemic organ harvesting practices by the Government of the People's Republic of China, including against Falun Gong practitioners.
SEC. 1274. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that the United States Government should--
(1) investigate allegations of systemic forced organ harvesting in the People's Republic of China, including incidents involving Falun Gong practitioners; and
(2) condemn illegal, coercive, non-consensual, or non-transparent organ procurement and transplantation practices, including forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.
SEC. 1275. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FORCED
ORGAN HARVESTING WITHIN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC
OF CHINA.
(a) Imposition of Sanctions.--The President shall impose the sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to each foreign person included in the most recent list submitted under subsection (b).
(b) List of Persons.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a list of foreign persons that the President determines to have knowingly and directly engaged in or facilitated forced organ harvesting within the People's Republic of China.
(2) Updates of lists.--The President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an updated list under paragraph (1)--
(A) as new information becomes available;
(B) not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act; and
(C) annually thereafter until the date of termination under subsection (h).
(3) Form.--The list required by paragraph (1), and any updates to the list required by paragraph (2), shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(c) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this subsection are the following:
(1) Blocking of property.--The President shall exercise all of the powers granted to the President by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (except that the requirements of section 202 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in property and interests in property of a foreign person on the most recent list submitted under subsection (b) if such property and interests in property are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.
(2) Inadmissibility of certain individuals.--
(A) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole.--An alien included in the most recent list submitted under subsection (b) is--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into the United States or to receive any other benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visa revoked.--
(i) In general.--An alien described in subparagraph (A) is subject to revocation of any visa or other entry documentation regardless of when the visa or other entry documentation is or was issued.
(ii) Immediate effect.--A revocation under clause (i) shall, in accordance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i))--
(I) take effect immediately; and
(II) automatically cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation that is in the alien's possession.
(3) Exception.--Sanctions under paragraph (2) shall not apply to an alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the United States is necessary to permit the United States to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United States, or other applicable international obligations of the United States.
(d) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person who violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of regulations promulgated to carry out subsection (a) to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person who commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of that Act.
(e) Exception To Comply With National Security.--The following activities shall be exempt from sanctions under this section:
(1) Activities subject to the reporting requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.).
(2) Any authorized intelligence or law enforcement activities of the United States.
(f) Exception Relating to Provision of Humanitarian Assistance.--Sanctions under this section may not be imposed with respect to transactions or the facilitation of transactions for--
(1) the sale of agricultural commodities, food, or medicine;
(2) the provision of humanitarian assistance;
(3) financial transactions relating to humanitarian assistance or for humanitarian purposes; or
(4) transporting goods or services that are necessary to carry out operations relating to humanitarian assistance or humanitarian purposes.
(g) Waiver Authority.--
(1) Waiver.--The President may, on a case by case basis, waive the imposition of any sanction under this section if the President determines such waiver is in the national security interests of the United States.
(2) Reports.--Not later than 120 days after the date on which the President submits the first list under subsection (b)(1), and every 120 days thereafter until the date of termination under subsection (h), the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the extent to which the President has used the waiver authority under paragraph (1) during the 120-day period preceding submission of the report.
(h) Sunset.--The authority to impose sanctions under this section shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(i) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Admission; admitted; alien; lawfully admitted for permanent residence.--The terms "admission", "admitted", "alien", and "lawfully admitted for permanent residence" have the meanings given those terms in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).
(2) Foreign person.--The term "foreign person" means an individual or entity that is not a United States person.
(3) Knowingly.--The term "knowingly", with respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, means that a person had actual knowledge, or should have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the result.
(4) United states person.--The term "United States person" means--
(A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States;
(B) an entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States, including a foreign branch of such an entity; or
(C) any person located in the United States.
SEC. 1276. REPORT ON ORGAN TRANSPLANT POLICIES AND PRACTICES
OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and the heads of relevant elements of the intelligence community, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the organ transplant policies and practices of the People's Republic of China.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under subsection (a) shall include--
(1) a formal determination as to whether the Government of the People's Republic of China engages, or formerly engaged, in systemic forced organ harvesting practices and policies;
(2) a summary of de jure and de facto policies toward organ transplantation in the People's Republic of China, including with respect to prisoners of conscience (including practitioners of Falun Gong), other prisoners, and victims of forced organ harvesting;
(3)(A) the number of organ transplants that are known to occur or are estimated to occur on an annual basis in the People's Republic of China;
(B) the number of known or estimated voluntary organ donors in the People's Republic of China;
(C) an assessment of the sources of organs for transplant in the People's Republic of China; and
(D) an assessment of the time, in days, that it takes to procure an organ for transplant within the medical system of the People's Republic of China and an assessment of whether such timetable is possible based on the number of known or estimated voluntary organ donors in the People's Republic of China;
(4) a list of all United States grants during the 10 years before the date of the enactment of this Act that have supported research on organ transplantation in the People's Republic of China or in collaboration between an entity of the People's Republic of China and a United States entity; and
(5) if the determination made under paragraph (1) is that the Government of the People's Republic of China engages, or formerly engaged, in systemic forced organ harvesting practices and policies, a determination as to
whether forced organ harvesting within the People's Republic of China constitutes an "atrocity" (as such term is defined in section 6 of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-441; 22 U.S.C.
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2656 note)).
(c) Form.--The report required under subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
SEC. 1277. EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF GOODS.
(a) In General.--The authorities and requirements to impose sanctions authorized under this subtitle shall not include the authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.
(b) Good Defined.--In this section, the term "good" means any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data.
Authority for Committees to Meet
Page S2911 · Official textMr. President, I have seven requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.
Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a business meeting.
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.
The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 10 a.m., to conduct a business meeting.
The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is authorized to meet in executive session during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 10 a.m.
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 9 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations.
The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.
The Special Committee on Aging is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 3:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.
Privileges of the Floor
Page S2911 · Official textMr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following law clerks to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be granted floor privileges until August 1, 2026: Mark Maddock, Sydney Rogers, Zaria Chatman, Nicholas Talley, and Margaret Sturm.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Orders for Thursday, June 18, 2026
Page S2911 · Official textMr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 18; 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 resume consideration of the House message to accompany H.R. 6644.
The PRESIDING OFFICER
Without objection, it is so ordered.
For the information of colleagues, there will be a cloture vote in relation to the Scott of South Carolina substitute amendment to H.R. 6644 at 11 a.m.; and at 1:45 p.m., we expect to vote on confirmation of the Holding nomination.
Adjournment Until 10 A.m. Tomorrow
Page S2911 · Official textMr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.
There being no objection, the Senate, at 6:29 p.m., adjourned until Thursday, June 18, 2026, at 10 a.m.
Confirmation
Page S2911 · Official textExecutive nomination confirmed by the Senate June 17, 2026:
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Michelle Steel, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Korea.