00:00Mr. President. Senator from Massachusetts. Mr. President, are we on quorum call?
00:04Yes. I ask that the quorum call be lifted. Without objection. Thank you, Mr.
00:09President. I've come to the Senate floor to discuss how our government is funded.
00:14The Constitution puts Congress in charge of setting up programs and funding them.
00:20And there are some programs, for example, Medicare and Social Security, that are
00:25funded at a certain level every year unless Congress passes a law to change it.
00:30But for pretty much everything else, Congress has to pass a new funding law every single
00:36year. The list is long. It's medical research and fireplanes and weather satellites and salaries
00:43for park rangers and food inspection programs so that the lettuce you eat doesn't make you
00:49sick. The money we spend is detailed every year in a set of 12 bills that Congress votes
00:57on, and they're called appropriations bills. The Senate voted on the first one of these
01:0212 bills last week, the one that deals with funding veterans programs and military bases.
01:10I care deeply about improving the lives of our service members and our veterans. All three
01:15of my brothers were proud veterans, and they served their country with honor. I'm the ranking
01:21member of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Committee. I voted no on that funding bill
01:27because even if this bill becomes law, I don't believe Donald Trump has any intention of following
01:34that law, and I am not willing to be a helpmate on another one of Donald Trump's scams.
01:42Why do I think that Trump won't follow the law? Well, consider his administration's track
01:47record over the past six months on congressional spending laws. First, Trump tried to freeze
01:54billions of dollars that American families and businesses count on, money that Congress
02:01set aside to support everything from food assistance programs to scientific research. Multiple federal
02:09judges blocked the illegal power grab, saying it blatantly violated the Constitution of the
02:16United States. Now, even Republicans are begging the administration to hand out the money for
02:24investments that Congress already passed and, by law, that their communities were promised.
02:31Second, Republicans in Congress are bowing down to Donald Trump and ratifying some of his worst efforts.
02:41They are using an obscure piece of federal law to zero out federal funding after it was approved by both
02:49Republicans and Democrats in Congress. This process is called rescission, and it only requires 50 Republican votes
02:57to do Donald Trump's bidding. And if that wasn't bad enough, Trump is already plotting to use a shady loophole
03:05to defund even more programs, demanding cuts so late in the year that Congress doesn't have time to do anything about it.
03:15The director of Donald Trump's Office of Budget and Management, Russ Vogt, has already said that the loophole is,
03:23quote, on the table. Now, let's be clear about what's happening here. Step one, Congress negotiates a compromise that both Republicans and Democrats support,
03:35and it's signed into law. Step two, Trump tells Republicans what parts of that deal that he wants to cancel. Step three, Republicans in the Senate bend the knee and follow Trump's orders to cancel the money.
03:52But wait, there is more. Apparently, step four is Republicans turn around and with a straight face, ask Democrats to negotiate more deals for the next year's funding, starting the whole rinse and repeat process again, beginning with this bill to fund veteran services.
04:14Are you kidding me? Do we really look that gullible? Why should Democrats come to the table and negotiate in good faith and throw our support behind a, quote, unquote, bipartisan bill, only for Republicans to turn around after the deal is done, and somewhere down the line, delete any parts of the deal that Trump doesn't like?
04:40That's like Republicans saying, oh, let's cut a deal, and that you're going to sell us a car today, and then a month from now, the Republicans come back and steal the wheels.
04:52Of course, Trump may not ask his Republican buddies to rescind spending. Maybe instead, on his own, he'll just illegally refuse to spend it the way he's done with $425 billion already this year.
05:11Look, our founders didn't give the president the power to decide spending. A king can decide anything he wants, but not a president.
05:24Donald Trump wants to be able to wake up and decide to cancel funding for public education, for transportation products, for medical research, for food inspectors, for anything, just because Donald Trump feels like it.
05:40And he wants the Republicans in Congress to roll over and let it happen. No checks, no balances, just Trump playing king and ending the programs that would help the American people.
05:56Trump is getting a lot of help from his Republican team.
06:00Russ Vogt, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, has said the problem in Congress is too much bipartisanship. Too much bipartisanship.
06:14In other words, the Trump administration is saying loud and clear, Donald Trump makes all the decisions.
06:23They don't need and they don't want Democrats.
06:27At the very same time, the Republicans need Democratic votes for these funding bills because the Senate rules clearly require 60 votes for them to pass, and there are only 53 Republicans in the Senate.
06:41If Democrats won't provide those votes, the Republicans want to blame Democrats for shutting down the government when this year's funding runs out at the end of September.
06:52On the other hand, if Republicans really want Democratic votes for these funding bills, then they should ask us, what's it going to take to win Democratic support?
07:04Not just what programs we want to fund or what the level of funding should be, not that when the promises themselves won't be worth the paper they are printed on.
07:17No. Democrats should tell Republicans that if they want our votes, then they're going to have to guarantee that the deal we strike actually means something.
07:31I get it. Democrats and Republicans have different priorities.
07:35Here in the Senate, Republicans just voted to end health care for 17 million Americans and to drive up health insurance costs for millions more.
07:44Republicans have just voted to give billionaires huge tax cuts.
07:50Democrats are willing to make a deal, but our deal is about bringing down costs for families, including the cost of health care, of groceries and of housing.
08:02If Republicans want to make a deal, then let's make a deal, but only if Republicans include an agreement that they won't take back that deal a few weeks later.
08:17Democrats is a co-equal branch of government.
08:20We swore an oath to the Constitution, not to a king.
08:25I'm asking my Republican colleagues to grow a spine and stand up for Americans instead of bowing down to their pretend king.
08:35And I'm asking my Democratic colleagues to join me in using the power we have to fight back.
