Trump Executive Orders

Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, as much as President Trump desires it, the President is not a king. We are here tonight because, as much as President Trump desires it, the law is not a suggestion. We are here tonight because President Trump has decided he is a king, that the law is a suggestion, and he has decided to betray American families.

You have heard of the Great Depression, but right now, we are living through the ``Great Betrayal''--the story of a man who ran for the Presidency, saying he was going to be a champion for families. Then, shortly after taking office--just 8 days ago--he proceeds to launch an attack on the very core programs that families, parents, children, and communities depend on.

Wow--have you ever seen anything like it? Have you ever seen anything like it in your life that someone campaigns for families, and just after they are sworn into office, they launch a huge attack on America's families?

That attack is actually illegal because the law--once programs are funded, it is the Executive's responsibility to implement those programs, not to say, ``Well, I will implement this one but not that one,'' or ``I will shut down all the funding for all the programs.'' No.

In fact, we have had that conversation in the past. Let's turn the clock back to President Nixon. President Nixon said: You all reached a compromise, and you had some programs some of you liked and some programs others liked, and you agreed to fund those programs. But do you know what? I am only going to fund the ones I like. I am only going to distribute the funds for those programs which fit my agenda.

The courts responded. They said: No, you can't do that. The power of the purse sits with Congress. It is Congress that decides what is going to be spent on what, and it is the Executive's--the President's-- responsibility to implement that.

Then Congress said: Do you know what? We will give the President a break. If the President wants to roll back a program that has already been authorized and funded, he can ask Congress to do it. It is in the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, and it is called a rescission.

The President sends a message out to us and says: Hey, do you know what? I don't think we need all the funds for developing that new nuclear warhead because it turns out it won't fit on a missile. I would like to have those funds rescinded and put back in the Treasury.

And we have 45 days to act. It is a privileged motion.

All right. So along comes the ``Great Betrayal'' President, President Trump, who campaigned on families and then decided to attack the programs for families just 1 week into office, and he says: I don't like that rescission structure. I am just going to do what Nixon did. I am going to do what the Court said couldn't be done because I don't like what the Supreme Court decided previously. I am just going to break the law.

Now, is this, like, out of character for President Trump? Well, certainly, just hours after being sworn into office and taking the oath to the Constitution of the United States of America, he said: The 14th Amendment--the one about, you know, birthright citizenship--I am canceling it. Wow. Now, we have two major instances of breaking the Constitution with just 8 days into the office. That is quite the record.

The thing is the real victims across this country. My colleagues have laid it out so well, the fact that that grant to run the women's shelter is locked up. That program to run the childcare center is canceled. The grant to keep us at the forefront of the semiconductor R&D in Corvallis, OR, is on hold. That medical research is frozen. That contract for vaccination programs so we don't end up with an epidemic that will hurt children can't be written. That employment program for veterans returning from a theater of war ain't happening.

No, that is crazy. And all these things are affecting our families-- and not just our families, our infrastructure.

We worked so hard in a bipartisan way to launch the biggest infrastructure program since Eisenhower. We did the massive national interstate highway system. But do you know what? It was a long time ago, so we said: We have to rebuild our bridges; we have to improve our mass transit. And we had a very large expenditure trying to bring these up to speed.

You know, in my State, there is a bridge on the interstate between Oregon and Washington. It is still a drawbridge. It is like the last drawbridge in the United States of America. It has to be replaced, but now it is on hold.

We have another bridge that is under contract or grants to be able to be earthquake-resistant because it will play a critical role when the big one, the one we always talk about--like, California might fall into the sea--when that earthquake that happens roughly every 300 years off the coast of the United States on the West Coast--like, we need to have a bridge that actually holds up to it. Well, who knows if that is going to get built now.

So not only does this attack families, not only does this obstruct and delay infrastructure projects, but it drives up costs.

I seem to have an echo in my ear about the President saying he wants to reduce costs. But, instead, when you slow down projects, the cost of materials goes up. What is that? That is called driving up costs.

So we are here tonight to say this cannot happen. We are here tonight to say to our Republican colleagues: This is not about red and blue or Republican and Democratic States.

I talked to a colleague earlier today who said: I am getting all kinds of calls from my home. I bet that is true for every one of our 100 Senators. I know everybody on this side of the aisle has been hearing from folks back home saying: We are pretty upset. We are pretty worried. What is happening? You know, that portal where we get funding from Medicaid or that portal where we get funding for veterans benefits--or whatever it is--it is all shut down. I am sure all 100 Senators have been getting these calls.

This is an attack by an authoritarian in the executive branch on the constitutional powers of Congress.

You know, when we talk about the branches of government, we talk about article I and article II and article III. Article I of the Constitution is about Congress, because at the heart of democracy are folks who are elected down the hall in the House of Representatives and here in the Senate to wrestle with and shape the law. Article II is the executive, who executes those laws. Article III are the judges who defend the Constitution.

Well, so here we are, article II, the President, with authoritarian impulses, is attacking all of us here, all 100 Senators, all 430 or -5 or so Members of the House of Representatives, and saying: I want to have the power and decide how things get distributed for things that have already been enacted. So that is why we are here.

I must say, it is even worse. It is even worse than simply his attack on families in this violation on the Constitution. It is part of a vast authoritarian power grab.

In just the past few days, the inspectors general for Agency after Agency have been fired. The inspectors general are the ones who make sure the executive branch is behaving according to the law. They do all kinds of reports that hold people accountable. They do things that determine this program is working, that program is not working, this is being done in accordance with the law, this isn't.

If the inspectors general are not there, there is no one to hold people accountable. That is the point of firing them all. That should put terror in every one about the lawlessness President Trump intends to go forward with.

I know there are all kinds of other things, all kinds of other attacks. For example, all those lawyers in the Department of Justice who are assigned to environmental crimes, like when companies have huge amounts of asbestos and dump it in the wrong place or huge amounts of chemicals that contaminate some groundwater and cause all kinds of citizens to have wells that they can't use anymore, or so on and so forth--every one of them has been tossed. They got the word. They are not there anymore, just within a few days of the start of this administration.

So I thank my colleagues who came here tonight to talk about this.

The architect of this plan is a man named Russell Vought. Russell Vought did the last budget for Trump the first time he served. And then he started a nonprofit think tank that worked to develop the basic plans for Project 2025. Then he became the architect of Project 2025.

And it has three main parts. The first part: Attack and tear down programs for America's families, the ones that help them get on their feet and be able to thrive and move into the middle class. The second part is to borrow $2 to $3 trillion from the Federal Treasury. And the third part is to do massive tax giveaways to the richest Americans.

He has laid all three of them out. Check it out in Project 2025. He came and talked to us all about all these programs, these three steps: Savage the programs for families--of course, that wasn't exactly the words he used; he just said massive cuts to things like Medicaid, massive cuts to things like childcare program. Everybody should be on their own, with no foundation to have any assistance getting on their feet and being able to move forward--not on healthcare, not on housing, not on education, not on childcare, not on anything. Well, that is the attack on families. That is the great betrayal.

He is going to be voted on this Thursday in the Budget Committee. The Budget Democrats and our Democratic leader have written and said this vote should be delayed. We are in the middle of a constitutional crisis. The architect of that crisis is the man to be voted on on Thursday. This is wrong. Let's fix this constitutional crisis and then continue with the conversation about confirmation of the nominee Russell Vought.

Let's work together, Democrats and Republicans, to defend the institutions of our democracy. Let's say no to this sweeping authoritarian power grab. Let's defend the Constitution.

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