Trump Administration

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, last night, the Republicans--despite controlling the White House and Congress--shut the government down to avoid addressing their self-inflicted healthcare crisis.

It is another blow to ordinary Americans across this country. In July, Republicans used their majority to jam through Congress the President's so-called ``Big, Beautiful Bill.'' That cruel bill cuts nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and will rip health insurance away from 10 million Americans. And for what? So the wealthiest Americans can continue to line their pockets.

Now, Republicans seem poised to allow premiums and out-of-pocket costs to skyrocket. That is the Republican agenda: Billionaires win. You lose. If Republicans allow the Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits to expire, more than 20 million Americans will see their premiums go up and 4 million more will lose coverage altogether. Republicans seem to be fine with ballooning the national debt for tax cuts for the rich, but they draw the line at extending healthcare to millions of American families.

And already, the President is playing the blame game. In the Oval Office yesterday, the President said, ``Well, Democrats want to shut it down.''

We don't. And the American people see right through this. They know Republicans control government and refuse to negotiate. When lines are longer at the airport, when farmers cannot receive their loans, or servicemembers miss a paycheck, that is the fault of Republicans entirely.

Yesterday, too, the President said, ``A lot of good can come from government shutdowns, we can get rid of a lot of things.'' The President is wrong. No good can come from a shutdown. That is why Democrats continue to ask Republicans to negotiate and save healthcare for the American people.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled: ``Blue City Chaos and Tragedy: How the Trump Administration is Addressing the Human Cost of Soft On Crime Policies.'' Unfortunately, as the title makes clear, this hearing was a partisan attempt to politicize what should be a bipartisan issue: how best to protect the safety of all American communities.

Every American deserves to feel safe, no matter where they live. We must reject these acts of political theater and look at the facts. Over the last two decades, the murder rate in my home State of Illinois has been lower than the murder rates in Missouri, Louisiana, and Alabama-- all States led by Republicans. Ignoring these facts and the tangible success of the crime prevention programs working in cities like Chicago does nothing to make our Nation safer.

Unfortunately, President Trump has done everything he can to undermine efforts that have been effective at fighting crime, like canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal grants. These critical programs, which have long been supported by members on both sides of the aisle, include: $72 million in funding for State and local law enforcement; $158 million in gun violence prevention grants to cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Baltimore; and $169 million of community safety funding authorized by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

If President Trump were serious about combating crime, he would restore these funds for ongoing joint Federal, State, and local law enforcement operations and crime prevention efforts. Instead, President Trump is deploying and threatening to deploy the National Guard to stroke his ego while falsely claiming he is restoring so-called order in Chicago, Portland, Memphis, and elsewhere. For months now, President Trump has been looking for any excuse to send troops into American communities to flex his power over cities and States he doesn't like.

Just this week, after months of threatening to deploy the Guard to Chicago, the Department of Homeland Security announced that 100 National Guard troops would be deployed there, despite the objections of Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson. Let's be clear: This deployment is a dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional abuse of power by this President.

If anyone has any doubts about just how dangerous this is, they should listen to the speech Trump delivered yesterday to our most senior military leaders. He told them that, ``America is under invasion from within,'' and he joked that he told Secretary Hegseth they ``should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.'' Trump went on to say that this ``invasion from within'' is ``more difficult in many ways because they don't wear uniforms.''

This is not about reducing crime or fixing our immigration system. This is about targeting those the President deems enemies--including those who exercise their First Amendment right to protest, question his authority when he flouts the law, or come to this country seeking a better life.

Instead of keeping our communities safe, Federal agents in camouflage are masquerading as military in the streets of Chicago, targeting immigrants with no criminal convictions. They are arresting families at Millenium Park. They are reportedly locking families with toddlers in rooms at O'Hare Airport. My constituents do not feel safer. They are afraid to take their children to school, to report crimes, or to go to church.

In Illinois, we have always known that immigrants are our neighbors. And as our neighbors, they deserve better from us than the terror and chaos of this administration. I hope that moving forward, we can come together to discuss and support bipartisan solutions to keep all American communities safe.

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