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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am sure that you can agree, having been involved in public service for a large part of your life, that sometimes it takes a long time to make an idea a reality. That has happened many times to me in my public career and, certainly, in my home State.

In 1969, 56 years ago, former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley proposed extending the Red Line of the Chicago Transit Authority, and yet, still, to this day, residents of the Far South Side of Chicago don't have that transit option, at least not as they should.

Transportation can make or break not only employment but attending school, even making it to a doctor's appointment. For decades, residents of the Far South Side viewed this extension as just politicians talking.

That changed this past January, when the Federal Transit Administration officially obligated $1.9 billion in Federal funding for this crucial extension. After waiting over 50 years, it was finally going to be a reality. This project will expand transit access to 100,000 people. It will be an economic boost for the city and create tens of thousands of jobs for working families.

However, guess what: today, a news flash from the Trump administration. We received news that the OMB Director, Russell Vought, and the U.S. Department of Transportation have decided to illegally freeze $2 billion in grants for Chicago, including the obligated grant for the expansion, and risk decades worth of effort.

This is in addition to the $7.5 billion in Department of Energy grants Director Vought canceled yesterday, including 33 projects totaling almost $700 million in Illinois.

So why would this administration decide to target thousands of working families when it comes to their electric bills and when it comes to transportation? Because President Donald Trump wants to punish States like Illinois and the people who live there because they didn't vote for him in the last election.

This is petty. It is unfair. It is wrong.

These vindictive actions will cost Illinoisans jobs. Many of them will lose their employment. And it is going to raise the cost of electricity across the country.

Freezing funds for these projects is a blatant abuse of power by a President and an administration that would rather settle petty personal scores than actually help people.

OMB should immediately release any freeze on these funds, and I will do anything I can, with Senator Duckworth, to hold this administration accountable for its decisions, which continue to hurt working families. Nomination of Stanley Woodward, Jr.

Mr. President, on a separate subject, the upcoming vote on more than 100 nominees is exactly what I feared would happen when Senate Republicans violated Senate rules to fast-track nominees. This has opened the door to rushing through more extreme nominees who have one qualification for office: They are blindly loyal to President Trump.

That extends to a man named Stanley Woodward, the nominee to be the No. 3 official at the Department of Justice.

Let me make this clear: Mr. Woodward is not even close to qualified. He has never--never--worked at the Justice Department before this administration. What he has done is show his loyalty to Donald Trump by representing Trump associates for their roles in thwarting investigations into the President.

As Associate Attorney General, Mr. Woodward would oversee some of DOJ's most critical programs, including the Office of Justice Programs and the Civil Rights Division. As senior adviser to Attorney General Bondi, Mr. Woodward has already been involved in gutting these offices.

The Trump administration has terminated hundreds of millions of dollars in grants administered by the Office of Justice Programs that support State and local law enforcement. The Trump administration also has gutted the Civil Rights Division, which has been known for years as the ``crown jewel'' of the Justice Department.

About 70 percent of the Division's attorneys have been forced out--70 percent--and many, many staff have been diverted away from crucial efforts to protect the civil rights of all Americans, so long as they sign up for the mass deportations of the President.

Mr. Woodward also overruled Antitrust Division officials to personally negotiate a settlement with lobbyists in DOJ's challenge to Hewlett Packard's $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. The acquisition resulted in two firms controlling more than 70 percent of the wireless network market, a market duopoly.

To Trump administration political appointees in the Antitrust Division who objected to this settlement, what happened to them? They were forced out of office. One of them said of the settlement:

[C]orrupt lobbyists with no relevant expertise are perverting actual law enforcement through money, power, relationships, and influence. . . . Stanley Woodward perverted justice and acted inconsistent with the rule of law [in this deal].

I asked Attorney General Bondi about Mr. Woodward's involvement in the scandal. Crickets. No response. Nothing to say.

It is wrong to fast-track unqualified, unfit nominees whose only goal is to advance a political agenda at the expense of the American people. Previous Associate Attorney General nominees have received a rollcall vote on the floor of the Senate and committee, of course.

Take President Biden's nominee for this position, Vanita Gupta. In 2021, Republicans tried to filibuster her nomination in committee and then tried to shut down committee business before we voted.

On the floor, Republicans forced extra procedural votes to slow down our confirmation. Despite my frustration at the time with Republican colleagues for obstructing a highly qualified and experienced nominee to serve as Associate Attorney General, I never sought to short-circuit the constitutional responsibility of Members in the Senate of advice and consent.

Now when the shoe is on the other foot, Republicans are intent on taking away yet another core duty of the Senate in deference to President Trump. I hope they remember this moment when they resume their minority positions in the future.

I urge my colleagues to vote no on these nominations.

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