[Pages S1792-S1794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Trump Administration

  Mr. President, now on Donald Trump and Social Security, for 60 days, 
Donald Trump has waged a campaign of destruction against America's 
very, very foundations. Each step of the way, Leader Thune and the 
Republican majority have enabled his every whim.
  In just the last week alone, among many other things that he did that 
hurt the country, he has, one, created pandemonium at the Social 
Security Administration, and, two, he has signed an Executive order 
closing down the Department of Education. Let me discuss each briefly.
  When it comes to the Department of Education, of course Donald Trump 
cannot proceed without an act of Congress. That is the law. Let me be 
clear. Let me be very clear. If Republicans ever, ever, try to move a 
bill through the Senate that shuts down the Department of Education, 
Senate Democrats will halt it in its tracks. It will go nowhere. It 
will be dead on arrival.
  On Social Security, Senate Republicans should do their jobs and stand 
up to Donald Trump and Elon Musk's reckless behavior. In just a few 
days, a new policy will be implemented at the Social Security 
Administration preventing Americans from signing up for benefits over 
the phone, which they have been able to do for a very long time. 
Seniors who can't drive themselves or use the internet will be in 
danger of losing benefits. As the Wall Street Journal says, "Dealing 
With Social Security Is Heading From Bad to Worse.''

  There is no other way to describe this new policy. It is a direct 
attack from Donald Trump and Elon Musk on American seniors. Just 
because they are not stopping the checks directly that go to people, 
they are stopping people from getting them in indirect ways--just as 
bad when you don't have the money that you desperately need for drugs, 
for food, for rent. It is all part of DOGE's two-faced efforts to root 
out fraud within Social Security--the fraud that everyone knows does 
not exist. In fact, a judge last week called DOGE's fraud hunt little 
more than a ``phishing expedition.''

[[Page S1793]]

  We all know Donald Trump and Elon Musk's real goal: They want to run 
Social Security to the ground. They want to starve it, strain it, make 
it unworkable for the American people. They want to make Social 
Security so dysfunctional, so chaotic, so unworkable in order to 
justify cutting benefits for the American people.
  If the American people don't believe this is coming directly from 
Donald Trump, just listen to his address to Congress, where he spent 10 
minutes--a full 10 minutes--spreading lie after lie about fraud, about 
checks to people who are 150 or 200 years old. People who say Donald 
Trump isn't serious about attacking Social Security were not paying 
attention to what he said in his speech. Of course, those people 
weren't getting the checks.
  Donald Trump wanted to ridicule and demean Social Security, which so 
many of our seniors depend on. Americans, of course, are outraged. Of 
course they are afraid. But the administration's response has been 
utterly heartless and cruel.
  Listen to this. Last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick 
suggested that most seniors won't mind if the government skipped a 
payment. Let me read his quote directly. ``Let's say Social Security 
didn't send out their checks this month,'' said Lutnick. ``My mother-
in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain. . . . [S]he'll get it 
next month.''
  Of course his mother-in-law isn't worried. She could call her very 
wealthy son-in-law for a little help. Yeah, if every senior had a 
billionaire son-in-law, they wouldn't worry about not getting their 
check. Most people aren't so lucky.
  To call this out of touch doesn't even begin to describe it. Does Mr. 
Lutnick realize that a lot of seniors are living paycheck to paycheck, 
that without even one check, they don't have enough money for food or 
medicine or the rent? To call this out of touch doesn't even begin to 
describe it; it is delusional.
  But so far, unfortunately, we have not heard a peep from the 
Republican leader or the Republican majority about the crisis happening 
to Social Security.
  I ask our Republican majority, I ask every Republican Senator sitting 
in this Chamber, who sits in this Chamber, I ask the Republican 
Senators: Are they fine with Elon Musk taking a chain saw to the Social 
Security Administration? Do they agree with Donald Trump and Elon Musk 
that Social Security is a scam? Do they agree with Howard Lutnick that 
seniors will be OK with missing a payment? If not, where is the outrage 
from Senate Republicans?
  The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, is on the brink of 
detonating one of the most sacred social programs in America, and 
Republicans are completely silent. It is deafening, their silence.
  Instead of standing on the sidelines, Leader Thune and Senate 
Republicans should be using their majority to protect seniors' benefit, 
but they aren't doing that. Committees should be taking swift action. 
They should be writing letters to Musk telling him to get his hands off 
the people's benefits.
  If Democrats were in the majority, the crisis happening to Social 
Security right now would be agenda item No. 1. Leader Thune and the 
Republican majority, meanwhile, are sleepwalking in the middle of the 
gravest danger Social Security has faced perhaps in its history.
  If seniors miss out on benefits, the political blowback from the 
American people will be nothing short of immense.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I was happy to be back home last week, as 
were, I am sure, all the Members of the Senate. And as typically 
happens--as I was explaining to my constituents--typically, we are in 
session here about 3 weeks out of the month, and then we have a week 
back home where we can travel our States. Whether you are in North 
Carolina or you are in Texas, usually, you have a lot of ground to 
cover in a relatively short period of time, but it is always good to be 
back home.
  I want to report a little bit on some of my travels because it was a 
very, very productive week. From Corpus Christi, which is on the gulf 
coast of Texas, and Houston, also along the gulf coast--now, the Gulf 
of America--to Midland, to Dallas, to San Antonio, to Austin, I had 
great conversations with folks that are praising the work we are doing 
here in Congress. It is nice to get some good reviews now and again, 
but particularly our support for President Trump's agenda and for his 
team.
  The last time the President got elected, Democrats dragged out the 
confirmation process, and it took, literally, months before the 
President had his Cabinet in place. But as a result of keeping the 
Senate in session for an extended period of time without breaks, we 
finally broke the opposition and got, basically, most of the 
President's Cabinet confirmed to this point, and people are excited.
  Of course, energy security is national security, and President Trump, 
unlike his predecessor, said he wants to usher in an era of American 
energy dominance, which is also important not only for our national 
security but also for our economy, bringing down gasoline prices at the 
pump so working families can feel that. It is already beginning to 
work.
  During the week, I traveled out to Midland, TX, which is where the 
Permian Basin is located. This is a region that is famous for its 
energy production. It actually extends from Texas west into New 
Mexico. I went on a tour of a field where the oil is literally being 
produced from the ground and then processed and then injected into a 
pipeline where it heads to refineries and other parts of the State and 
the country. This impressive facility is making a lot of headway thanks 
to the most advanced technology, delivering affordable and reliable 
energy while using state-of-the-art technology.

  One of the issues that had been raised in the past because of 
environmental concerns is a release of various methane emissions into 
the atmosphere. This is as a result of loose connections in pipe and 
other designs that needed to be improved upon, and, indeed, they have 
been. New emissions monitoring systems use everything that include the 
use of helicopter-mounted sensors and other improved technology to help 
improve efficiency and reduce those emissions, which means cleaner air 
and lower costs.
  I went down to Corpus Christi, which is on the gulf coast of the 
Coastal Bend region of Texas, and met with energy businesses located 
there. Primarily, they are in the export business. They are exporting 
American LNG and oil to our friends and allies around the world. Corpus 
Christi is home to a number of impressive and innovative projects. One 
of the things they are working on that I intend to do more to help them 
with is to put in place a desalinization plant.
  (Mrs. BRITT assumed the Chair.)
  One of the challenges we have in Texas because of the huge 
development of our State--31 million people and growing, 1,600 people a 
day moving into the State--is that our development is outstripping our 
ability to provide water to communities all across the State, and 
because of permitting problems, it takes forever to build a new 
reservoir. So one of the things that Corpus Christi is doing is using 
state-of-the-art desalination plants, modeled after what they have 
observed in Israel, for example, and it has six of these impressive 
facilities. Desalinization uses nanofiltration to remove salt and other 
minerals from seawater. One thing we have an abundance of on the gulf 
coast of Texas--in Alabama as well--is we have a lot of seawater, which 
allows, in using this technology, our State and that region to meet 
future water needs.
  This is something I want to engage in here in Washington with my 
friends and colleagues who may have similar issues in their home 
States. As I tell my constituents back home, usually when they identify 
a problem, I go on a hunt to try to find Senators from States that have 
similar issues and concerns and then build a consensus and support for 
solutions that we might be able to offer in cooperation with our State 
and local authorities. The technology is impressive, and it has the 
potential to address significant needs in a growing region. As I said, 
it is not even just in the Corpus Christi area; it is throughout the 
State and, perhaps, even throughout other parts of the Nation.

[[Page S1794]]

  In addition to desalination, we had a great discussion about the 
importance of the Port of Corpus Christi and the product that passes 
through that port that helps America's energy independence and helps 
our friends and allies around the world.
  I heard firsthand of the benefits that have come to the Coastal Bend 
from the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project. Because of 
these ultralarge oil tankers, they are able to carry up to 30 percent 
more oil in these tankers to our friends and allies around the world 
than our existing ships, but the problem is, they need to deepen and 
widen the port, which is why the Corpus Christi Ship Channel 
Improvement Project is so important. This will dramatically increase 
the capacity for crude oil to our friends and allies and will save the 
port up to $150 million every year. In 2015, Congress approved the 
lifting of the ban on crude oil exports, which has allowed the Port of 
Corpus Christi to become the third largest port for oil exports in the 
world.
  America is one of the most significant energy producers, and in large 
part, it is because of what happens in the Lone Star State. The ship 
channel project will make the Port of Corpus Christi one of the deepest 
and widest in the Gulf of America. When America has the capacity, I 
believe, under the current administration, to drill and export more oil 
and gas, it means the rest of the world becomes more reliant on America 
and less reliant on our adversaries, like Russia. I have been a 
longtime advocate for the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement 
Project, and after decades of hard work by so many, it is exciting to 
see this project move forward and come to completion here in the next 
few weeks.
  But increasing energy production wasn't the only one of President 
Trump's agenda items we discussed when I was back home. Another 
important opportunity I had during the State work period was to meet 
with my constituents to talk about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and how it 
has helped their small businesses and their employees thrive.
  I remember 2017, during President Trump's first term, when we passed 
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Democrat colleagues at the time said: Well, 
this is only going to help the rich. Well, it didn't just help the 
rich. It literally helped everybody in every tax bracket. So I thought 
it was important to go back and talk to my constituents and say: OK. 
What was your experience, and how important is it to you that we 
continue by renewing the expiring provisions of that legislation--some 
of which expire in 2025.
  Well, not surprisingly, the folks back home disagreed with those who 
are reading from the talking points from the Democratic National 
Committee. For example, I met with the good folks at Southland Hardware 
in Houston, TX. Now, this is one of the original hardware stores that 
you don't find very much anymore, where you can literally buy almost 
everything that you can imagine. We also had representatives from 
Empire Tools and Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen and Tejas Office Products--
all thriving small business owners who shared their support for the Tax 
Cuts and Jobs Act and explained why it needed to be extended.
  I heard the same thing from business owners all across the State, 
including Austin, where I live. We went to Wally's Burger--even in 
Austin--right at the start. I went there in 2018, and I went back. 
Robert Mayfield, who employs a single franchise there in Austin, 7 
years later, reported that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act had been very, 
very helpful, allowing him to provide better benefits and bonuses to 
his employees whom he considers to be part of his family.
  So I would encourage the naysayers of our Democratic colleagues to 
actually talk to real people about what their experiences have been. I 
would bet what I learned was not isolated. I am sure it is common 
throughout the country. I am sure they would find that the Tax Cuts and 
Jobs Act did not, contrary to our Democratic colleagues, just help a 
bunch of rich people. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has, in fact, allowed 
people in communities from Austin to Houston and everywhere across the 
country to provide more of what they have earned to their families; to 
provide employment opportunities for their neighbors, and contribute to 
their communities, which is just another way of saying: Help them to 
help contribute to the American dream.

  So that is why we have no option but to extend the expiring 
provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Many are already benefiting--
ordinary working families and small business owners--as I said, but if 
Congress fails to extend these expiring provisions, these same people 
who have sacrificed so much will no longer be able to offer the same 
benefits to their workers, making it harder for them to attract the 
talent they need and making it harder for them to literally keep their 
doors open.
  If we fail to extend the tax cuts, 62 percent of American taxpayers 
will see a tax increase in 2026, including people like the ones I 
mentioned back home in Texas--small business owners, in particular, 
because they pay a business income, typically, on an individual tax 
return--their so-called passthrough organizations, not corporations. 
They will be particularly hard-hit. They would see their Federal tax 
rates increase nearly 50 percent. Working parents would see the child 
tax credit cut in half, and Texans, whom I represent, would see their 
taxes increase on an average of $3,000 next year.
  I would be happy to introduce our Democratic colleagues to these 
folks, and they can learn what I learned if they are willing to listen. 
Hope springs eternal. I am sure these same folks would be happy to give 
them an earful about why their view of the tax cuts only benefiting 
millionaires and billionaires is dead wrong.
  So I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues here in 
the Senate and our House colleagues to pass a budget resolution, then 
to get the necessary reconciliation instructions in order to make this 
happen. There is so much more we have to do. We have to get our country 
back on a sane fiscal path. We are now at, roughly, $36.4 trillion in 
debt. In other words, the current generations and previous generations 
have racked up debt that our kids and grandkids and great-grandkids are 
going to be responsible for paying, which strikes me as profoundly 
immoral.
  We know how to fix this. We should, and we can now thanks to 
President Trump's election and his commitment not only to reducing 
waste and inefficiency in the government, as identified by the 
Department of Government Efficiency, but also to looking at programs 
that we haven't revisited in decades: to look at whether they still 
make sense, whether there need to be some reasonable work requirements 
for able-bodied adults for means-tested programs. All of these things 
are on the table, and we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work 
here in the coming weeks so we can get this done without delay.
  So I was delighted to be home, but now we are back at work. We need 
to roll up our sleeves and get the job done because failure is not an 
option.
  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. LEE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.