[Pages S4787-S4789]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Trump Administration

  Mr. President, on costs, chaos, and corruption, nearly 8 months into 
Donald Trump's second term, the American people feel deep buyer's 
remorse. As you have seen so many times, Donald Trump's big promises 
turned out to be just duds, turned out to be more lies. He seems to lie 
every day. He doesn't even care. He doesn't even shrug his shoulders. 
He doesn't show a bit of remorse on his face as he spews out lie after 
lie after lie.
  Today, only 37 percent of people approve of the job Donald Trump is 
doing, according to Gallup. Only 37 percent of Americans believe the 
country

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is headed in the right direction, according to a recent YouGov poll. 
And an overwhelming number of Americans, including Independents and 
conservatives, despise Donald Trump's ``Big Ugly Betrayal.''
  These are not the signs of a golden age; this is Trump malaise, 
created by three things: higher costs, endless chaos, and rampant 
corruption.
  Let's talk about costs--the No. 1 thing on Americans' minds.
  Donald Trump's tariffs have been a national sales tax on the American 
people. Yale Budget Lab estimated this week that the totality of Donald 
Trump's tariffs will cost $2,400 this year--$2,400. That is a lot of 
money.
  The cost of healthcare is going to skyrocket. Thanks to the ``Big 
Ugly Bill,'' as many as 15 million Americans are going to lose their 
coverage. Even if you don't lose your coverage outright, you are still 
in great, great danger of paying far more out-of-pocket, hundreds of 
dollars more--sometimes even thousands--for healthcare insurance. That 
is because Republicans failed to extend the ACA's premium tax credits, 
which expire at the end of the year.
  Twenty-four million Americans will soon get a letter in the mail 
telling them that their premiums are going to go up in 2026. This 
letter ain't coming 2 years from now, as they tried--the Republicans--
to kick the can down the road and hide this from people; it is coming 
right now, folks. You are going to get those letters, those increases, 
in the mail. Remember, it is because of Donald Trump and the Republican 
Senators' lack of courage to stand up for you as they bow down to 
millionaires.
  If Republicans don't work with Democrats to restore these tax 
credits, premiums are going to go up by 75 percent, and 5 million 
Americans will lose their coverage altogether.
  Let me say that again. If Republicans don't work with Democrats to 
restore these tax credits, premiums are set to go up by 75 percent, and 
5 million Americans will lose coverage altogether. That is precisely 
what Donald Trump did to help the billionaire class and the corporate 
special interests--hurting, and hurting grievously, American families, 
so many of them.
  (Mr. SHEEHY assumed the Chair.)
  Mr. President, on chaos--now, as costs go up for the American people, 
so does the chaos. It is unending. It is exhausting. It is dangerous.
  Donald Trump's trade war: total chaos. One minute he says yes to 
tariffs, the next he says no, and after that, he changes his mind 
again. And the American people are going to pay a lot more because of 
these tariffs.
  What about DOGE? Again, unmitigated chaos and a failure at achieving 
any real efficiency. DOGE has fired, rehired, and fired again everyone 
from VA workers to medical researchers to USAID workers to even nuclear 
safety personnel. Incredible.
  The Social Security Administration is being hollowed out in realtime. 
They don't like Social Security, these rightwing DOGE people--it is a 
government program--even though it is the most successful government 
program we have ever had.
  So they are afraid to just shoot it through the heart. So instead, 
they strangle it: fewer people answering the phones, fewer people 
solving the problems when you can't get your check, putting barriers in 
the way of people applying. They have sent 7,000 staffers packing. Wait 
times on the phones have gone way up. Online services have gone dark. 
Millions of seniors who depend on Social Security have been left 
anxious and betrayed and in the dark.
  You can be sure when that chaos occurs, they will somehow figure out 
a way to blame someone else. But they are to blame. They did it.
  Finally, as this all happens, as Americans pay out of pocket, as 
chaos keeps Americans distracted day after day after day, what is 
happening here in Washington with all this cost increase happening, 
with all this chaos? In addition, unfortunately, it is unprecedented 
corruption. Never in our lifetimes have we seen a President use the 
levers of power so transparently to personally enrich himself and his 
inner circle.
  That never happened in America. Presidents, Democrats, Republicans, 
Independents, conservatives, liberals--they respected the fact that 
being in high office was a guardianship, not to grab and reach and make 
money and enrich themselves. But that is what Trump is doing regularly.
  In the past few months, Donald Trump accepted a luxury plane from 
Qatar to use as Air Force One. And we have no clue--no clue--as to how 
many hundreds of millions or more in taxpayer dollars will be spent in 
renovations. You have to renovate it because there could be listening 
devices in even the little nails and screws in those planes. So you 
have to almost take it apart and put it back together so Donald Trump 
can have his plane.
  The way the deal works, after he leaves office, it goes to his 
Presidential library. Can you imagine a gift like that to a sitting 
President from a country we have to deal with, in Qatar, where we have 
had good and bad relations all the time?
  That is not all. He turned the south lawn of the White House into a 
Tesla dealership when he was friendly with Musk. His family is getting 
rich off crypto schemes, selling access to the White House for profit--
personal profit.
  Truly, the Trump administration is rampant self-dealing at an 
unprecedented scale, and that turns the stomachs of Americans who 
believe we are better than that. And there are many millions of us who 
believe that we are better than what Donald Trump is doing.
  And then, we have Jeffrey Epstein. The more time passes, the less we 
all know about the truth behind Trump's relationship with the late 
billionaire predator. Donald Trump promised he would release the 
Epstein files. While he was on the campaign trail, he made that 
promise. He has yet to do it. Speaker Johnson quite literally preferred 
to shut Congress down and send everyone home on an ``Epstein recess'' 
rather than risking a vote on the Epstein files to take place.
  Americans are right to be angry over the lack of transparency. But 
this isn't just about getting the truth; this is also every bit about 
our national security. Whatever may be in the Epstein files is clearly 
troubling enough that Donald Trump doesn't want to touch this issue 
with a 10-foot pole. So it is natural to ask: What happens if America's 
adversaries use cyber attacks or other means to access investigative 
material into Jeffrey Epstein that are embarrassing--or worse--for the 
President and/or the people around him? What happens if Epstein 
materials end up in the hands of the Chinese Government or Russia or 
North Korea?
  Unless the Epstein files are released and made fully transparent to 
the public, could our adversaries use that information to blackmail 
someone like the President or other senior leaders in government? What 
kind of risk could that pose to our national security?
  So, today, I am calling on the FBI to immediately conduct a 
counterintelligence threat assessment to ensure we understand the risk 
posed if a foreign adversary were to gain access to anything connected 
to the Epstein files. Specifically, I am calling on the FBI to do three 
things: First, we must determine if foreign intelligence agencies could 
gain access to the information the President does not want to release 
in the Epstein files through methods that include cyber intrusion; 
second, the FBI must identify any vulnerabilities that could be 
exploited by foreign intelligence agencies with access to nonpublic 
information in the Epstein files, including being able to gain leverage 
over Donald Trump, his family, or other senior government officials; 
and, third, I am calling on the FBI to publicly show their developing 
mitigation strategies to counter these threats and safeguard our 
national security.

  The idea of foreign adversaries hacking into Agency files to collect 
information that could be leveraged against our government is not at 
all a remote possibility. Just last Thursday, it was reported that DHS 
and HHS were among several government Agencies hacked as a part of a 
breach to Microsoft's SharePoint service. This hack, Microsoft 
confirmed, was carried out by Chinese actors.
  Hacks like this could very well be an attempt to exploit Federal 
systems to get access to Epstein files and potentially use it to 
influence those named in the files.
  Whatever is in the Epstein files is concerning enough that Donald 
Trump is running scared. If that is, in fact, the case, our adversaries 
could certainly be

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interested in trying to use this information to hurt America and 
Americans. We must ensure that that can never happen, and the FBI must 
immediately conduct a risk assessment so we are not caught flatfooted 
if our adversaries have already seen these files.
  National security, Mr. President, is not and should never be a 
partisan issue. We need to do everything we can to make sure we are 
protecting the United States and American families every single day. 
This report is imperative to do just that.
  And there is one more thing Donald Trump could do to quell people's 
anger, confusion, frustration, and fears over the national security 
ramifications: Stop running away from this issue; tell the truth; and 
if there is clearly no national security risk, release the Epstein 
files, President Trump.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic whip.