TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS

TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 19 (Wednesday, January 29, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 29, 2025)] [Senate] [Pages S489-S490] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I think it is fair to say that none of us expected a week ago to be here on the floor at this moment, talking about a massive, across-the-board freeze on Federal funding. I don't think either of us, on either side of the aisle, expected to be here on this topic. We are in no ordinary time. The chaos and confusion are extraordinary. And it is the result of one man: Donald Trump. It is part of a calculated strategy: confusion and chaos; a blizzard of illegal actions; a hiring freeze that violates the law; a firing of inspectors general that abridges the statute; a freeze on funding that crosses the line because it violates the Impoundment Control Act, which has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court despite Donald Trump's contention that it is unconstitutional; and it also violates the Constitution. It is a seizure of power--namely, the power of the purse--that Congress intended never to surrender. It was given by the Founders as a check on Presidential power. The checks and balances of our system operate to create a system that prevents tyranny. And, unfortunately, this country is veering and careening toward tyranny. So we are here to say we will not obey in advance. One of the lessons of ``Totalitarianism in the 20th Century,'' one of the ``Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century'' that Professor Tim Snyder has instructed us to take from that awful period in world history is: Do not obey in advance; do not yield what the tyrant wants in advance of his demanding it. Stand up, speak out, stop it. That is why we are here. And the American people rose up in the last 24 hours because of the chaos and confusion of this funding freeze they saw in their everyday lives. They saw it in the domestic shelters that were imperiled, in the homeless places that would go [[Page S490]] without funding, at the food banks, at the community health centers, at daycare places, in schools, in hospitals. In every place where everyday Americans depend on vital services for their ordinary lives, they were seeing their worlds upended. And the Trump administration responded to that outcry. They pulled back from the precipice of a total breakdown in order. They came back from the cliff. They walked back the illegal order to freeze that funding. But--make no mistake--they did it once, and they can do it again. In fact, after the one-line order that walked back that funding freeze, the President's Press Secretary said: Well, the funding freeze is still in effect. These whiplash reversals are themselves damaging the country. Organizations can't meet payrolls. They can't plan budgets. They can't assign their staff. They can't pay for the machines that do the road reconstruction and bridge repair. They can't run railroads when they don't know that Amtrak is going to be funded. And so the doubt, uncertainty, breeding anxiety and fear and anger are also damaging the country. They did it once, and they can do it again. And it looks like they already have, because the purpose here is theft. Let's call it what it is. Donald Trump is stealing from the community health centers and domestic violence shelters to finance tax cuts for billionaires. He is looting those kinds of public services so that there is money to pay for those tax cuts benefiting his billionaire friends and family. And Americans have to see that fact for what it is--the plain truth, unpleasant as it may be, unpalatable morally, and illegal under our Constitution. He doesn't have the power to just stop spending under an appropriation bill passed by Congress and signed by the President. It may not have been signed by this President, but that fact makes no difference. It is the law. That spending appropriation is the law of the land. The President has no right to seize the power of the purse under the Constitution and violate that law. Now, if the order had remained in effect, as it was originally intended, it almost certainly would have been enjoined by the courts. I certainly hope so. The initial administrative stay indicates the court was certainly concerned about it, and the combination of irreparable harm and likely prevailing on the merits, I think would have led that court in the District of Columbia to hold that a temporary injunction at least was appropriate. But the fact is we then may have a President who disobeys a court order. We are in uncharted territory. It is truly a crisis for our democracy. And I want to thank the American people for that outcry that led to the reversal but also to alert the American people that we are far from done. And I want to appeal to my Republican colleagues. In fact, I want to appeal to Republicans in Connecticut, people who think of themselves as a member or a supporter of the Republican Party and Republican candidates. This fight is yours, too, because those domestic shelters and community health centers and all the facilities, all the groups, all the individuals affected by this massive funding freeze, they are in red States as well as blue States. The block grants that are suspended, they are in red States and in blue States. The firefighter equipment that will be held back--red States as well as blue States. The subsidies for housing and the benefits and care for veterans--red States and blue States. This fight is yours, not just ours on this side of the aisle. And my Republican colleagues, I am absolutely sure, are hearing from their constituents about how difficult and daunting these last 24 hours have been after the announcement of this freeze because I know I have fielded calls from all across the State of Connecticut--from those food bank programs, health and nutrition assistance programs, Head Start and childcare programs, housing programs, veterans programs, energy assistance programs, and many more. And it has impacts beyond what you would think are obvious. Just Monday, I met with farmers who suffered from flooding and hailstorms earlier this year--last year. And under the end-of-session continuing resolution that we passed, disaster relief was provided across the country for farmers and for others. And those farmers celebrated, along with us, Members of the congressional delegation, the fact that they were receiving millions of dollars to help them recover from the floods. Well, now that money is uncertain--when it will arrive and even whether it will be available. Connecticut Head Start was unable to access payments. President Trump's order jeopardized childcare and early childhood education for 5,000 families. Domestic violence shelters, survivors with nowhere else to go, were forced to return to their homes where there were abusers. This funding freeze has terrifying and likely implications not just for Connecticut but all over the country. And in the midst of winter, the LIHEAP program, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, a critical program that provides energy assistance to low-income individuals and households, is also in jeopardy. One hundred thousand households in Connecticut rely on LIHEAP to meet their home energy needs. Uncertainty about this Federal funding leaves them more vulnerable than ever. Like my colleagues, I could go on. But my colleagues are joining us on the floor, and I just want to end on this note. I mentioned that this funding freeze is part of a calculated strategy to steal from the domestic violence shelters and childcare and Head Start and all the other services funded under these programs and make that money available for tax cuts to the billionaire friends and family of Donald Trump. But what is also part of the strategy is a blizzard of orders, a deluge of illegalities, one of them being the firing of inspectors general. And if there is one thing we need right now in our Federal Government, it is transparency; it is the watchdogs who demand accountability and stop waste and fraud and abuse. Firing inspectors general, the independent watchdogs and bulwarks against corruption, is a profoundly important sign of where this President wants to take the country. The Veterans' Inspector General, Mike Missal, has recovered billions of dollars for the VA. Firing him and eliminating his independent oversight is a betrayal of trust to our veterans, as well as a violation of law, because none of these inspectors general was fired with the requisite 30-day notice to Congress and with a statement of reasons and rationale that is required under the law. If the President is really committed to finding waste in government, why is he firing the watchdogs who are the ones who root it out? And today's or earlier this week's firing makes clear that the President is lacking in that commitment. We are here because we are determined to fight, and we are determined also to continue to support the American people in this outcry against lawlessness and recklessness that so imperils hard-working, everyday Americans. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico. ____________________