Cory A. Booker
Senator for New Jersey · Democratic · United States
“They have developed over recent years more power and more leverage, and that is a scary thing for the NCAA. I want to be honest about one point--about who creates a disproportionate amount of that value. That is actually Black athletes.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“The protections expire in 4 to 9 years, depending on the size of the program. The NCAA's antitrust exemption is permanent. The protections for women's and Olympic sports are only temporary. And athletes are noticing. Listen to Caitlin VanderKlok, a cross-country athlete at the University of Tennessee.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“In most States, it is the highest paid State employee. In 2025 alone, 15 fired coaches secured buyouts worth nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. That is $250 million paid to coaches not to coach. You hear people running around here lobbying, saying: Oh, we have a financial crisis in college sports.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“That should tell you everything you need to know about who this bill protects. Listen to former senior Justice Department officials, including a former principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, a former Acting Associate Attorney General, and a former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Madam President, I am so grateful to be recognized. It is amazing how for more than 14 years in this place, I was trying to get Congress to step in to do something to help athletes, but the answer was no, no, no.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“People in this body that say it protects women's and Olympic sports are lying to you by not telling you the whole truth; that those protections expire. Listen to Meghann Burke, executive director of the National Women's Soccer League Players Association.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
The complete record
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“It doesn't do anything for private institutions. From Notre Dame to Stanford, it doesn't touch the race to the bottom there. It doesn't touch the race to the bottom for facilities. I was a college athlete. It doesn't stop schools from rolling out greater facilities. Where is the equality in this bill that is so-called helping college athletes where every college athlete organization is against it? Let me give you another example. This idea of disclosure requirements on athletes for their NIL deals and the like. Why aren't there disclosure requirements on coaches? This bill puts redtape between athletes and their opportunities to make money, but doesn't put the same redtape between coaches. Somehow, we need transparency with athletes, but it is not with coaches. Coaches don't have disclosure requirements.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“Let me say next, this transfer sensibility. That is the quote I heard. This brings transfer sensibility. Well, I will tell you this right now. If transfer sensibility is so important for players, why isn't there transfer sensibility for the coaches? How can you allow coaches to come in a year to a school, lure athletes to their teams, they have success based upon athletes' performance, and then they can go and get the next high-paying job? This is the extraordinary problem with this bill, that it has one standard for players and another standard for coaches. And this idea that this bill somehow prevents a race to the bottom. Well, you all know that there are about 15 coaches that have over-- almost a $250 million buyout provision. And I have heard on the floor now that somehow this is going to stop the race at the bottom.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“But you know that there are tens and tens--hundreds of thousands of college athletes, many of them have crippling injuries, a fund like that is inadequate for their healthcare needs. Put that relative to what professional sports do, and you will see that it is shortchanging athletes' well- being. On this idea, secondly, that this bill somehow enshrines NIL rights, this body did nothing for generations while name and likeness was being stolen from players. Players were being exploited. This body did nothing. But as soon as athletes start winning in court, their NIL rights-- suddenly Congress swoops in and is saying that we are saving their NIL rights? That is a lie. The reality is, they don't need Congress' beneficent actions to give them NIL rights. They have earned them in the courts.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“I came down here to speak about AI, which I will do in a moment, but I need to get more into the specifics because it is outrageous to come down and talk about a bill being good for athletes when athletes themselves all over this country, every organization that represents them, condemn this bill. And it is not just the athletes; it is the parents of athletes that have died because of the NCAA and what they are doing. Kids that have died of heatstroke. Kids that have been crippled by injuries. Their parents collectively have written letters to this body: Don't let this bill pass. But let me get to specifics. One, this healthcare fund. There is in this bill this idea that even 5 years of healthcare after your playing years, and a fund set up of roughly $100 million.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I came down here to talk about AI. But before I give those remarks, I cannot let the comments that were just made on the floor go unrebutted point by point. I have utter frustration. There are a few things in this bill that are worthy of trumpeting. But to be on this floor and say all of this, that this is about protecting athletes, I ask one simple question, Why isn't one athlete group in this country, not one of the groups that represents athletes, trumpeting the greatness of this bill? They all know this bill undermines their rights, undermines their collective bargaining, undermines their health and safety, creates an unequal playing field for them relative to the other money interests in this bill, including the coaches.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“The NCAA knows it is going to save them from millions of dollars of liability. That is why they are spending so much money to pass this bill. It is not about the safety, it is not about the well-being, it is not about the education of college athletes. This is a money play, plain and simple. Read the bill. Talk to college athletes. If we pass this bill, it is a shame. After years and years of trying, college athletes finally have gained some leverage over the NCAA. No, they can't win in court, so the NCAA runs here. I ask my colleagues not to move to this bill. Definitely do not move it if you have not read it, if your staff hasn't gotten the final copy yet. I ask my colleagues to vote no. I yield the floor.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“Hundreds of organizations that represent student-athletes, that represent ideals of justice, that represent ideals of economic justice--heck, you even have somebody like Brett Kavanaugh--excuse me--you have even somebody like Gorsuch saying things like: It is a business model--this is the NCAA-- that would be flatly illegal in any other industry in America. Yet we are moving rocket-speed when most of the Members haven't even gotten the final bill yet. They literally haven't put the bill in most of the offices here, and we are rushing to move on to it right now without reading the bill, without discussing it, without having hearings that have college athletes that have justifiable experiences, survivors of sexual assault, parents whose children have died, people that have court cases against the NCAA right now.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“When it comes to academic graduation rates, when it comes to all the things they tell people they are concerned with, the evidence speaks that that is not their No. 1 concern. And this body wants to give them sweeping antitrust power permanently, in perpetuity, forever, with no accountability. No accountability to Congress. Limited accountability in the courts. No accountability to the girls and boys, the young student-athletes, the college players who bring this country together, who give us some of our greatest life experiences. This is unfair. This is unjust. This is wrong.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“Is there a peep from the NCAA? Don't you think that college sports should have more protective policies than the pros? Well, no. The pros--it is a business. We all know that. They invest millions of dollars in these employees of theirs, and they are taking actions to protect their players that the NCAA isn't. The NCAA is an economic group of actors who seek to maximize profit. Look at their decades-long history. It is not about player protection. How do I know that? There are no enforceable standards for sexual assault. There are no enforceable standards for heatstroke. We have cases right now of brain injuries. I have friends of mine still paying for the medical costs for injuries they incurred putting thousands of people into seats.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I want to end with this. I gave an example of the lies that the NCAA tells--that they are about the protection of student-athletes first. The example I gave was a change the NFL did, which all of us who are football fans know about, when they said: You know what, we are going to change the kickoff rules. Why did they change the kickoff rules? Well, I know from my personal experience of screaming down a field trying to break UCLA's wedge; I learned this from rushing down the field to try to tackle people, playing against USC; I learned this in playing Notre Dame--that one of the most dangerous things you could do is get a full head of steam and run down on a kickoff. Well, they changed the kickoff rules to protect NFL athletes, and it has worked. There are less injuries in this area. It is working.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“We know firsthand the consequences when institutions are allowed to police themselves, when reports of abuse or dangerous practices remain inside the institution, and when victims are left without meaningful accountability after the harm is done. Universities, conferences, and other powerful college-sports interests have had extensive opportunities to make their case as this legislation has developed. Before Congress grants sweeping new federal protections to the college-sports system, we ask that you hear directly from those of us who have experienced the consequences when that system fails athletes. We also ask each of you for a definitive commitment on the legislation itself.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“Congress should not enact sweeping legislation governing the economics of college sports while leaving the athletes whose bodies make college sports possible without independent safety enforcement and meaningful access to justice when those protections are violated. Before any further Senate action, we respectfully request a meeting with each of you so you can hear directly from representatives of the undersigned about what we and our loved ones experienced when college sports institutions failed to prevent or properly respond to sexual abuse, dangerous athletics practices, serious injuries, and preventable deaths. These are not abstract policy concerns to us.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“A 2021 national survey found that more than 1 in 4 current and former college athletes surveyed reported inappropriate sexual contact by a campus authority figure. Many of us have already endured sexual abuse, institutional betrayal, or the death of a loved one. Congress must not compound that harm by leaving victims and families without meaningful accountability. Yet the PCSA would federalize this failed and dangerous self-policing system: its safety officer is a university employee reporting within the university, the bill's Ombudsman cannot independently investigate violations, impose penalties, or order corrective action. An institution accused of failing an athlete must not get to police itself.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“We urge you not to advance the Protect College Sports Act (now pending before the full Senate) or any federal college sports legislation unless it provides athlete protections that victims can actually enforce, and meaningful independent third-party enforcement of athlete health and safety protections. The PCSA's enforcement structure fails athletes in four fundamental ways. First, the PCSA promises athlete victims a right to sue, but a major sovereign-immunity loophole can make that right unusable for many athletes at public universities, which comprise roughly two-thirds of Division I. Many public universities are treated as arms of their States and can invoke sovereign immunity against private damages claims under federal statutes such as the PCSA.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“A vote for the PCSA is a vote against college athletes. It tells them their rights are trivial when a billion-dollar entity like the NCAA starts making demands. It even gives the NCAA the ability to exclude conferences and schools from championships and tournaments--like the College Football Playoffs, March Madness, and the College World Series--free of the antitrust laws' restrictions. Unless these sweeping antitrust exemptions and broken, unworkable enforcement structure are significantly improved, we urge you to oppose this legislation.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“The private right of action in the bill is designed to prevent athletes from ever obtaining real relief, and if the PCSA is passed, will very likely succeed. The PCSA Grants the NCAA--a Serial Law Violator--Unprecedented Antitrust Immunity Congress rarely grants immunity from the antitrust laws, and for good reason. Exempting an entity like the NCAA, with dozens of violations under its belt, is unconscionable. The NCAA has used its power to violate our antitrust laws for decades and is now demanding that Congress remove athletes' only effective tool for holding it accountable. Congress should not aid the NCAA in this endeavor. As currently conceived, this is not a bill that protects college sports. It is a bill that protects the NCAA's ability to abuse its power over college athletes.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“The broad antitrust exemption in Title I, the expansion of the Sports Broadcasting Act in Title II, and the absence of any meaningful enforcement mechanisms will grant the NCAA unprecedented power exempt from the state and federal oversight and laws that apply to all other business enterprises in America. Taken together, these provisions radically empower the NCAA to continue its longstanding and well-documented exploitation of college athletes for its own financial benefit, while depriving college athletes of meaningful protections from the NCAA's outsized economic power. Should these issues remain unaddressed, we cannot support the PCSA.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“Saniah Tyler, Florissant, Missouri Athtete at University of Missouri-Columbia Basketball; Tyler Deleskiewicz, Genoa City, Wisconsin Athlete at Northern Illinois University Baseball; Sophia Barjesteh Woodbury, Minnesota Athlete at Universitv of St. Thomas Soccer. __________ September 14, 2026. Dear Chairman Cruz and Ranking Member Cantwell: As organizations and former antitrust enforcers committed to building a robust, fair economy and fighting against abuses of corporate power, we write to express our serious concerns with S. 4668, the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA), as currently drafted.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“While there is much talk in the media about the need for federal legislation, a much better approach to ``protecting college sports'' would be for the NCAA and the Conferences to work with athletes to develop fair rules that don't violate antitrust and other laws, and then to enforce them in a process where students are given the ability to stand up for themselves and be treated fairly. The PCSA will hurt college athletes like us by giving the NCAA the power to set all the rules without any oversight or accountability. We urge the Senate to protect athletes and vote no.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“In fact, the PCSA would permanently eliminate athletes' rights to challenge all NCAA rules on eligibility, compensation and transfers, no matter how unlawful or unfair. We have never been consulted by our school, our conference, the NCAA, or anyone in Congress on any of the issues addressed in the PCSA, yet they are the ``terms and conditions'' under which we and other college athletes will be forced to participate going forward. The athletes who have presented testimony in favor of the PCSA before the Senate Commerce Committee are not representative of the vast majority of collegiate athletes.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“Because of the NCAA's actions, we have not bien allowed to compete in a fifth season even though our school expressly stated that there was a roster spot for us. Under NCAA rules, we cannot personally advocate for ourselves; only our school can do so. And if they don't, athletes like us have no choice but to sue, which is why there is the chaos that the NCAA complains about. They have only themselves to blame--by denying us a voice, they've given us no choice but to sue to stand up for ourselves. Under the PCSA, our right to sue the NCAA for excluding us from the new 5 for 5 rule would be taken away. No college athlete would ever again have the ability to hold the NCAA accountable for limiting eligibility in this way.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from college athletes organizations; this letter from civil rights organizations and former attorneys general; and this letter from college athletes safety organizations, college athletes sexual abuse survivor organizations, and families of college athletes who died following athletic activities--all speaking to the urgency to stop this bill. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: Committee to Support Antitrust Laws, September 14, 2026. Dear Leaders Thune and Schumer, Chairman Cruz, and Ranking Member Cantwell: We are part of the Wisne litigation, challenging the NCAA's unfair decision to exclude our high school graduating class from the new 5 for 5 eligibility rule.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“The SAFE Act didn't give the NCAA and conferences sweeping new antitrust shields; this bill does. So, yes, there are some provisions from my earlier work in this bill, but they are toothless because of the lack of enforcement power. This is a growing grassroots effort, I hear, to support this bill. Well, I am seeing millions of dollars' worth of commercials being funded by all the financial interests behind this bill, but who is protecting college athletes? I will give an example, and I will end with this because I know time is short. I want to make sure, though, that I can enter for the Record--I am going to ask the President--I would like to enter into the Record some letters. Mr.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“Oh, and there is a cynical part of this. They say they are going to help historically Black colleges and universities. I want everyone like me who has been fighting for HBCUs, who supports HBCUs, to understand the cynicism in this bill. This bill authorizes money. It authorizes money. It does not appropriate one single dollar. What you get is a promise for future funds, but we know that time and time again, Congress authorizes funding and that funding is never delivered. This bill includes provisions of the SAFE Act, which I supported. Well, this leaves out a critical distinction between the SAFE Act and athletes' protections with meaningful enforcement. The SAFE Act included the State attorneys general being able to enforce it; this bill does not.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“It has protections for those roster sports and grant and aid opportunities in those sports, but those protections expire after 4 or 9 years. It is a lie to say that this bill is protecting Olympic sports because it is not. It only does so for a handful of years. Permanent antitrust exemption, temporary protection for college athletes competing in Olympic sports. Why would we do that? Why would we do that? We should give not permanent exemption if we are not doing it in other parts of the bill, and even that is questionable. The NCAA's record over decades does not justify giving it more control. We are giving them more authority over a group of Americans, and yet we are not asking for the right things in return--protections for athletes, their health, their well-being, their safety, equality for others involved in the sport.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“It says in this bill that, oh, we are preserving an individual right of action for individual athletes. Well, let me tell you right now, any lawyer worth their salt will tell you that somebody competing for the starting pitcher spot on a softball team is not going to sue their college in hopes they are going to get justice if they are facing sexual assault or if they have been forced to play through an injury or if there has been a breaking of any of the rules around the NCAA that purports to support our students. It is creating a cartel for them, a monopoly for them, and inadequate protections for college athletes and undermining their ability--should they even choose to sue, undermining their ability to have a fair day in court. It is not protecting the spending problem.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“So, in other words, it is treating college athletes as a different class. Meanwhile, coaches' salaries--often, in most States, the highest paid people in their State governments are the basketball or the football coaches--their salaries continue to skyrocket, with close to 15 coaches right now having almost a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar buyout for their contracts. This is an unjust bill, and I want to deal very quickly with some of the top lines. First and foremost, we have a bill that doesn't solve the problems it claims to solve. It says it is going to fix a system that is broken. Well, the NCAA conferences and schools continue to lose major court cases. This bill is going to take away the power of athletes to be able to sue for their rights.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“For generations, billions of dollars were being made that were given to coaches, ADs. Everybody was making money, but college athletes weren't. It wasn't until college athletes were able to begin to win cases in court that States, seeing the injustices, began to change the law. That started to shift the power table. And now the NCAA is coming here to the U.S. Senate, asking for sweeping powers that exempt our antitrust laws. Well, my concerns I have grown to have over the years are not addressed in this bill. This bill does not do enough to protect college athletes' health and safety and well-being. And as a result of that, the number of groups opposed to it is almost too long to read.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I want to speak forcefully against the Protect College Sports Act. There are a handful of us--like my colleagues--who played college sports. I was a high school all-American Player of the Year for my State, on the same USA TODAY All-America team with people like Emmitt Smith, and got a full scholarship. In so many ways, like my colleagues, I am here, afforded opportunities I probably would never have had if it weren't for college athletics. But while a college student and a player, I saw how unjust the NCAA is. It is a serial monopolist, controlling an industry over $15 billion strong and rapidly growing. And the NCAA has a long record of ignoring the cries for justice from exploited college athletes. The NCAA protects its members, it protects the colleges, and it has repeatedly put college athletes in horrible positions.”
Senate15 September 2026Source ↗
“I have worked across the aisle with Senator Lindsey Graham, with Senator Chuck Grassley, and with Senator Mike Lee to improve conditions in the Bureau of Prisons. I hope that when it comes to ICE facilities and this private, for-profit company where people are dying that we can find some common ground to stop this nightmare from happening.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“How can we allow this from an organization that is supposed to be providing healthcare but is denying it? How can we allow this in accordance with our own values? Enough is enough. Delaney Hall is a nightmare. I did not come to the floor to talk about closing facilities all over the country; I am talking about one facility with a record of people dying unnecessarily, with a record of people being denied medical care, with a record of people being denied healthy food--one facility that is failing. For this body to keep it open while waiting for something to change while more people are suffering and may die is irresponsible beyond compare. I believe there is common ground on both sides of the aisle where we can achieve the highest levels of safety and also ensure that within our incarcerating facilities, people are treated with dignity.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“We have a responsibility to taxpayers' money, and we have shoveled this Agency more money than any law enforcement agency there is, and then we are not doing what is necessary to hold these people, like the GEO Group, accountable. I will continue to stand for law enforcement. One of the reasons I got elected by my State is that we drove crime down in the city of Newark. Everybody saw it. Investment came back, and the population came back. I believe in creating safety in my community. This is not about the accusations that somehow, Democrats don't believe we should have strong law enforcement. If anybody believes in that, I know my record here in the Senate speaks to that. How can we stand here and allow this from a facility in which multiple people have died in the most gruesome ways?”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“Do the inspections, but don't leave people in a hellscape where people continue to die in that facility. Keeping that open is irresponsible. ICE has enough money to transfer to other facilities the people who are a real threat. ICE has enough money to run around my State and overspend for real estate, as they have done in one of my towns. They are throwing cash around in a way that should offend Republicans and anybody who is fiscally prudent, but we are not holding the people accountable. Yes, if something is broken, you stop using it. If people are dying because of a defect in a car, you don't use it. If people are falling through holes on a bridge, you close it.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I appreciate the good-faith words of my colleague, and I will take it to heart that he is against unnecessary deaths and that the GEO Group should be investigated thoroughly and be held accountable. I do want to make followup points. First of all, I live in North New Jersey. I used to run the police department as its mayor. There is nobody who feels more urgency for public safety in my city than I do. I hired many law enforcement officers and worked well with ICE, worked well with the FBI and with the DOJ--with all of the Federal law enforcement officers--in a coordinated effort to protect my community. This idea that Democrats want to defund ICE is wrong. I actually believe we need law enforcement in our communities to keep us safe. But I want to make sure we do it in a way that comports with our values and our decency.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“A tragedy is something that no one could have prevented. This is a choice. Every single day the DHS keeps Delaney Hall open is another choice to let this happen, three times already. We should not make this choice. Mr. President, I am now asking for a unanimous consent to pass the Delaney Hall Closure Act, which would close Delaney Hall within 90 days. They are out of excuses. We are out of time. How many more people should die? So as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to immediate consideration of my bill at the desk; that the bill be considered read three times and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“I have had the Catholic church reach out to me because of the sweeps they are doing around schools and churches. I have had family members beg me to get folks out in order to see their American children hit milestones like birthdays and graduations. I have been appealed to by everyone from priests to Republicans in our community. Many are following our laws. But we in the U.S. Senate, Congress, hold the purse strings the administration depends on. We should be a check and a balance. We should demand that our taxpayer dollars are being used. And when we see a body count climbing that is not normal, when we see more and more deaths, when we see a mother's son whose face went numb the night before, we should be asking for action and accountability. Edwin Lopez-Cornejo's death was not a tragedy.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“It is clear for the GEO Group that part of their business model is this cruelty: cut medical staff, skimp on food, let the air-conditioning go out during the hottest days in New Jersey, let the roof leak, cram more bodies into less space. Every corner cut is a dollar of their profit. Every dollar of their profit is a dollar that the GEO Group's executives get to celebrate on their next earnings call. GEO Group's stock has more than doubled since February of 2026--more than doubled. You know why? Well, follow the money. Three million dollars from the GEO Group and its executives went into Donald Trump's campaign, into his PAC, into his inauguration. It is a pay-to-play that is worse than that. A pay-to-play and people get hurt. Lives are lost. Over $2 billion in Federal contracts to run facilities like Delaney Hall in our country.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“The less they provide sanitary services, the less they provide doctors and medical professionals, the more profit they make off of taxpayers. At whose expense? At the decency of American people and at the expense of the lives of the people who are there. We give them hundreds of millions of dollars. And what are the reports out of Delaney Hall? Spoiled food, contaminated water, staff who retaliate against people brave enough to speak up about the conditions. A billion dollars in inadequate accountability. A billion dollars in inadequate healthcare. A billion dollars and a man whose face is numb, whose arm is numb, who is asking for help--does not get treatment, does not get healthcare. So, here is the truth.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“It is a private group called the GEO Group, a private for-profit prison that has high-level Republican officials among its former employees. This group won a billion-dollar contract: no competition, no bidding, lots of campaign contributions, a phone call, a signature, and they have a billion dollars of taxpayer money. New Jersey had to sue this company just to get health inspectors through the front door of a facility operating on American soil, funded by American taxpayers, and our State couldn't even do basic health inspections. They did not get--they did not get--the permits to open that place. They did not have inspections before they did so. This is a private company taking a billion dollars of American taxpayer money.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“Who runs the institution that I saw myself when I went there and met people? This is not for serious criminals. This is not a place for folks who have done serious crimes in our country. This is a detention facility for people, many of them have been in our country for decades, many of them have American spouses, American children. And when I went there, I saw mothers who were recently postpartum who were not getting the support. I saw a woman who lost her child while in that detention facility, had a miscarriage there, did not get the support that she needed. Story after story, people told me what is going on there, the horrors that are going on there. And who runs it? The U.S. Government does not run that center.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“This was a man that was having a medical emergency, telling someone exactly what was happening to his body. Did anyone come to his aid? No. Did he get his medication? No. Less than 24 hours, he was dead. Doctors have warned us, attorneys have warned us in New Jersey, families have warned us, a chorus of people in our communities--not politicians, not political activists--doctors, lawyers have been warning us, detainees who walked out of that building, with their testimony and the facts and the evidence, people have said over and over again that this facility is dangerous. It is not well run, and within it is a pattern of disregard for human decency. DHS has known that Delaney Hall is nothing short of a travesty since they reopened it over a year ago. So who runs what is, for so many, a house of horrors?”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“And yet, in less than 2 months of detention, the immigration system in our country led to his death. And in Delaney Hall, he is the third person in 9 months to die; the 23rd person to die in ICE custody this year--not the first warning sign, not the second, this is the third death at the same facility and yet nothing changes. Let me tell you exactly how Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died because his family deserves to have his name said on the Senate floor and his story told plainly. Edwin had diabetes. He had high blood pressure. He needed his medication to survive, and Delaney Hall denied it to him. The day before he died, he told his mother that his arm had gone numb, half his face had gone numb. And understand, this is not a minor complaint.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“I am grateful for your recognition, Mr. President. And I am going to try to get this order right. This is legislative session. I am going to give some remarks and then ask for a unanimous consent on a bill. But I really want to, first, talk about something really challenging, tragic, that happened in the State of New Jersey. Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died. He is dead, and it is a death that did not have to be. He was detained by ICE on June 18. He was sent to Delaney Hall in my home city, in Newark, NJ--it is a detention center--and he never came out alive. Mr. President, 20 years--20 years--Edwin lived in the United States of America, 20 years of building a life here, 20 years of being connected to people and community, 20 years of making here in America a way forward.”
Senate6 August 2026Source ↗
“We need to do better for what wildlife remains in our Nation, including the gray wolf. We need to stand up for the role of science in influencing our decisions, for expertise influencing the outcomes, and not harmful legislation like this. That is why I will not allow it to move forward, Mr. President. I object.”
Senate4 August 2026Source ↗
“Wisconsin economists proved that wolves are protecting human safety. One of the big ways they protect human safety--and they enumerated this--is by reducing vehicle collisions with the deer population, with deer. Other independent research in Wisconsin suggests that chronic wasting disease is suppressed where wolf packs hunt. And there are so many other benefits. But it is not just his State that this would affect; it would be so many other States. Look, we have a crisis in our country. We are living through a biodiversity crash. Some people call it the sixth mass extinction. This mass extinction is unique because it is being driven not by natural disasters but primarily by human activity and decision making. Current extinction rates are estimated to be hundreds to thousands of times higher than the normal background rate.”
Senate4 August 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, look, my esteemed colleague from Wisconsin--I don't mean to use any onomatopoeia here, but he is howling about the gray wolves and seeking to pass legislation to remove Federal protections under the Endangered Species Act for gray wolves across the entire United States. A hallmark of the Endangered Species Act is the requirement that decisions be made solely on the basis of scientific data. Congress is supposed to rely on that data. This act was brought to bear in 1973 under a Republican President with a very important mission: to protect species at risk of extinction and to promote the conservation of ecosystems and habitats necessary for the survival of those species.”
Senate4 August 2026Source ↗
“I pray that in this crisis, we do not allow a President to undermine decency and grace and send innocent people back to environments where they will face nightmares and violence. We can be the America we say we are, but this Chamber must stand up. I yield the floor.”
Senate30 July 2026Source ↗
“I believe in the highest ideals of our Nation. That is why we have laws like temporary protected status in the first place. It reflected the best of us. But I fear this administration is showing the worst of who we are. I honor Republican think tanks, the Republican Governors who all have the courage to stand up and say: This is wrong. We need that kind of chorus of conviction here in the U.S. Senate. I ask my colleagues to not let this President so violate our collective values. This is not a right or left issue; it is a right or wrong issue. I pray for our Nation. I pray that we live our ideals and don't just talk about them. I pray that we teach our children whom we are not by what we say but by what we do.”
Senate30 July 2026Source ↗
“Who are we if we continue down this road that creates false fears, that spreads lies about immigrants, that turns its very back on the fundamental precept to love your neighbor? Well, I still believe in America. I still believe we are strong enough to create safety and security and to embrace those who love our Nation and serve her faithfully even though they are not citizens. I still believe in an America that is big enough and bold enough to protect its borders and love the stranger. I still believe in a nation whose immigration laws can affirm our dignity and decency and not be an assault on it. I still believe in a nation that honors its faith traditions and knows that we have to love our neighbor and welcome the stranger, especially when they are fleeing persecution and hate and violence.”
Senate30 July 2026Source ↗
“The question before us is so much larger than immigration; it is about whom we are becoming as a society when we turn our back on our neighbors being thrown in private detention facilities that are profiting off of their pain, who we are as a nation when we want to rip people away from their families and their children and send them to modern-day's hell, who we are as a nation when we take those people that are good enough to work in our hospitals to take care of our elderly, but then we want to turn our back on them and let them be dragged out of our country even though they have been here for years, followed our laws, and are working toward a pathway to citizenship.”
Senate30 July 2026Source ↗