Andy Kim
Senator for New Jersey · Democratic · United States
“Madam President, I will be quick here. I just want to say I hope we can be able to take this step and continue to move on. And as someone who is on the Commerce Committee, wanted to find ways to be able to engage.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“We don't know yet, which is why we are trying to set out, with the effort today, to recognize that the stakes are too high and that control comes from creating efforts like an AI safety board or in establishing more secure sandboxes for testing and other types of standards.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“When I was working in national security, the starting point of every conversation was, ``What is the magnitude of the problem that we are facing?'' and then to be able to work backward from there to understand what the magnitude is of the solution needed to actually address that problem.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Madam President, I thank my colleagues Senator Warner and Senator Schatz. This is really an invitation to all of our colleagues to be able to join us in this moment because this is a call from the American people to address their worries, to avoid disaster, and to give them a sense of stability and predictability.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“It is not just about China. It is about our ability to proliferate this technology all over the world. And whether or not all of these other countries are going to be choosing our technology or someone else's is going to depend on its performance and whether or not it carries risk.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Even still, today, we are standing here on the floor of the Senate, and we don't know how many of these types of instances have happened. I will be honest with you, I don't think the top AI companies fully know the total number of incidents and other challenges that they have faced.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
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“It is not just about China. It is about our ability to proliferate this technology all over the world. And whether or not all of these other countries are going to be choosing our technology or someone else's is going to depend on its performance and whether or not it carries risk. So us being able to do this isn't just about showing the American people that we have something safe and secure, it is about a product that we hope the rest of the world will very much engage on and be using and driving American innovation as well as American prosperity going forward. So that is something that, again, I hope we can work on together. I yield the floor.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Madam President, I will be quick here. I just want to say I hope we can be able to take this step and continue to move on. And as someone who is on the Commerce Committee, wanted to find ways to be able to engage. I agree on the importance of America leading the innovation of the future, but I don't think that that competition, especially vis-a-vis China, is mutually exclusive with the need to be able to engage with safety and security. We have pieces of the legislation, things that I have been pushing, like the MATCH Act, that are about us being able to further strengthen our innovative lead, and I hope that this body does take those measures up, as we have them before us in this very Congress. Within the end of the year, we can move forward on those types of steps. But as we are engaged in this, it is not just about the United States.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“We don't know yet, which is why we are trying to set out, with the effort today, to recognize that the stakes are too high and that control comes from creating efforts like an AI safety board or in establishing more secure sandboxes for testing and other types of standards. Control is necessary because we need to ensure that the technology does not outpace safety and common sense. I am grateful, again, to be working with my colleagues here and, again, to be, hopefully, working with all of our colleagues together on this shared agenda. That is what the American people are not just asking of us but are demanding of us to be able to do so that this bill can be part of a comprehensive approach that will help us maintain control and avoid the chaos that no American wants to see. With that, I yield to the Senator from Virginia.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Even still, today, we are standing here on the floor of the Senate, and we don't know how many of these types of instances have happened. I will be honest with you, I don't think the top AI companies fully know the total number of incidents and other challenges that they have faced. So when they have the question: What is the magnitude of the problem we are trying to solve, the answer right now is that we don't know. That is scary, that is worrisome, and that is something we should work incredibly hard to be able to address. Do we know just how much the move toward full recursive self- improvement is going to magnify these problems?”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“When I was working in national security, the starting point of every conversation was, ``What is the magnitude of the problem that we are facing?'' and then to be able to work backward from there to understand what the magnitude is of the solution needed to actually address that problem. Well, when I did a townhall 2 weeks ago, I had a constituent come up and ask me--because I was talking about the Hugging Face incident or some of the other news that we had seen of rogue AI agents breaking out. This one constituent asked me, he said: Well, how many times has this happened? How many times? Are we documenting it? How many times have we actually seen this? Look, the answer that I had to give, truthfully, was that we didn't know.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“That is something that we need to make sure we are meeting at this moment to ensure that the American people have control over the incredible strides that we are seeing on AI. Now, control can't be built on faith and half measures. Just yesterday, we saw again OpenAI saying that they are not going to release their newest model Astra because of security concerns. We have seen other major labs take some steps to mitigate. That is progress, but the stakes are too high for this to be just voluntary that big corporations take the right action just because it is the right thing to do.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Madam President, I thank my colleagues Senator Warner and Senator Schatz. This is really an invitation to all of our colleagues to be able to join us in this moment because this is a call from the American people to address their worries, to avoid disaster, and to give them a sense of stability and predictability. Yes, this effort we are putting forward today is not going to fix all of the problems; it is not going to avoid all of the pitfalls, but it is a start, and that is what the American people are looking for. They are looking for a start. They are looking for action that we are taking not just in words but in recognizing, yes, innovation without control just leads to chaos and leads to unpredictability.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“It is not going to solve all the problems, but that is the point. It is about trying to build up that muscle memory in this Chamber that we need to find. It is a muscle memory that this Chamber has found in the past when it has confronted different national security challenges in the past. We need to find that yet again at a time of great division in this country but setting it aside for us to be able to, again, meet this moment. So I am just grateful, again, for the leadership of Senator Warner, Senator Schatz, and other Senators that we are engaged with. This is an invitation to others to join this effort to stand up and say: Let's get something done. Let's not get totally bogged down in just the divisions that we see stalling progress on so many other fronts. The American people are demanding of us to act. Now is our time.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“That has a lot of implications, but one is just the fact that no Senator in this Chamber is going to have all the answers. There is not a single one of us that knows all the answers. Neither do all the tech leaders. They don't know all the answers either. But that cannot be an excuse for inaction; that, instead, we should channel that humility and that urgency to be able to move forward and recognize we do not have time to be able to design something that will handle the entirety of all the concerns we face when it comes to AI and this technology we are concerned about but just say: Look, we need to be able to move forward, to show some progress, to show some responsiveness to the concerns raised by the American people. I think this legislation is that effort to try to come up with tangible things that will move the needle.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“And as excited as I am about seeing these two little boys grow up, I will be honest with you, I worry about what kind of world they are growing up in, the level of anxiety that I have as I see the type of technology that will define their generation. It will define not just their jobs and their education but so much about their security. So I think about them because it is not just us here in this Chamber; we are here because we are trying to answer the call of the American people. I just did a townhall the other week. Overwhelmingly, people are calling upon us, saying that they want urgency; they want this Chamber to move with the speed of urgency that they feel. So what I appreciate here is that we are engaged in this effort right now to do one simple thing, which is meet the moment.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“This path of mine started just a little over 25 years ago when I saw from my own home State of New Jersey the threats that we faced on national security because of September 11. I was not someone who thought I was going into national security until that day, but by 6 p.m. on September 11, I said that I am going to do and dedicate the rest of my life to doing everything I can to try to keep this country safe. Yes, that led to a lot of work in war zones and on counterterrorism, but it was always about this broader goal of, how do we ensure that safety? I come at this now not just as someone who is concerned about national security but as a father of two little boys, one of whom just celebrated his 11th birthday yesterday.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“Madam President, I want to thank my colleagues Senator Warner and Senator Schatz for working with me and working on this project going forward. I actually find this experience here being on the Senate floor right now really important because we are here because this is what the American people want. The American people want their elected leaders to be focused on the concerns and the threats that they worry about, that keep them up at night. As mentioned by my colleague from Hawaii, I come to this Chamber as somebody who served in national security, someone who served under both Republican and Democratic Presidents, in war zones in Afghanistan to the Situation Room at the White House.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“And when we recess here shortly, I want to be able to go back to her and tell her what I heard, tell her what I tried to do, tell her what we tried to do here in the Senate. I wanted to tell her that I did everything that I could so she could breathe a little easier, be able to support her family in the way that she wants, that we--Democrats and Republicans--were able to come together and recognize that the cost to the American people is too great and that we need to work together to stop this war. So please, I ask my colleagues here at the Senate: Join me. Let's pass this resolution and do the right thing for the American people; do the right thing for our Constitution; do the right thing for our servicemembers in harm's way; do the right thing by ending this war. I yield the floor.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“Chaos is not a negotiating tactic. Trump is simply in over his head here. The entire administration is in over their head, and, again, the American people are the ones bearing this cost. As we talk about that cost to our future, the war has cost a lot of money. I have shared with you the costs at the gas pump. We see how much we have had to pay in the past for the previous wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. We do not want that going forward. I literally just yesterday celebrated the birthday of one of my sons. I do not want him and his generation to bear the burdens of these reckless decisions made by Trump. This is something we need to make sure we are pushing forward on. I think a lot about that woman in New Jersey that I mentioned. I wonder how she is holding up since I last talked to her, how she is bearing the cost of this war.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“They are getting footed the sacrifice. They are the ones that are bearing this brunt. When we have a third of Americans already unable to handle a $400 emergency, that is not theoretical, that is their life right now. We see it as we see estimates already of gas prices going up so much that it is--what?--over $115 billion more than American families have had to bear, nearly $900 per household more since the start of this war. And over and over again, is this making us safer and more secure? Very clearly, no. And we see that just with the continued attacks, the continued violence, the spread of this now with Saudi Arabia, the Houthis. We are seeing this all over the place through the Middle East. I have worked in war zones; I have worked in the Middle East as a State Department officer, as a diplomat; and I have seen where this heads.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“I want to talk a little bit more about why alleviating this cost is so important to the people we represent, to our national security, and to our future. When we hear from so many of our constituents, when I hear from a woman back home in New Jersey, she is talking about just the challenges that she is facing raising her family, about the challenges that she is seeing as gas prices continue to skyrocket, as mortgage rates are hitting higher and higher. She paused and she looked at me, she said-- all of this that is happening, the Iran war, all these different actions--she said: But what about us? What are we supposed to do? And her question is one that all of us should be considering here in the Chamber. What about the American people? What are they getting out of this? Well, they are getting footed the bill.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“We have lost at least 19 servicemembers, brave men and women; over 750 injured. It has cost us economic security. Inflation is up--gas prices, just filling up the grocery carts as well. These are costs that Donald Trump is bearing upon the American people. It is costing each and every one of our American families hard- earned taxpayer dollars. A report last week by the Congressional Budget Office showed that the war has cost nearly $40 billion in the first 4 months alone. It has cost us our readiness and our ability to keep Americans safe from global threats. These are the things that we are seeing that are making us weaker and why it is that we need to end this now. So with this vote today, we can alleviate the cost of the war.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“We have come to this Chamber 11 times, in the past 208 days, to try to bring this war to an end. I have been encouraged to see some of my colleagues join from across the aisle to do the right thing and join us. It is not just the right thing to do; it is the right thing to do right now. It is about standing up for our Constitution--that this war, which Donald Trump said would end in about a month, has lasted over six times as long; this war, which Donald Trump wouldn't even admit to being a war, has resulted in damage done to our national security and the spread of chaos across the Middle East and the world; and this war, which Donald Trump said was worth the cost, keeps costing the American people more and more. So what has it cost us? It has cost us American lives.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I rise today as Donald Trump continues to wage a war in Iran in our name, on our dime, but without our say--a war that is nearly 7 months old, a war that has cost Americans billions, a war that seemingly has no end in sight but that Congress has the authority to end. The Senate has just returned to the Capitol after over a month back home, and in that time, Americans have continued to be loud and clear at townhalls, at protests, and in letters and phone calls to our offices. They are sick and tired of this reckless and expensive war. They are sick and tired of this war, and they expect us to do something about it. This is a moment for us to step up and show the American people that we are listening and we are ready to take action. Democrats have taken action.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following Senators be permitted to speak: Kim for up to 8 minutes, Schiff for up to 8 minutes, Moreno for up to 20 minutes, Slotkin for up to 5 minutes, Merkley for up to 10 minutes, Murphy for up to 8 minutes, Baldwin for up to 5 minutes, Welch for up to 2 minutes, Kaine for up to 5 minutes, and Klobuchar for up to 5 minutes.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, on behalf of the two leaders, I ask the Chair to execute the order of August 8, 2026, with respect to H. Con. Res 89.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“We can reject this budget resolution and choose to support our neighbors who work hard but just need that little bit of help to stay healthy and achieve the American dream. Finally, we can reject this budget resolution and choose to support our seniors. We owe the best care to them in their golden years. This is the moment to show the 2 million New Jerseyans on Medicaid, the nearly 80 million Americans on Medicaid, and every other American across this country that we choose their well-being over the wealth and power of those who already have plenty. Let's reject this budget resolution and do the right thing for them. I yield the floor. ____________________”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“So when Republicans come to the floor with a budget that threatens to cut Medicaid so they can give tax cuts and tax breaks to the ultrarich, the choice they are putting before us is making your lives worse and make their lives better. It is making your healthcare worse to make their bank accounts bigger. It is making your future more uncertain to make their futures brighter. That can't be an acceptable choice, and it is not one we have to make. We can reject this budget resolution and save Medicaid and save healthcare. We can reject this budget resolution and choose to support that expecting mother who just wants to give birth to a healthy child. We can reject this budget resolution and choose to support that child as they grow.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“The work she does every day is truly incredible. We should support our caregivers, should honor their service, and cutting the funding that allows them to do their job is not the way to do that. Kevin is 1 of more than 15.5 million people across America with a disability who are covered by Medicaid. He is 1 of approximately 4.5 million people who use Medicaid for home care workers like Edna. The choice we are facing is abandoning those Americans like Kevin and Edna, who just need basic care, or giving another tax cut to those at the very top. For me, that is not a choice. Finally, as we go through adulthood and age, Medicaid becomes more important than ever. Seniors across our Nation are relying on Medicaid for the care they need to live. Sixty percent of nursing home residents in New Jersey use Medicaid to pay for care.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“I'm really scared for my parents who are about to retire. . . . I'm scared for myself, someone who also has multiple health issues and is trying to keep down a full-time job despite it all. These are the people that need help. Our neighbors who sometimes need the most help are those who are disabled. In New Jersey, one out of every three working-age adults with a disability is on Medicaid. Just last month, I invited Kevin Nunez--a disabled New Jerseyan and an advocate for his community--down to the Capitol. Kevin relies on Medicaid for his care, his caregiver, his basic quality of life. I brought him to the Capitol because I wanted Donald Trump to have to face someone whose healthcare he was threatening to take away. But it wasn't just Kevin there at the Capitol; we saw his caregiver Edna there.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Caroline called my office asking that I oppose this budget plan. When she outlined her reason for not cutting Medicaid, she spoke in the clearest possible terms: I will die if there are cuts to Medicaid. Caroline is disabled. Her daughter takes care of her through the Managed Long-Term Services and Supports Program. She ended her message by saying: Please, I need help. A lot of us need your help. These are the people that need help, not Elon Musk, not the billionaires. It is people like Caroline from Hackettstown. Caroline called my office because her brother is on Medicaid. He is scheduled to get heart surgery in the next couple of months--something that is scary enough when you have the certainty of healthcare. But Caroline doesn't have that if her brother's Medicaid is cut. She said: I'm really scared for him.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Jamie told reporters that one of David's medications ``can cost up to $1,000 a month.'' She said that if Republicans are successful in cutting Medicaid, ``we would have to choose--are we going to eat? pay the bills? or keep him alive?'' She said, ``It is a life-or-death situation.'' So when Republicans are talking about cutting Medicaid to hand tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, the choice they are making is to leave people like Nicole and Jordan, like Jamie and David behind. At some point, our children grow up and leave, but even then, so many across this country rely on Medicaid for their basic care. In New Jersey, one in seven adults between the ages of 19 and 64 is covered by Medicaid. When you look at the choice ahead of us between care and tax cuts for the superrich, I want you to think about Caroline from Mount Holly.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“When you take away Medicaid, you are not just taking away care, you are taking away the peace of mind that parents deserve. You are taking away the ability for parents to look their kids in the eye and say: It is going to be OK. I wanted to share with you two stories that have stuck with me. I heard from Nicole, a mother from New Jersey who has a developmentally disabled son, Jordan. Jordan is 24. His mother said that a Medicaid cut would be ``catastrophic.'' She said that the care she receives from Medicaid is ``vitally important.'' That sense of importance and urgency I heard from Nicole I saw echoed from Jamie from Hazlet. Jamie's son David was born paralyzed, nonverbal, and he is relying on a feeding tube.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“So when Republicans are saying we need to cut Medicaid, remember that it is Elon Musk who wins and those expecting parents who lose. When those children are born into the world, tens of millions rely on Medicaid. Nationally, about 40 percent of children are enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. In New Jersey, one-third of children--one in three kids in my State--are enrolled in Medicaid. As a father of a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old, I can tell you that the most important thing is knowing that your kids are healthy. There are a lot of things that are outside of your control as a parent. You can do everything right, but sometimes you just need help. Kids get sick, and having that assurance that they can get the care they need is an important thing.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Madam President, I rise today to tell the stories of the nearly 2 million New Jerseyans who rely on Medicaid for their critical care. I do this because their care is at risk. I do this because the care of more than 72 million Americans across our country enrolled in Medicaid is at risk. They are at risk because Republicans in the House and the Senate have chosen to take away their care so that Elon Musk and the very richest Americans can pay a little less in taxes. That is the choice they have thrust upon the American people. It is a choice that I don't believe they truly understand, so I would like to take some of my time today on the floor to explain what happens when we choose Elon Musk's well-being over the people we have sworn to serve.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“I encourage my colleagues, again: Reject this nomination so that every parent in America can go to sleep having trust in a person tasked with ensuring that our children will be healthy in the morning. I yield the floor.”
Senate12 February 2025Source ↗
“For our working families struggling to pay the bills, I vote no.”
Senate5 February 2025Source ↗
“We need to reject divisiveness that is infecting our Nation and restore a sense of trust. We start by rejecting this dangerous nomination to do just that. I yield the floor.”
Senate5 February 2025Source ↗
“And although I know this chaos is unnerving and it is frightening, the American people can rest assured that we will fight this chaos and focus on what matters most here: protecting you from the blatant corruption that is the administration's attempt to take money from our working families and give handouts to those at the very top. Let's get to work. I yield the floor.”
Senate29 January 2025Source ↗
“For the sake of our country and our national security, I encourage my colleagues who want to support this President to oppose this nomination and bring forth another nominee more qualified for the role, more ready for the role. I encourage my colleagues who want to deliver change to oppose this nomination and bring forth another nominee with the experience and credibility to deliver it. I encourage my colleagues who want to make our country safe, who want to make our world a more stable place, and who want to leave a legacy of peace and strength, to oppose this nomination and bring us a nominee ready to deliver for the American people. I urge a ``no'' vote on Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.”
Senate24 January 2025Source ↗