Jeff Merkley
Senator for Oregon · Democratic · United States
“That is why we need to pass the bipartisan Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act on which I am so pleased to partner with my colleague Senator Curtis from Utah. This bill prepares our communities in two different ways. First, it makes it easier for communities to do prescribed burns.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that is certainly true when it comes to wildfires and smoke. And as climate chaos makes the fire season longer and hotter and more dangerous, wildfires are ravaging States across our country, certainly including my home State of Oregon.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Forests burning, grasslands burning, more lightning strikes, more wind, more drought, more dryness, hotter temperatures--all of it combined to create that extraordinarily destructive summer we have just gone through.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Second, this bill helps communities prepare for smoke, to have locations that are safe for people, particularly people with lung problems, with asthma or emphysema or so forth or people who are particularly allergic to the content of the smoke to be able to get to places that have clean air through filtering. So that is essential.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“They have to be meticulously planned, carefully controlled, and then they reduce so much fuel on the ground and provide a lot of protection thereafter. So prescribed burns are--along with thinning and mowing-- significant ways to reduce the fuel load and reduce the devastation when there is a fire.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“That is a pretty good foundation for a bill--a bill, the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act, that will give our communities the tools they need to prepare for wildfires and smoke pollution, and I would encourage that we adopt this bill today. I yield to one of my colleagues.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
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“That is a pretty good foundation for a bill--a bill, the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act, that will give our communities the tools they need to prepare for wildfires and smoke pollution, and I would encourage that we adopt this bill today. I yield to one of my colleagues.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Second, this bill helps communities prepare for smoke, to have locations that are safe for people, particularly people with lung problems, with asthma or emphysema or so forth or people who are particularly allergic to the content of the smoke to be able to get to places that have clean air through filtering. So that is essential. And this bill incorporates the Smoke-Ready Communities Program based on the Smoke and Heat Ready Communities Act that I introduced before. It gives communities the tools and the resources to prepare for wildfire smoke and unhealthy air. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“They have to be meticulously planned, carefully controlled, and then they reduce so much fuel on the ground and provide a lot of protection thereafter. So prescribed burns are--along with thinning and mowing-- significant ways to reduce the fuel load and reduce the devastation when there is a fire. But here is the thing: a prescribed burn produces smoke, and that smoke may become a penalty under the Clean Air Act for our communities. So this bill solves that problem so that smoke from a prescribed fire does not create a penalty under the Clean Air Act.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“That is why we need to pass the bipartisan Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act on which I am so pleased to partner with my colleague Senator Curtis from Utah. This bill prepares our communities in two different ways. First, it makes it easier for communities to do prescribed burns. Now, if I turned the clock back about 16 years, communities would say to me: We don't want those prescribed burns. We don't want that day or two of smoke. But after the 2020 Labor Day fires, communities are like: We want to do the prescribed burns. We want them carefully monitored so that they do not escape and cause a larger fire, which has happened on rare occasions. We want to make sure they are done on days when there is enough humidity and so little wind and so little risk of wind that they can't possibly become something other than the prescribed burns.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Forests burning, grasslands burning, more lightning strikes, more wind, more drought, more dryness, hotter temperatures--all of it combined to create that extraordinarily destructive summer we have just gone through. I will never forget 6 years ago the Labor Day fires, at the beginning of September, when we had a combination of lightning strikes and wind that brought, basically, a force up from the east, wind over the top of the Cascade Mountains and down every valley, and every valley was burning. We had six cities burn to the ground, and we had another six that were badly scorched. When you saw those cities, it looked like a bomb had gone off.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that is certainly true when it comes to wildfires and smoke. And as climate chaos makes the fire season longer and hotter and more dangerous, wildfires are ravaging States across our country, certainly including my home State of Oregon. This year, at the beginning of fire season, the risk maps showed that the State of Oregon was the epicenter of the highest risk for the most time anticipated. Unfortunately, that crystal ball prepared by the experts turned out to be right. We had a record 2.5 million acres burn this summer. Well, we broke the 2 million acres last summer and the 2.5 million acres this summer. It wasn't that long ago when 1 million acres would have been an extraordinarily horrific fire year.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to grant floor privileges to my interns on their shadow days at the following times: Sophie Adams on September 29; Kamryn Ford on September 30; Johnathan Propes on November 10; Phineas Papenfus on November 17; Benjamin Mueller on November 18; Henry Denner on December 1; Mubarika Shah on December 2; Kate Eames on December 8; Frances Currie on December 9; and Ana Sofia Mendoza on December 16.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Thank you. I think I am recognized. Would my colleague from Utah object if I come back with a proposal that we debate this for a limited amount of time so that this Chamber can weigh in on defending our Constitution?”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“That is why we made the Kennedy Center the memorial to Kennedy, because of his belief in elevating the human spirit. Let us not let it be torn down. As if in legislative session, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the bill at the desk that would prohibit the demolition of the Presidential memorials; that the bill be considered read three times and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“It is that straightforward--us standing up for the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the fact we are a Republic; and standing up for the fact that our Nation wept at the assassination of John Kennedy, and this is the memorial that we go to to remember him. So I ask, on behalf of myself and Senator Murkowski--she asked me to carry her spirit into this conversation tonight. So on her behalf and myself, and Senators Van Hollen and Reed and Whitehouse, the bill says: A memorial to honor a President designated by Congress may not be demolished unless the demolishment is authorized. President Kennedy said: I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for our victories or our defeats in battle or politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“But the situation got a lot worse on September 16. Photojournalists captured images that show Trump looking at a large poster, talking about demolishing the Kennedy Center. The words said: ``Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.'' Trump believes that if he can't take over and name it after himself and swipe Kennedy's name off of it, no one can go to perform and no one can go to listen to someone perform. In fact, the building must not remain standing. So my bill tonight--this very short bill--simply says: A memorial to honor a President of the United States designated by an Act of Congress may not be demolished unless authorized by an Act of Congress. It is that simple.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“You are shutting down the beating heart of our arts world that reverberates across America because the President can't put his name on it? What kind of children are serving on that Board? And what kind of childish tantrum was thrown by the President of the United States shutting down the Kennedy Center? Shortly afterward, Trump implied on Truth Social that the Kennedy Center would not reopen until he had his name on it. Let's be clear, this is an aging building. It needs maintenance. It needs to have old boilers replaced and electrical wiring updated and old seats modified and ceiling tiles, water damage fixed. There is a lot of work to do, standard types of maintenance. You don't shut down the building to do these types of maintenance. But he can't have his name on it. So he is shutting it down for 2 years.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“After all, he is our King. He is our imperial leader. He is the ``on high'' who can do any damn thing he wants in this country. He can start wars when the Constitution says he can't start wars. He can spend money on projects where the Constitution says he can't spend money on projects. And, boy, did it infuriate him that a judge said he had to follow the law. How dare we have a judge stand in his way? So he called into the Kennedy Center Board meeting to scream at a Board member, Congresswomen Joyce Beatty. Beatty had filed the lawsuit defending the Kennedy Center. Minutes later, the Board voted to shut down the Kennedy Center for 2 years because President Trump couldn't have his name on it. Oh, they said: Well, we will shut it down for renovations.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“I mean, I had never heard a cello played except for the kind of slow, droning sounds of my sister when she was learning the cello. I mean, this was just amazing. And I have been there when President Trump was in the Presidential box. Politics set aside; American people rejoicing in the arts in this living memorial to President Kennedy, our President who was slain. Constitutionally, the separation of powers means no President can ignore laws passed by Congress, which is exactly what a Federal judge ruled on May 29 of this year. He said that the President cannot rename the Kennedy Center unless Congress approves it because Congress, by law, made the Kennedy Center a living memorial to the President--by law. And you can't undo the law unless you pass a new law.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“And there is a stark difference in the ways that the two Presidents' names were added to this building. In 1964, the U.S. Congress passed a law to remember President Kennedy's commitment to the arts. That was the legislation that made the Kennedy Center this living memorial. And then, in 2025, Donald Trump broke that law by renaming the Kennedy Center after himself. It is wrong--constitutionally, legislatively, morally. Morally, the Kennedy Center has been a place for generations where people of both parties go to celebrate the arts. They put aside their politics. They honor America's artists. They revel in incredible performances. Back in 1977, I dropped out of college for a year to be here, to be here during the first year of the Carter administration to see how a new administration would shape a change of course for our Nation.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“He wants to demolish this enormously incredible building, which hosts operas and plays and ballets, concerts, the Kennedy Center's Honors Program that is watched by millions of Americans every year celebrating our Nation's most revered artists. But the doors have been locked shut at the Kennedy Center. How did that happen? Last year, when President Trump won election, took office, he filled the Board of the Kennedy Center with loyalists. He installed himself as chairman. He renamed the institution after himself, not because he asked for legislation to do so but because, with his imperial mindset, he can put his name on anything he wants because he is the imperial ruler of our country. But we are not a nation with an imperial ruler, a man sitting on a throne to whom people must genuflect. We are a Republic.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Following President Kennedy's assassination, Congress renamed the National Cultural Center the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as a ``living memorial'' to our slain President--a ``living memorial'' to our slain President. I was in second grade on the West Coast. The word came. Everything shut down immediately. The Nation wept. And this is the way we honored President Kennedy. It was a fitting memorial to a President who reminded us: The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of the nation, is close to the center of a nation's purpose. But now we are in a chapter where President Trump wants to demolish this memorial.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I would like to think that at least, as those in the Senate carried the oath of our office to defend the prerogatives of our Constitution and separation of powers, we could at least debate such a bill rather than block it. Unanimous Consent Request Mr. President, I have a second bill I would like to see us pass tonight by unanimous consent. To be summed up in a sentence, a memorial to honor a President of the United States, designated by an act of Congress, may not be demolished unless authorized by an act of Congress. This has, of course, to do with the President planning to demolish the Kennedy Center. Kennedy said: A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, [and] the men it remembers. And those words have taken on special meaning this month.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“I would ask my colleague from Utah--and I appreciate his staying for this--if I reframe this, if I come back and say unanimous consent, if I come back tomorrow and say let's have debate for an hour on this and actually vote on it, would you object to that or would you approve that, let us debate it and consider it?”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“So this arch, it distorts our very premise and soul of our country as a Republic. It disregards the separation of powers of our Constitution. It disrupts the air safety of DC's Reagan National Airport, and it disrespects the services and the sacrifices of our veterans buried at Arlington Cemetery. This legislation is very simple and cosponsored by several of my colleagues, and it simply says this: that this arch cannot be built without authorization in law. Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of this bill at the desk and that the bill be considered read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Back when I was working for the Secretary of Defense, I traveled through Arlington Cemetery a lot. It is a sacred place. More than 400,000 military servicemembers are laid to rest there across the river. The Americans buried there died defending a Republic by and for the people, not defending a dictator or a sovereign, not defending an imperial regime. A triumphal arch in the tradition of dictators and authoritarians is an insult to their sacrifice defending our Republic. Veterans and their families have come forth and said: Please don't do this. The observation deck that Trump wants to build violates the solemnity of the cemetery's hallowed grounds. As one Gold Star mother put it--a Gold Star mother is someone who lost her son or daughter in battle--she said: We don't need tourists overlooking the funerals.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Can someone please explain to him that launching drones into the air with oncoming jets is a bad idea. Just last year, 67 civilians were killed in a flash of light when a plane collided there with a military helicopter. In August of this year, the Presidential helicopter Marine One lifted off at the same time as a jet was taking off from the airport, and that gave a lot of people anxiety. They did not hit each other, thankfully, but close calls are scary as hell. And now Trump says the arch will house a large number of drones to be launched up in the air to counter national security threats. Launching drones directly into the approach of DC's airports is a reckless invitation for a collision. And Trump's proposed arch disrespects the sacrifices of our veterans and their families.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“But there has been no legislative process in this Congress or any prior Congress that said something about putting a massive arch, disrupting the connection between the Mall and the Lincoln Monument and the Arlington Cemetery. No such discussion has taken place. No congressional deliberation. No congressional authorization. No congressional funding. And yet Trump is planning to divert funds from other accounts while American families are struggling--struggling--because of the high cost of gas and diesel and groceries, fertilizer. Everyone is hurting, but Trump wants to build this massive monument to himself in violation of the very premises of our Constitution. And now he has this brilliant idea. He says he is the smartest man around. His brilliant idea is to launch drones into the air in the runway up to the Reagan Airport.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I come to the floor to propose that Democrats and Republicans join together to stop a monumentally horrific idea, an idea called Trump's triumphal arch. It distorts our history while destroying historic views. It disregards the Constitution's separation of powers. It disrupts air safety at DC's Ronald Reagan Airport, and it disrespects the sacrifices of our veterans and their families. How much worse could an idea possibly be? Then, when Trump encountered fierce pushback about this unfunded, unauthorized construction, he invoked a national security justification, saying the arch would house drones and snipers and ammunition. This is a replay of the justification that he used on his billion-dollar ballroom, gold-plated boondoggle.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to grant floor privileges to Mina Basmaci for the length of this Congress.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“I do not understand why any Member of the Senate would object to defending freedom of speech here in the United States of America.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, this resolution says the Senate condemns China for a systematic campaign of transnational repression, affirms that all individuals residing in the United States have the right to live free from foreign government intimidation, coercion, and surveillance. I do not understand--”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“Let's send this powerful, bipartisan message that in the United States of America, people are free to speak, that authoritarians don't get to bring their repression onto our American soil. With that, let us fulfill our oath that we took to our Constitution to defend it, including defending our freedom of speech, and unanimously pass this resolution that says that the long arm of Chinese authoritarianism is unwelcome here in the United States, that it is unacceptable here in the United States. And to do that, Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consideration of Calendar No. 247, S. Res.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“There are lots of other discussions taking place about ships, about critical minerals, about trade, but absolutely we should affirm as a Senate that we stand behind freedom of speech and reject China's ability and authority to intimidate, stalk, and oppress people on our soil. This week, I led my Senate and House colleagues in a letter to Secretary of State Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and others urging them to protect our freedom of speech here at home. As noted by the FBI, ``If you are in the United States, including a U.S. territory, your freedoms are protected.'' That sums it up. Your freedoms are protected. And that is why we need to send this message.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“Beijing has been abusing international institutions, like Interpol and the U.N., to smear and stalk people who are testifying to what is happening to the Uighurs, what is happening in Hong Kong, what is happening to the Tibetan children. In July, Beijing made their long arm of authoritarianism official law. Article 63 of a new Chinese law called the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law claims authority for the Chinese Government to hold people and organizations outside of China legally liable for undermining unity and creating division. That is obviously code for ``criticizing the Chinese Government.'' It is unacceptable that we are allowing this to happen right here. We want to reinforce President Trump in conveying to Premier Xi that this is not OK or acceptable.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“I was struck by a woman in California who said: This individual walked up to me, said ``We know where your family is located in China,'' and walked away. Why did that happen? Because she had expressed disagreement with some of the policies of China, particularly their oppressive strategies back home. Last week, I spoke with a woman who told me that a member of her family had criticized the Chinese Government, and in retaliation, the Chinese Government had arrested dozens of her family members, not one or two--it should be zero--but dozens. I spoke with journalists from Radio Free Asia. More than 70 relatives of Radio Free Asia's Uighur news service have been imprisoned or harassed in China in retaliation for reporting done here in the United States by American journalists.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“We have seen what they have done to enslave the Uighurs with facial recognition technology. We have seen what they have done to force Tibetan children into boarding schools. We have seen what they have done in Hong Kong to arrest and imprison those who criticize the Chinese Government. We have seen their journalists jailed for reporting the truth. But it hasn't been enough for China simply to conduct these practices on Chinese soil; they are exporting those practices here to the United States of America. Freedom House calls this ``the long arm of authoritarianism.'' It is stretching beyond the borders of China, all around the world--countless stories of how China has intimidated people on our soil into silence.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, the Chinese Government will do anything, at any cost, anywhere in the world to silence its critics. Freedom House has documented hundreds of cases of the Chinese Government stalking, intimidating, even assaulting people outside of China, people all around the world--a lot of people right here in our United States of America. This stalking and intimidation of people on our soil is absolutely unacceptable. This goes by the term ``transnational repression.'' It is China taking its tactics of suppressing dissent and extending them right here where we have freedom of speech in the United States of America.”
Senate24 September 2026Source ↗
“I know there are a lot of Members who don't want to have to have that debate because they are afraid they will get it wrong--they will make a vote for war and it will be a disaster or they will vote against war and their constituents will disagree. But shirking the responsibility is unacceptable. So strap your big-boy pants on and do the work we were elected under our Constitution to do.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“Negotiators and facilitators of negotiators have proceeded to suggest a 10-day cease-fire to enable return to try to work out some of the details from that previous 14-point outline to solve this war. I support that effort because the path we are on is hurting America in every possible way and hurting a whole lot of civilians overseas. So let's embrace and exercise our constitutional responsibility and pass Senator Van Hollen's War Powers Resolution to end this reckless war of choice. If the President ignores it after we have passed it, then let's collectively insist on defending the role of the Senate and the House under our Constitution to be the place where the decisions are made about going to war. It is time that we honor our responsibility.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“Trump now claims the main mission of this war is to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But Iran's highly enriched uranium--that it only has because he tore up the agreement that prevented them from having that--is buried deep underground, so there is no easy way to extract it. If there is no easy way to extract it, how is this war supposed to solve that? So the administration now believes negotiations are essential to be able to withdraw because there is no military answer. Maybe if we had had a debate here in Congress, we would have discussed the fact that there was no military strategy that would result in the extraction of that highly enriched uranium, that it would have to be done by agreement. So we are in the fifth month of Trump trying to bomb his way to an answer, the fifth month of that strategy failing.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“What is $1.5 billion compared to the hundreds of billions of dollars that Trump was providing to Iran in the 14-point agreement? Now we are hearing reports that homes have been hit, schools have been hit, hospitals have been hit. We are taking out bridges. The President is bragging about doing that. There was a report that two desalination plants have been hit in Iran. We don't have confirmation of it. I asked the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff yesterday if indeed we had targeted or hit desalination plants. He said he didn't know but that he would get back to us. So I am looking forward to getting that information. And why is that important? Because targeting a desalination plant is widely considered to be a war crime. So I hope those reports are wrong. Why is it a war crime?”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“And who tore up that agreement and created a pathway for Iran to potentially covertly pursue a bomb? That man is President Trump. So President Trump destroys the international agreement that prevents pursuit of a nuclear weapon and then proceeds to start a war to achieve the same result. And then he discovers the war doesn't work, so he has a 14-point plan. Well, that plan kind of was jaw-dropping, particularly to my Republican colleagues. It called for America to organize an international Marshall Plan for Iran with some $300-plus million of help. It called for immediate access for Iran to some $24 billion of funds--after they had spent a decade complaining about Iran getting access to $1.5 billion, under the previous agreement, of its own money.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“In the beginning, Trump said this war was one we entered because Binyamin Netanyahu was going to bomb Iran anyway, and there would be retaliation so we might as well join the war with him. That was the justification for the United States going to war? Eventually, he got around to saying: This is about the nuclear materials and making sure that they don't make a nuclear bomb. Our Director of National Intelligence had been very clear that Iran had never made a decision to build a bomb.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“President Trump promised to lower prices and end wars, but he has raised prices, and he has started a war. Trump posted on Truth Social: From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz . . . the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran. From the beginning, President Trump thought the power to bomb was his ace up his sleeve. Is President Trump a strategic analyst of wars? No. He just had this instinct--his gut--saying: We have more bombs than they do, so they will fold. But he was wrong. And through this campaign, he just keeps repeating the same thing: If they don't do what we want, we will bomb them even more. We will bomb them even more--the echo time and time and time again.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“We would have heard from the experts who would say: You understand the Strait of Hormuz is a very narrow channel, and Iran has cruise missiles that can proceed to hit ships in the strait, so they have cards to play. We would have debated that if we had had that debate and carried out our constitutional responsibility. We would have observed that that would have a horrific impact on American families. We would have observed that it would have a terrible impact on American farmers. But we didn't observe that because we didn't hold the debate. But, say you: Did we not hold oversight hearings at least? Not a single one--another failure of our constitutional responsibility. This group of Senators, through the committees, not a single oversight hearing of the war.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz was open. Now it is closed. That certainly doesn't benefit us or the world. It has driven up the cost of gas; it has driven up the inflation rate. So Americans, in addition to $40 billion of their collective treasure, are paying out of their pocket so much more at the pump. The price in Oregon has been over $5 a gallon. Farmers, they have lost too. They were already hit hard by the tariffs, but now they are hit by the high diesel prices to operate their machinery and by the high cost of fertilizer, all of which could be envisioned if there had been a debate here over whether we should go to war with Iran.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“In fact, President Trump proceeded to say that we would no longer enforce the restriction on the Russian sale of oil so they could sell at the world price. Billions and billions of dollars flowed into Russia because of this war--billions and billions of dollars that could be used in the war against Ukraine. That is a war started by a dictatorship against a democratic republic that we should be standing with. We should be standing with the people of Ukraine, not enriching Russia to buy more weapons to attack them. The taxpayers, they are certainly losers--$40 billion of national treasure was the estimate given to us yesterday from the Secretary of Defense. And by all estimates, that doesn't include repairing all of the facilities damaged throughout the Middle East that the United States is involved in.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“We just got through with a conversation about the fact that this Congress asked for a coin to be minted that reflected the values of our Nation upon our 250 years since our Declaration of Independence, but instead Trump did what dictators do, just as Caesar broke Roman tradition to put his face on a coin and to declare dictator forever, ``dictator in perpetuity,'' just as King George III put his face on a coin to reflect that power came from him down to the people rather than flowing up from the people--that is a mega difference between an authoritarian state and a democratic republic.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“But we are not--need I remind you--a strongman authoritarian state--at least we are not by our Constitution. We are a democratic Republic, so let's start acting like it and let's start honoring the structure of our Constitution. That structure assigns the power of the purse to Congress. So every single Senator should be down here protesting when the President cancels a program that has been authorized and funded. Every single Senator should be down here protesting when the President creates a slush fund to do projects that are not authorized and not funded--that is our responsibility. Unfortunately, this Chamber has failed, for the most part, to defend its role and to defend the Constitution.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“Madison summarized: The Constitution supposes, what the history of all governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. [The Constitution] has accordingly, with studied care, vested the question of war in the Legislative [branch]. That is us. That is us. It is not the President. And the reasoning was that an Executive can too easily make assumptions that something will be quick and easy, but you are committing the lives of our citizens--you are committing the treasure of the Nation--and that should require careful consideration. One person alone, our Founders said, should not be able to take a Republic to war. That is what Kings do. That is what authoritarian strongmen do.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“President Trump announced new strikes on Iran, and we are now in the 21st week of that 4- to 5-week war. Time and time again, leaders think they can launch a war and make a series of assumptions that prove to be wrong, and here we are again. We were wrong with the assumption you could occupy Afghanistan and build something resembling a modern democratic nation. We were wrong in spending our resources to attack Iraq, which was a counterbalance to Iran and undid this balance in a way that created Iranian influence through an arc that extended clear across to Lebanon. You know, our Constitution clearly assigns the question of war to Congress. So to my Republican colleagues: Why aren't you insisting that Congress make this decision rather than the President?”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“Operation Epic Fury has become ``Operation Epic Failure.'' On February 28, President Trump and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu launched this unconstitutional war against Iran. President Trump was asked how long would this last. He said: 4 or 5 weeks. He talked about how our overwhelming military power would produce Iranian leaders who would plead--who would plead--for an unconditional surrender. Mr. President, 16 weeks later, the war was still going on, but then there was agreement to a 14-point outline of a cease-fire agreement. But because it was just an outline, because the countries hadn't worked out their different understandings of the points, just as President Trump completely blotched the war, he completely blotched the negotiation; so it was back to war.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“Thank you. The Senator appreciates your pronunciation of my home State, which people across America have a hard time often figuring out. Mr. President, I am here tonight joining my colleague from Wisconsin on a very serious topic: that our Nation is at war; that our servicemembers are dying; that for every one who dies, so many are injured--a war that is absolutely hurting us in every possible way.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗
“And I know my colleague is not planning to run for reelection and won't be here next year. I am going to miss that a great deal. But we still have time and several other things that we are working on together, and maybe that is a topic we will switch to in our next conversation. Thank you.”
Senate22 July 2026Source ↗