Mr. President, this week, there are advocates here in Congress with the American Cancer Society to advocate for cancer research and prevention. This is lifesaving work, and no one does it better than our researchers. In my home State of Washington, we have a lot of incredibly smart people who have been making a lot of incredible breakthroughs for patients, and we have a lot of passionate advocates who have been fighting to support their work. I have lost track of how many times I have visited the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, but every time, I am just blown away by the work they are doing. And they aren't the only ones. This isn't just about advancing science though. It is about saving lives and finding new treatments and therapies and cures that give hope to help patients fighting for their lives. Cancer research has a long history of bipartisan support here in Congress. But some of my colleagues across the aisle seem to need a reminder and a wake-up call because under President Trump, we have seen some reckless moves to undermine medical research, including cancer research. Research funding has been pulled without reason, without warning, and without any thought for the consequences. This administration has tossed clinical trials into chaos, promising cures into limbo, and threatened to abandon our historic global research and leadership in medical research. Just this week, a new report in the New York Times detailed how research into a rare pediatric brain cancer was totally upended because Trump yanked the funding. That research is halted and that researcher is forced to move on to topics that don't rely on NIH funding. It is worth remembering, for many of our rare, deadly diseases, cures are not viewed as a payday for private investors, which makes NIH not just the best hope for finding a cure but the only hope for desperate patients, at least before Trump came along and stopped funding. And that new article, which details other research Trump has sidetracked as well, is just scratching the surface of how bad this is. I have heard firsthand from researchers who have seen their work disrupted and students who are considering leaving the United States to continue their studies. I have also received heartbreaking updates from patients, like a mom in my State fighting colon cancer who had her shot at a critical clinical trial taken away by Trump's chaotic, illegal funding cuts. And now, R.F.K., Jr., has cut off all Federal funding for mRNA research, one of the most promising new technologies for cancer treatments. This is so damaging. In addition to supporting the research that finds new cures, we also need to make sure patients can actually access and afford those cures. That means we have to protect health coverage that helps cancer patients get care. That is why I am fighting to undo damaging Medicaid cuts Republicans passed and to extend the healthcare tax credits that are helping millions of families afford coverage right now. We have to make a strong case for cancer research and prevention with facts, science, patient stories, and our voices. And I believe speaking out can have a real impact here because when I talk to colleagues on both sides, it is clear there is consensus we should not let years of leadership fall to the wayside. In fact, in our Senate funding bill, the bipartisan bill that we passed through the Appropriations Committee, we were able to reject some of these damaging cuts and make serious investments in cancer research. But we do have more work ahead to get these bipartisan medical research investments signed into law. I will not stop pushing for that. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, what is the status of the floor? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is in a quorum call. Mr. HEINRICH. I would ask unanimous consent to offer remarks as if in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is in a quorum call. Mr. HEINRICH. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, over the last few days, the American people have felt the painful consequences of Trump's disastrous funding freeze. Seniors who count on Meals on Wheels have wondered whether they would have dinner this week. Head Start teachers in red States and blue States have panicked over whether they would have the funds needed to keep their doors open and take care of kids. Disaster relief for people who have endured the unimaginable and have been knocked off their feet was thrown into jeopardy. Grant programs to help firefighters do their jobs, to combat the fentanyl crisis, to get families healthcare--and so much more--have been, in an instant, at risk of evaporating into thin air. I heard from a Tribe in my State concerned they would have to lay off hundreds of staff providing essential services for the Tribe. That could mean putting everything from providing healthcare to housing in jeopardy because of the President's freeze. A shelter for homeless youth in my State still--still--can't access its HUD funding and is staring down a $3 million deficit, forcing them to hold an emergency board meeting to figure out what, if anything, they can now do. Hospitals in my State are worried that programs which are appropriately focused on someone's gender or race are in jeopardy, like how pulse oximeters don't work as well as on dark skin, so they need other pathways to be found. The chaos and the confusion, the needless stress and distraction are the result of having a President who is more focused on the billionaires who now fill his administration than on the plight of regular people all over this country. But yesterday, because the American people spoke up loud and clear, Donald Trump retreated from his devastating blanket funding freeze. However, make no mistake, there is still far too much chaos on the ground, and Trump is still blocking billions of dollars for communities across the country--in every one of our States--through these Executive orders. We are talking about critical funding to rebuild our roads and bridges, resources that are already creating thousands of good-paying, new clean energy jobs in every State of this country, and critical global investments that help keep America safe. This is so completely unacceptable. So, today, I am calling on President Trump to take four simple, commonsense steps. First of all, he needs to ensure that every last dollar--down to the last penny--that was caught up in this disastrous blanket funding freeze gets out the door. Secondly, he needs to rescind his Executive orders that are still, at this very moment, ripping funding away from American families and communities. Third, he needs to withdraw Russell Vought's nomination to oversee our Nation's budget. It is clear that the person who masterminded so much of this chaos doesn't belong anywhere near the Office of Management and Budget. Finally, President Trump needs to abandon, once and for all, his illegal scheme to skirt around our laws and block funding that American workers and families are counting on. I am not asking for a lot here: Ensure every dollar held up by this illegal freeze is restored; stop the ongoing effort to block funding; withdraw the mastermind of this chaos; and simply follow the law. The American people deserve better than the catastrophe we have witnessed this week. They deserve to know that the investments Trump is currently holding up--to rebuild the highway they drive to work on or to lower their energy costs or so much more--will make it out the door. If the President is so intent on opposing funding for infrastructure projects and good-paying American jobs, he needs to sit down at the negotiating table and make his case to Congress. I will not let the President rip up the Constitution or rip money away from our communities. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak out on behalf of the American people about the Trump administration's unjust and unconstitutional cutoff of Federal grants and assistance programs. Donald Trump's administration isn't governing. It is not delivering for the American people. It is stealing from our public services, from Meals on Wheels to community health centers, to housing for our veterans. From day one, Donald Trump's administration has careened from chaos to self-induced crises. American families and workers are left guessing whether lifesaving services, school lunches, help paying for home heating, basic healthcare, and public safety are going to be funded day by day. The collective outrage of literally everyone in this country, along with lawsuits filed over its illegal behavior, got Donald Trump's administration to rescind its latest memo to cut off Federal money. But the chaos continues. The confusion continues. The Federal funding witch hunt continues. The Trump administration has made clear they intend to proceed with their cruel plan of stalling or stopping essential Federal funding. They will lie, disregard Congress, and now they are bypassing the courts. We will need all of our collective engagement to make sure that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their unelected, unqualified henchmen keep our services going and stop breaking the law because the American people are paying the price on a daily basis. The consequences--the consequences--of Trump's Federal funding cutoff are already far-reaching, and they are devastating. Doctors were told to turn away patients when the Medicaid payment portals were down. The organizations that are the backbone of our country--food pantries, vocational services--are looking at laying people off. Veterans might be getting evicted as their rent payments don't come through. There might not be someone on the other end of the phone at the national suicide hotline. Think about what that might mean to someone in crisis. I say again, this funding was sent by Congress to provide necessary services to our constituents in all States, red and blue alike. It is essential, and it has already been signed into law--passed by the U.S. House, passed on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and signed by a President. This is what the American Revolution was all about. When the redcoats were coming down Massachusetts Avenue, heading toward Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts in 1775, the Minutemen and -women were coming out, and they were all saying the same thing: no taxation without representation. The King would not give the American Colonies any members of Parliament. They kept begging for the ability to have representation. So after the American Revolution, and they wrote the Constitution, the first article is to create a House and Senate and to give that first article the power of the purse, the power to spend money. They made it very clear. That is what the Revolution was about. So I say again, this funding was sent by Congress--article I--to provide necessary services to our constituents in all States. If the Trump administration claims this funding ``does not improve the day-to- day lives of those we serve,'' then there is just one question every American should be asking the President: Who do you serve? Because it certainly isn't the everyday Americans who will wake up tomorrow without heat in their house, their medicine, or a roof over their head. The Trump administration said it is targeting ``Green New Deal social engineering.'' When Trump says he wants to end the Green New Deal, he wants to end union battery manufacturing jobs in Ohio; he wants to end rebates that help American families afford new air-conditioners and heaters; he wants to keep school districts from getting clean buses to take kids to school; he wants to end programs that help our communities rebuild after a disaster, such as the fires in Los Angeles or the hurricanes that devastated Georgia and North Carolina. What Trump is doing with this so-called freeze, with his Executive orders, with his firing of inspectors general and government regulators, is an unconstitutional, illegal power grab. But here is the truth: Trump can't get rid of the Green New Deal because there is no stopping a mobilization and a movement once it is galvanized. The Green New Deal doesn't stop until the climate crisis stops. The Green New Deal doesn't stop until fossil fuel billionaires stop lining their pockets while our cities burn to the ground. I introduced the Green New Deal resolution nearly 6 years ago with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Its values and jobs and justice and climate action are now core parts of our economy and our society. Clearly Trump's unelected bureaucrats are terrified of the power of union jobs, clean air and clean water, and climate action. They are trying to break our country's laws in order to break our movement. We cannot let them do that. We know we face an uphill battle with a climate denier-in-chief. He doesn't have a Cabinet that he has appointed; he has a cartel that he is putting in place. You know the saying ``money talks''? Well, we heard the money talk loud and clear with Donald Trump's day-one Executive actions, which were a parade of price-gouging fossil fuel giveaways. His energy agenda isn't American dominance; it is the dominance of his donors over our energy policy. It is not ``all of the above''; it is ``oil above all.'' Yes, drill, baby, drill, but kill solar. Kill wind. Kill all-electric vehicles. Kill the Green Revolution. Kill it. It is not ``all of the above''; it is taking care of all of his fossil fuel donor buddies. He made a promise that if he won, he would kill the competition; he would kill the Darwinian paranoia-inducing competition that is happening with wind and solar and all-electric vehicles and battery storage technologies and any technologies that reduce greenhouse gases, which are dangerously warming our planet. And why are they doing that? Because Big Oil and Big Gas are running scared. Fossil fuels have been getting outcompeted by wind and solar and all-electric vehicles. The Big Oil and Big Gas barons see people rejecting their products and having an alternative, and they want to choke out the competition. That is what the fossil fuel fat cats demanded when they got Donald Trump elected, and that is what Trump is delivering on with his orders to attack climate action, attack offshore wind, attack international climate agreements, and attack our movement, the Green New Deal movement of young people across our country demanding that this government do something about the threat of climate change that was ignored for generations. That is what young people are saying all across our country: Protect us. Protect us from the threat of climate change. Instead, what Donald Trump is trying to do is to kill all of the protections. All of them. All of them. So just think of what has been happening. As the rest of the country is sitting around the kitchen table debating necessities to sacrifice this month, they are wondering if they can rebuild after a wildfire or if they can keep the lights on when prices spike as energy gets exported overseas. I want everyone to understand this: He wants to export oil and export natural gas out of our country. That is his promise to the oil and gas barons. Do you know what that does domestically? It increases the price for everyone here. Consumers and businesses have to pay more because there is less oil and gas here--inflation. Yes, that is the plan-- increase the profit for the big fossil fuel plants. So we can't allow Trump and Republicans to throw families into financial instability just to pay for tax breaks for the ultrawealthy. Just like climate change won't be solved by any one President, climate action won't be stopped by any one President. Look at what has happened in the past week. This isn't business as usual, and we have to stop acting like it. That is why I won't be supporting any Trump nominee who will only do his illegal bidding. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in rejecting those who will reject the will of Congress and reject the needs of the American people. From day one, Donald Trump has been singularly committed to abandoning working people, their future, our very democracy--all for the power of wealth. That is absolutely unacceptable. Donald Trump isn't just ignoring the promise to lower costs for families and make our Nation safer; he is inflicting harm on millions of Americans, taking away funding for critical, lifesaving health research, from cancer to Alzheimer's. The potential ramifications of Trump's Federal funding freeze are endless. Trump is trying to bully the American people and public servants into submission by ignoring the law and cutting off funding to take away the services the public needs to get by. This is what dictators do. He wants us to forget what he stands for, for us to either give up either slowly or all at once. We cannot do that. We must stand up. So whether it is racial justice, the rule of law, reproductive freedom, economic equality, immigrant and refugee rights, our LGBTQ community, universal healthcare, consumer protections, protecting clean air and water, creating union jobs and supporting our union workers, fighting the climate crisis, holding the fat cats accountable for their greed and corruption, more than ever, we must be the fearless voice for a livable future. That is my pledge to you. It is time to be brave. It is time to stand up for the protection of the most vulnerable in our country and our vulnerable planet. He is trying to frighten people. He is trying to scare people. That is what his agenda has been right from the beginning. And even when his henchmen put out that first statement in terms of the freeze, the cutoff of funding on Monday night, what does he attribute it to? They want to root out Marxism in our country, they want to protect against transgender people, and they want to kill the Green New Deal. That is what he puts out on the first night. Well, just so everyone understands, when Republicans are talking about Marxism, they are talking about Social Security; they are talking about Medicare; they are talking about Medicaid; they are talking about public education. That is what they call Marxism, just so everyone understands. They are going to need hundreds of billions of dollars and more in order to have tax rates for the billionaire boys' club that was sitting right behind the President at the swearing-in. He promised them tax breaks. Where is the money going to come from? I will tell you where it is going to come from--from the programs that they call the Marxist programs. Those are all the healthcare programs. Those are all the education programs. He has nominated a Secretary of Education who has had to promise to try to end the Department of Education in our country--end it. They need money for billionaires. In the Department of Education, title I--that is for the poor children in America to get an education, money in there for the kids with disabilities. End the Department of Education? Yes. Marxist. Get that money into the hands of billionaires and millionaires. Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, Medicare--those three programs provide healthcare for 170 million Americans to get the healthcare, which they need--170 million Americans. That is where the money is-- healthcare. You have to call it Marxist. You have to try to demonize it. That is because they have to pay back all of those people who gave them money in order to win in November. And he then moves on to transgender kids, trying to demonize them. And we know why he does that. He is just trying to scare people. It is part of who he is. And then the third part of what he mentioned on Monday night was the Green New Deal. The Green New Deal is the ultimate payback because the President met with the oil and gas executives in April of 2024, and he said to them: If you give me $1 billion, I will kill all of the renewable energy projects in America. I will take all the money away. They gave him the money, and now they are going to get paid back. So when they say Green New Deal and they want to kill it, just understand they want to kill all the competition to the oil and gas industry. The natural gas industry wants all of offshore wind all along the east coast to just be destroyed because those 30,000 new megawatts would make obsolete the need for more natural gas pipelines to be built along the east coast, and he wants to take care of the natural gas boys. That is what it is all about. When he says he is going to roll back electric vehicles, roll back fuel economy standards for the vehicles we drive, he is doing that for the oil industry. We put 70 percent of the oil which we consume in our country into gasoline tanks. The more people who drive electric vehicles, the higher the fuel economy standards, the less oil people have to consume, the less money in the pockets of the oil barons--but more money in the pockets of consumers. So that is what this fight is all about. It is pretty simple. And I am glad they put it up there on Monday night, what this battle is about, because I know it is going to create a movement across this country in the same way that the Green New Deal created a movement that created the momentum that made it possible for us to pass the IRA in 2022. But another way of saying IRA is ``the largest climate bill in the history of the world.'' That is what is scaring--totally scaring--the oil and gas industry, because they can see they are losing in the marketplace. They can see that that is where Americans are moving. So I will just conclude with this one brief history lesson. Back in 2009, when Joe Biden was sworn in as Vice President, we had 2,000, total, electric vehicles in the United States. That is all. We had 2,000 total megawatts of solar in the United States. Do you know what is frightening to the oil and gas industry? Last year, 40,000 new megawatts of solar in 1 year--frightening to them. All-electric vehicle revolution? Millions have been purchased just in the last 2 years. The oil industry is petrified because we have gone from 2,000 megawatts of solar, total, in the whole history of our country, and 2,000 all-electric vehicles to a revolution, and they want to stop this revolution. That is what Trump is all about: the payback to big industries that want to thwart Americans who are playing a role in being the leader in the world on all of these green energy and climate issues and then saying to the rest of the world: We will partner with you to solve this problem. But you cannot preach temperance from a barstool. You cannot tell the rest of the world to stop if you are not doing it yourself. You lose all credibility, which is why Trump just pulled totally out of the Paris climate agreement at the same time. He doesn't want to be part of the world. But that is not how greenhouse gases travel. They travel with the clouds. They travel all over the world. And unless we lead, we are going to pay a tremendous price in subsequent generations for what Donald Trump is trying to perpetrate on our country. I yield the floor, and I thank the Presiding Officer for his indulgence, and I thank the Senator from Delaware for his indulgence as well. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware. Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I rise today to address the chaos that has been caused by this week's disastrous, unprecedented, and unconstitutional funding freeze directive. Then-Candidate Trump said on the first night of the Republican National Convention: Starting on day one, we will drive down prices and make America affordable again. I don't think the actions of this week have contributed to making America affordable again or driving down prices at all. Instead, when the White House abruptly announced a complete halt to all domestic grants--grants that covered trillions of dollars of spending to thousands of organizations, from medical research to police and fire, from construction projects to daycares and senior centers--it caused great chaos and concern. I got calls, texts, and emails from hundreds of Delawareans--from the State and local governments, from nonprofits, from business leaders--saying: What does this mean? Meals on Wheels, school lunches for Delawareans in schools, opioid prevention programs and community healthcare centers, critical programs for military families stationed at Dover Air Force Base, and police and fire departments up and down the State raised their hands, digitally, to say: What does this mean, and where are we going? The Delaware delegation convened a conference call that day with 250 different participants to try and give them clarity on the path forward. I hope that this disastrous directive has been rescinded, but I only can say ``I hope'' because I don't truly know. The White House Press Office tried to rescind the rescission. So it is unclear exactly what its status is now. There have been filings in court, both in the District Court for DC and for Rhode Island. There is an injunction against the OMB order here in DC. There is an injunction or a TRO under consideration up in Rhode Island. But it created a mess. It created a mess at a time when Americans need clarity. What I have heard from business and business leaders for decades is that predictability is the most important part for businesses to grow, and what I have heard from families and friends at home was that this was not the sort of start they had expected to the Trump administration. I want to caution folks: We may not know when or if the administration will try this order a second time or a third time. I will remind you that at the beginning of the last Trump administration, he tried to pass a Muslim travel ban--a ban on people coming to this country from a series of Muslim-majority countries. That ban was enjoined in Federal court. It was blocked. They tried again. It was blocked. They tried a third time. It was ultimately found to clear judicial muster. So, frankly, an administration that has said over and over again they believe that impoundment is within the scope of power of the President is likely to try again and again. Impoundment sounds like a fancy way of putting your dog on a leash in the backyard. What it means is violating our constitutional order. Article I of the Constitution sets the powers of Congress, and the power of the purse--the ability to say what will and won't be spent--is central to the relevance and the authority of the U.S. Congress. And I will say there is a reason this is dangerous; this is bad. I am an appropriator. Those of us who serve on the Appropriations Committee, every year, participate in a difficult and complex process where we pull together all the different requirements and requests and issues and concerns from across our States and departments, and we pass a bill here on the floor. We pass it through the House. We send it to the President. The President signs it, and then the directives go out for what grants and what funding will be available. I understand; President Trump won the election. There is a new majority in Congress. I fully expected that this year's appropriations process would reflect those different priorities. That is the normal order of things. But this order is reaching back to last year's appropriations and the previous President and trying to freeze it and reallocate. That has real consequences for our ability to come to bipartisan agreements and pass legislation on appropriations if, in the going- forward years, Presidents can say, ``I am not actually going to do disaster relief for this State because I don't like them,'' or, ``I am going to freeze and cut funding for this program because it doesn't fit with my priorities,'' when he has already got signed legal orders. There are still impacts on the ground. I am still hearing from Delawareans that funding for construction of roads or bridges under the bipartisan infrastructure law and new energy sources and tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act are frozen or facing freezes. And I want to turn to another concern of mine that is critical, important, and ongoing, but let's just focus on this first point. Until Trump backs down on these illegal orders and respects Congress's power of the purse and puts his focus back on helping Americans and reducing costs, this place and our country will not function and will not get better. Nothing about this order makes us safer, more prosperous, or more secure. Mr. President, I am speaking today in strong opposition to President Trump's illegal Executive order of last Friday night that pauses all of our foreign assistance and development assistance. Let's be clear. Our development assistance, our foreign aid, isn't about charity; it is about security, and it is about values. We have alliances and partnerships around the world that are undergirded by our soft power, by our partnerships and investments in helping make the world safer, more stable, and more secure. And what happened last Friday night at the end of the workday, when there was no one there to answer urgent questions, was a freeze on all foreign assistance, with a very narrow exception for food aid, and it has caused chaos in the global community that delivers aid and assistance around the world. For days, there were questions unanswered--what did this mean?--in Ukraine, in Lebanon, where there are wars and ceasefires, where critical grant funding and work by contractors help put the lights back on after Russian attacks on the electrical infrastructure in Ukraine, where a cease-fire implementation in Lebanon was ongoing; in parts of the world where we were continuing to bring home to the United States those who had served alongside us in Afghanistan, Afghan SIVs and their families, waiting for processing, abandoned from Qatar and here in the United States; a halt on drug supplies that help keep 20 million people living with HIV through the program PEPFAR, long supported by Presidents and Congresses of both parties; a freeze on activity to counter fentanyl and narcotics trafficking, to push back on Chinese and Russian disinformation, and to promote democracy. With urgent upcoming elections, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute are frozen in their activities and forced to lay off or furlough their workforce. Let me thank Secretary Rubio for responding to urgent calls to broaden the aperture for humanitarian waivers for this freeze, but let me also say that with dozens and dozens of the most senior people at USAID put on furlough--so implementing this got harder--and with thousands of contractors who work for USAID in countries around the world dismissed or laid off, the consequences will be severe. I will just give you one example. I suspect everyone listening has heard of the disease Ebola. I suspect not everyone has heard of the disease Marburg. They are related. They are highly transmissive and deadly viruses. There is a new outbreak of Ebola in the capital of Uganda. There is an ongoing outbreak of Marburg in the neighboring country of Tanzania. This freeze pauses the pandemic surveillance work, the urgent public health work, the assistance we provide that makes sure that we are safe from a rapidly emerging and lethal global pandemic that we put in place after the last pandemic. When we halt foreign assistance, it has consequences. It is just 1 percent of our total budget. Most Americans think it is a big percent of our spending, but it is 1 percent--actually, less than 1 percent--of the total Federal budget. And there is a winner here. It is not the American taxpayer. Freezing programs like this causes chaos and often causes more to restart them after a review. The winner is China. Our biggest global competitor and adversary is delighted that we have handed them an opportunity to say to communities and countries around the world that we are not a reliable partner; that despite contracts and promises, commitments and programs, they now have months to crow about how we have abandoned our partnerships with country after country around the world. China is delighted when we lay off or furlough or cut the resources that help fuel the work of our diplomats and our development professionals. And China has seen its opportunity to expand its influence through programs like the Belt and Road Initiative. They have spent a trillion dollars in projects across the global south in the last decade, and our ability to counter Chinese influence, to make strategic investments, has been put gravely at risk by putting on hold the workforce and the contracts that help deliver. The administration may be claiming that this pause is temporary, but its effects will not be. The lasting impacts on small businesses, on contractors, on NGOs, and loss of expertise, loss of their workforce, and loss of their credibility I think will be lasting, dangerous, and harmful. Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 20 (Thursday, January 30, 2025) Nomination of Tulsi Gabbard Mr. President, I rise today to warn my colleagues about the risks posed by the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence. As ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I have a substantial role with our Nation's intelligence community. And what we have seen already from former Congresswoman Gabbard in her hearing is alarming. Refusing to speak clearly to the actions of Edward Snowden that have earned him the title ``traitor.'' Bemoaning the rise of HTS in Syria without mentioning the fall of the brutal dictator Assad. Repeatedly dodging relevant, timely, and pointed questions about FISA and section 702, critical to America's security. All of this, sadly, is in keeping with a longstanding record as an apologist for authoritarians and enemies of our Nation. She has repeatedly blamed the United States and NATO for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She visited Syria and met with Assad, a brutal dictator, in 2017, and relied on pro-Assad sources to cast doubt on his horrific use of chemical weapons to attack his own people. And former Congresswoman Gabbard's long history of repeating pro-Kremlin talking points, such as the false claim the United States was operating biological research labs in Ukraine has made her a favorite guest on Russia state media. We should be working together to elevate people in our national security apparatus who are sanctioned and banned from Russia because they have worked hard to oppose our enemies, not praised by them. Our Nation faces real and growing security threats daily. We need an intelligence service resourced, equipped, and led to capably oppose them. Can we count on Tulsi Gabbard to provide that leadership? I don't think so. And I cannot support her nomination. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Husted). The Senator from Iowa. Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 20 (Thursday, January 30, 2025) Department of Defense