Graham Welcomes Over $200 Million Investment In U.S. Coast Guard Base Charleston

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today celebrated the U.S. Coast Guard’s announcement approving $212 million in funding to enhance readiness at Base Charleston in North Charleston. The Coast Guard stated that these funds will be used to improve the installation’s pier infrastructure and for the construction of a new medical and dental facility, among other mission-critical initiatives.

The funding for these investments was included as a part of the One Big Beautiful Bill. As Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Graham led the effort to push this legislation through the Senate, which included historic funding for modernizing the Coast Guard’s capabilities.

“The Coast Guard’s announcement today, greenlighting multiple projects that will substantially upgrade operations at Base Charleston, is welcome news. It is imperative this base has the necessary tools to protect South Carolina’s coastline and prevent deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, from reaching our shores.” said Senator Graham. “These projects were made possible by the One Big Beautiful Bill’s generational funding for the Coast Guard. I was proud to help President Trump advance this legislation through the Senate, and I’m pleased that this funding is directly supporting members of the Coast Guard serving in South Carolina.”

“I am excited for the incredible potential these projects have to improve the welfare of our Servicemembers and their families, to homeport our future fleet of Offshore Patrol Cutters and to operationalize the generous investments being made in our Service by the American people,” said Vice Admiral Jo-Ann Burdian, commander of Coast Guard Atlantic Area. “Our people are our greatest asset, and everything we do on their behalf, to ensure they are ready, trained and well-supported will enable us to act with clarity, cohesion, and purpose to deliver the outcomes our Nation expects.”

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Luján: Republicans Push $1,000,000,000 for Trump’s Ballroom While Families Struggle with Rising Costs

Joint Economic Committee found that small businesses lost 4.5 times more jobs in 2025 than 2020 amid Trump’s tariffs

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) issued the following statement on Congressional Republicans proposing $1 billion for President Trump’s ballroom, while doing nothing to lower costs for working families struggling with rising health care, grocery, energy, and housing prices:

“Families across New Mexico are struggling with the rising costs of groceries, health care, housing, and energy. While President Trump continues fighting a war in Iran, gas prices are going through the roof. Instead of focusing on lowering costs, Congressional Republicans are pouring billions more into Trump’s rogue ICE operation while proposing another $1 billion for the president’s personal ballroom. That’s $1 billion that could be helping working families, but instead will be spent on President Trump.

“Americans don’t need a ballroom. They need lower costs, affordable health care, and an economy that works for our families. I will fight this bill every step of the way because New Mexicans deserve leaders focused on lowering costs and delivering for our state.”

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Markey, Merkley, Hirono Urge Bureau of Prisons to Reverse Policy Banning Gender-Affirming Care

Letter Text (PDF)

Washington (May 11, 2026) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, along with Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), today wrote to Todd Blanche, Acting Attorney General, and William Marshall III, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), calling on the BOP to withdraw its policies endangering the health and safety of transgender people, including its policy statement issued in February that bans gender-affirming care for people with gender dysphoria. Left untreated, gender dysphoria is associated with elevated rates of depression, self-harm, and suicidality.

In the letter, the lawmakers wrote, “On February 21, 2025, the BOP issued a memo to implement President Trump’s EO, requiring BOP staff to ‘refer to individuals by their legal name or pronouns corresponding to their biological sex,’ banning the use of funds for any ‘items that align with transgender ideology,’ and suspending clothing accommodations, pat search accommodations, and support programs offered to transgender individuals. In a second memo, issued one week later, the BOP banned the use of federal funds for ‘any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.’ These changes have resulted in the denial—or threatened denial—of hormone treatment and gender-affirming accommodations for transgender individuals in BOP custody. On February 19, 2026, the BOP escalated its attacks, issuing a program statement titled, ‘Management of Inmates with Gender Dysphoria.’ It prohibits incarcerated people from receiving gender-affirming care, even if paid for with private funds. This practice forces incarcerated people to discontinue care, regardless of medical recommendations.”

The Senators continued, “The agency has repeatedly enacted policies that strip transgender individuals of their gender identity and dignity. This includes requiring staff to refer to transgender individuals by pronouns that ‘align with their biological sex’ rather than gender identity and to confiscate gender-affirming items, such as undergarments, clothing, cosmetics, and wigs. These policies risk triggering mental health crises, including increased suicidality, among incarcerated people with gender dysphoria. The BOP’s repeated guidance to roll back gender-affirming protections—despite a federal court order finding that the BOP’s actions to discontinue gender-affirming care are likely unlawful—generate confusion about the current state of regulations and convey the BOP’s indifference to court orders and the rule of law. By stripping away appropriate medical and psychiatric care, safety protections, and measures to provide dignity, the BOP is exposing transgender individuals to significant harm.”

The Senators requested answers by May 21, 2026, to questions including:

Does the BOP plan to monitor and assess the impacts of recent policies that eliminate gender-affirming medical and psychiatric care?

Since January 20, 2025, how many transgender, non-binary, intersex, and gender diverse individuals have been transferred to a different facility to meet the EO’s goal of housing individuals “according to their biological sex?”

Given that the BOP has stopped enforcing Prison Rape Elimination Act regulations related to gender identity and collecting data on gender identity, how will the BOP protect the physical and emotional health and safety of incarcerated transgender individuals?

How does the BOP plan to monitor and assess the impact of eliminating protections against sexual violence for this population?

Does the BOP plan to institute a specific process by which transgender individuals may seek assistance or lodge complaints regarding harms they experience from the recent BOP policies and actions implementing President Trump’s EO?

Describe the specific criteria the BOP intends to use to determine whether it will allow a “social accommodation” for gender dysphoria.

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Senator Marshall Applauds Boeing’s $1 Billion Investment in Wichita

Wichita – On Monday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined Boeing CEO, Kelly Ortberg, at a “Boeing Backs America” event in Wichita, announcing $1 billion in investments into Wichita over the next 3 years.

“Kansas is proud to be the Air Capital of the World, and this announcement by Boeing reaffirms Wichita’s place in the future of American aerospace,” said Senator Marshall. “This decision highlights Boeing’s long-term commitment to Kansas and will drive new jobs, innovation, and manufacturing growth across our state. We look forward to strengthening this partnership for years to come.”

This announcement comes after Boeing announced a partnership with Wichita State University Tech last week to create a new workforce training center in South Wichita, providing an important educational pipeline in Kansas for future Boeing employees.

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Senator Marshall Fights to Deliver Water Infrastructure Funding for Kansas Communities

Manhattan – On Friday,U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas) joined USDA Rural Development State Director Gimmie Jo Jansonius, Riley County Commissioner Kathryn Focke, and local officials at Keats Park Community Center to mark the start of the Riley County Wastewater System Improvement Project – an $11 million federal investment in the county’s water infrastructure.

Riley County was one of seven communities awarded a share of $11 million in grants and loans through the USDA Rural Development Water and Wastewater Disposal Loan and Grant Program. The Riley County award, a $492,000 grant and $618,000 loan, will fund the upgrade and installation of approximately 12,000 linear feet of collection lines, 43 manhole replacements, 67 septic tank demolitions, five grinder stations, a new lift station and wet well, a backup generator, and related surface and electrical work.

“Clean water and functional wastewater systems aren’t a luxury — they’re a basic necessity for every Kansas family and every Kansas community,” said Senator Marshall. “Riley County is getting this right, and I’m proud to have fought for the federal resources to help make it happen. This is exactly what good government looks like: dollars going directly to the communities that need them.”

Across Kansas, modernizing drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure is a critical need. Too many communities rely on aging systems that strain local budgets and jeopardize public health. Senator Marshall has consistently prioritized federal water infrastructure funding through the annual appropriations process, advocating for the programs that help Kansas counties and municipalities modernize their water systems and safeguard the well-being of residents.

As part of the annual federal appropriations process, Senator Marshall has submitted the following funding requests to ensure Kansas communities have access to clean water:

Robust funding for EPA’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund

Robust funding for EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund

$490,000,000 for USDA’s Rural Water and Wastewater Disposal Loan and Grant Program, with a request that non-earmark funding be increased

$200,000,000 in funding for USDA’s Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Operations Program

$40,000,000 for USDA’s Community Facilities Program, with a request that non-earmark funding be increased

$5,000,000 for USDA’s Rural Decentralized Water Systems Grant Program

Robust funding for USDA’s Watershed Rehabilitation Program

Robust funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Activities

Robust funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Inland Waterways Trust Fund

Robust funding for the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Grant Program

He also led a letter calling for robust funding for the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The letter can be found here.

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Senator Marshall Spends Day in Junction City & Manhattan

Junction City – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), spent Friday in Junction City and Manhattan meeting with military families, mental health providers, educators, local leaders, and rural development officials to discuss support services for military-connected families, investments in early childhood education, and critical infrastructure improvements across Kansas communities.

Highlights from the visit include:

Military Family Mental Health Roundtable

Click HERE for more photos.

At the USD 475 Early Childhood Center, Senator Marshall convened a roundtable discussion with military mental health providers, educators, and community organizations ahead of upcoming deployments from Fort Riley.

Senator Marshall spoke about his own family’s military service and emphasized the importance of supporting military families during deployments. Participants discussed mental health resources, school-based support services, telehealth access, and opportunities for future federal grant funding.

USD 475 Early Childhood Center Ribbon Cutting

Click HERE for more photos.

Following the roundtable, Senator Marshall joined local educators for the ribbon-cutting of the new USD 475 Early Childhood Center in Junction City.

The new 71,000-square-foot facility will centralize early childhood services for the district, expand access to free pre-kindergarten opportunities, and provide modern classrooms and specialized developmental services for children and families across the community.

Senator Marshall praised the district’s investment in early education and discussed federal efforts supporting Head Start, Impact Aid, and child care programs serving military-connected and rural communities.

Foote Cattle Company Steak Feed

Click HERE for more photos.

In Manhattan, Senator Marshall visited with Kansas ranchers and producers at the Foote Cattle Company steak feed.

The gathering brought together Kansas cattle producers to focus on herd health, beef quality, and market conditions, while continuing Foote Cattle Company’s tradition of hosting community events that connect agriculture and local families.

USDA Rural Development Check Presentation

Click HERE for more photos.

Senator Marshall also met with local officials for a USDA Rural Development check presentation supporting wastewater infrastructure improvements in Riley County.

The project will help modernize sewer and wastewater systems while supporting future growth and long-term infrastructure reliability for the community.

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Letter Text (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, along with Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), today wrote to Todd Blanche, Acting Attorney General, and William Marshall III, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), calling on the BOP to withdraw its policies endangering the health and safety of transgender people, including its policy statement issued in February that bans gender-affirming care for people with gender dysphoria. Left untreated, gender dysphoria is associated with elevated rates of depression, self-harm, and suicidality.

In the letter, the lawmakers wrote, “On February 21, 2025, the BOP issued a memo to implement President Trump’s EO, requiring BOP staff to ‘refer to individuals by their legal name or pronouns corresponding to their biological sex,’ banning the use of funds for any ‘items that align with transgender ideology,’ and suspending clothing accommodations, pat search accommodations, and support programs offered to transgender individuals. In a second memo, issued one week later, the BOP banned the use of federal funds for ‘any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.’ These changes have resulted in the denial—or threatened denial—of hormone treatment and gender-affirming accommodations for transgender individuals in BOP custody. On February 19, 2026, the BOP escalated its attacks, issuing a program statement titled, ‘Management of Inmates with Gender Dysphoria.’ It prohibits incarcerated people from receiving gender-affirming care, even if paid for with private funds. This practice forces incarcerated people to discontinue care, regardless of medical recommendations.”

The Senators continued, “The agency has repeatedly enacted policies that strip transgender individuals of their gender identity and dignity. This includes requiring staff to refer to transgender individuals by pronouns that ‘align with their biological sex’ rather than gender identity and to confiscate gender-affirming items, such as undergarments, clothing, cosmetics, and wigs. These policies risk triggering mental health crises, including increased suicidality, among incarcerated people with gender dysphoria. The BOP’s repeated guidance to roll back gender-affirming protections—despite a federal court order finding that the BOP’s actions to discontinue gender-affirming care are likely unlawful—generate confusion about the current state of regulations and convey the BOP’s indifference to court orders and the rule of law. By stripping away appropriate medical and psychiatric care, safety protections, and measures to provide dignity, the BOP is exposing transgender individuals to significant harm.”

The Senators requested answers by May 21, 2026, to questions including:

Does the BOP plan to monitor and assess the impacts of recent policies that eliminate gender-affirming medical and psychiatric care?

Since January 20, 2025, how many transgender, non-binary, intersex, and gender diverse individuals have been transferred to a different facility to meet the EO’s goal of housing individuals “according to their biological sex?”

Given that the BOP has stopped enforcing Prison Rape Elimination Act regulations related to gender identity and collecting data on gender identity, how will the BOP protect the physical and emotional health and safety of incarcerated transgender individuals?

How does the BOP plan to monitor and assess the impact of eliminating protections against sexual violence for this population?

Does the BOP plan to institute a specific process by which transgender individuals may seek assistance or lodge complaints regarding harms they experience from the recent BOP policies and actions implementing President Trump’s EO?

Describe the specific criteria the BOP intends to use to determine whether it will allow a “social accommodation” for gender dysphoria.

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Merkley, Tillis, Warren, Senators Urge Education Department to Promptly Release Funding for Agency’s Research Arm

Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, North Carolina’s U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, and Massachusetts’ U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren led their Senate colleagues in pressing U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to ensure the timely release of funding for the independent, non-partisan Institute of Education Sciences (IES). IES produces timely research, provides evidence-use products and assistance, and collects data to meet the needs of states, districts, and educators across the nation.

“We write to urge you to take immediate steps to ensure the timely obligation of appropriations for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) consistent with bipartisan Congressional intent,” the bipartisan group of Senators wrote. “This will enable IES to fulfill its statutory responsibilities to expand fundamental knowledge about what works in education to improve student outcomes and provide reliable information on the condition and progress of education and effectiveness of federal and other education programs.”

“As the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education, IES plays a critical role in developing the research base for and evaluating the effectiveness of the nation’s education programs, as well as collecting education statistics. IES helps ensure that taxpayers’ money is being invested in efforts that are supported by rigorous research and demonstrated results,” the Senators stressed. “Education and policymakers at all levels, nationwide, depend on IES-supported evidence to inform the best decisions for these dollars.”

The Senators’ letter calls attention to IES’ massive workforce reductions, research grant competition cancellations, and contract terminations and reductions that have occurred over the last fifteen months. The letter brings special attention to the sharp decline of special education research and data gathering due to the lack of spending.

The Senators concluded, “We urge you to work with the Office of Management and Budget to allocate these funds in a timely manner in order for IES to meet its statutory obligations to support education research, statistics, evaluation, and evidence building to improve students’ academic outcomes.”

Joining Merkley, Tillis, and Warren in signing the bipartisan letter were U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Susan Collins (R-ME), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Full text of the letter can be found by clicking here and follows below:

Dear Secretary McMahon:

We write to urge you to take immediate steps to ensure the timely obligation of appropriations for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) consistent with bipartisan Congressional intent. This will enable IES to fulfill its statutory responsibilities to expand fundamental knowledge about what works in education to improve student outcomes and provide reliable information on the condition and progress of education and effectiveness of federal and other education programs.

As the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education, IES plays a critical role in developing the research base for and evaluating the effectiveness of the nation’s education programs, as well as collecting education statistics. IES helps ensure that taxpayers’ money is being invested in efforts that are supported by rigorous research and demonstrated results. While the vast majority of funding for public education comes from local and state sources, the federal government carries out a critical role in providing, supporting, and overseeing billions of supplemental dollars in public education each year, particularly for children, youth and students with disabilities and students from low-income families. Education and policymakers at all levels, nationwide, depend on IES-supported evidence to inform the best decisions for these dollars.

Congress annually appropriates funding for IES programs on a bipartisan basis, and that funding can be used over a two-year period. This was done to allow sufficient time to plan to carry out its statutory functions in the most effective manner and ensure the best use of federal taxpayer resources. The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, which President Trump signed into law, continued Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriations of $793 million for IES. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, which President Trump also signed into law, appropriated $789.6 million for IES and provided specific allocations for major statutory programs of IES.

According to the latest IES apportionment data, significant available balances from FY2025 and FY2026 appropriations remain unallocated, with no less than $290 million at risk of lapsing at the end of this fiscal year. Special education research and statistical activities could experience the biggest impact from this lack of spending. This level of spending continues a sharp decline in IES spending evidenced in FY2025. We urge you to work with the Office of Management and Budget to allocate these funds in a timely manner in order for IES to meet its statutory obligations to support education research, statistics, evaluation, and evidence building to improve students’ academic outcomes.

We are also concerned with the recent reduction of IES staff. According to the Department of Education’s monthly reporting, in March 2025, IES staffing was reduced from 187 employees to 30 on-board staff from January 2025 to February 2026. These cuts were particularly felt at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), one of four education centers operating under the IES, which saw its staffing drop from approximately 100 staff to 11. These reductions in staff have directly contributed to significantly fewer research, data, and evidence-use products being published by IES.

Furthermore, in March 2026, IES announced the closeouts of hundreds of unreviewed FY2025 grant proposals within the National Center for Education Research (NCER), and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). This resulted in no new awards being made over the past year, and these awards are crucial to addressing urgent educational challenges facing students.

NCER funds research across all levels of the education ecosystem, and across all areas of education. Their findings have led to the development of programs used in schools across the nation, including literacy programs and practices that states are scaling up to improve reading achievement. This includes research and related activity underlying some of the Education Innovation and Research grant awards.

This work is also critical for supporting students with disabilities. For example, NCSER research has been used to develop educational programs that have decreased high levels of anxiety in youth with autism, taught reading to individuals with Down Syndrome, and assisted students with learning disabilities in the mastery of mathematical word problems. NCSER also provides special educators and administrators research-based resources that support public education and interventions to foster self-determination in students with disabilities as they transition into adulthood. Concerningly, after investing approximately $20 million in a long-term evaluation of transition support for students with disabilities and as services were being provided, the contract was cancelled. Further, NCSER spending dropped by $15 million last year and, to this date, IES has not announced FY 2026 NCER or NCSER grant opportunities.

As such, we urge the Department of Education to work with the Office of Management and Budget to allocate FY2025 funds to ensure funds are timely obligated and begin effectively spending FY2026 funds consistent with historical trendlines for IES to produce timely research, provide evidence-use products and assistance, and undertake data collections that meet the needs of states, districts, and educators across the nation.

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Merkley, Wyden Introduce New Bill to Block Sale of Federal Public Lands

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced they introduced the Public Lands Integrity Act, new legislation to ensure that America’s public lands cannot be sold as part of a fast-tracked process in a budget reconciliation bill.

During consideration of the Republicans’ “Big, Ugly Betrayal” budget reconciliation bill that passed in July 2025 on a party-line simple majority vote, Senate Republicans nearly passed a provision to sell one to three million acres of federal public lands to generate revenue all to fund Republicans’ tax cuts for billionaires. Merkley and Wyden worked to build strong bipartisan opposition alongside lawmakers, states, counties, and sportsmen’s groups across the West. The Senate ultimately abandoned the provision. Today, under current rules, any senator could propose expedited public land sales in a future budget reconciliation bill, and the Public Lands Integrity Act would eliminate that option.

“Oregonians and folks across America are united with a clear message—our public lands are not for sale,” said Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee. “These beloved natural treasures belong to all of us, contributing to the spirit and economies of communities all over the United States. As Republicans attempt to rip away public lands from public use, I will fight like hell to protect and preserve our public lands for generations to come.”

“Republicans have proved they will stop at nothing to sell off our country’s public lands to the highest bidder,” said Wyden, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee. “This bill would help keep public lands in public hands by closing arcane loopholes that allow Republicans to carry out their fantasies of selling our beloved forests and lands off to billionaires.”

America’s public lands are owned by the public and managed to provide public benefits in perpetuity. This legislation would prevent the sale of federal public lands through expedited Senate procedures under the budget reconciliation process by amending the Congressional Budget Act’s (CBA) “Byrd Rule.”

The reconciliation process – established under the CBA – allows legislation affecting revenue and spending to pass the Senate with a simple majority vote. To prevent the inclusion of unrelated policy, Congress amended the CBA to include the “Byrd Rule,” which makes “extraneous” provisions subject to a point of order and a 3/5th majority vote. The Public Lands Integrity Act would define provisions resulting in the sale, transfer, or disposal of federal public lands as extraneous, making it significantly harder to permanently dispose of public lands that provide long-term benefits to the American people.

Specifically, the Public Lands Integrity Act would:

Designate any reconciliation provision resulting in the sale or disposal of federal public lands as “extraneous” under the “Byrd Rule”;

Allow any Senator to raise a “Byrd Rule” point of order against the sale of federal public lands in a reconciliation bill; and

Ensure that decisions about the future of federal public lands are debated through regular legislative order, rather than rushed through expedited and typically partisan budget procedures.

“From the iconic vistas at Crater Lake National Park to the fossil record preserved in the John Day Fossil Beds, Oregonians are proud of the national parks that protect our shared heritage. The wildlife, clean water, and ancient forests that define these places don’t stop at park boundaries–they depend on the public lands that surround and sustain them. Decisions about these shared landscapes must not be rushed through a fast-tracked process that cuts out community voices. These public lands belong to all of us, and we deserve transparent, accountable and publicly-grounded decision-making, and the Public Lands Integrity Act would ensure just that,” said Colin Deverell, Northwest Region Acting Regional Director, National Parks Conservation Association.

“The Oregon Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers thanks Senator Merkley for his leadership on the Public Lands Integrity Act. Oregon’s hunters and anglers know that public lands are more than just green, yellow and blue polygons on a map — they are the places that sustain healthy fish and wildlife populations and connect Oregon families to our state’s wild lands and waters not as passive observers, but as active participants. This bill helps ensure that decisions about the future of America’s public lands, OUR public lands, are made openly and deliberately, not rushed through in a fast-tracked budget reconciliation process,” said Ian Isaacson, Co-Chair, Oregon Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

“Friends of the Owyhee supports the Public Lands Integrity Act because public lands should not be sold, transferred, or disposed of through rushed budget procedures. These lands are working landscapes, wildlife habitat, grazing country, recreation areas, cultural landscapes, and part of the backbone of rural communities like ours in Malheur County,” said Tim Davis, Founder and Executive Director Friends of the Owyhee. “The future of America’s public lands deserves daylight, public debate, and regular legislative order. This legislation helps ensure public land sell-off proposals cannot be buried inside fast-tracked budget bills without proper scrutiny. We strongly support this safeguard.”

“Oregon’s high desert is home to some of the most iconic landscapes in the West, including the John Day River, Owyhee Canyonlands and Steens Mountain. Millions of acres spanning hundreds of miles provide unparallelled habitat for wildlife, stunning natural beauty and expansive recreational opportunities, fueling local economies and sustaining Indigenous communities who have lived in the area since time immemorial. We applaud Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley for co-sponsoring the Public Lands Integrity Act to ensure that public lands remain in public ownership for the benefit of all Americans for generations to come,” said Ryan Houston, Executive Director, Oregon Natural Desert Association.

“Public lands are part of the heritage and economy of rural communities like Polk County. Decisions about permanently selling those lands deserve full public debate and transparency, not a rushed budget process. Once public lands are sold, they are very difficult to get back,” said Jeremey Gordon, Polk County Commissioner.

“In Central Oregon, our public lands are central to our identity. Public lands are beloved across America and across party lines and should never be sold off in pursuit of partisan objectives. As land use advocates, our organization strongly supports the Public Lands Integrity Act,” said Ben Gordon, Executive Director, Central Oregon LandWatch.

Public lands are a generational legacy for all Americans – an American birthright – and are part of our identity, culture, and rural economies. Once they are sold and in private hands, they’re gone forever. Our public lands provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and abundant opportunities for recreation, fishing, hunting, and solitude for every American, and they are the ancestral homes of our indigenous people. Our system of public lands is the envy of countries across the globe – we owe it to ourselves and future generations to ensure these lands remain in public hands,” said Jana Johnson, Executive Director, Deschutes Trails Coalition.

“Public lands are the heart and soul of Oregon. They provide all of us, regardless of status or wealth, with the opportunity to escape the pressures of modern life and be awed by Mount Hood’s majesty, thrilled by the Wild Rogue’s roaring whitewater, and to find peace and beauty among towering old-growth forests and rugged desert canyons. The Public Lands Integrity Act is an important step forward in preserving America’s natural treasures for everyone, forever,” said Steve Pedery, Conservation Director, Oregon Wild.

“I am grateful that Oregon Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden are cosponsoring the Public Lands Integrity Act to protect America’s public lands from short sales to fund budget ‘crises’ caused by the current or future administrations,” said Mary Faith Bell, Tillamook County Commissioner. “America’s public lands, meant to be held in trust for the benefit of the people in perpetuity, are our collective treasures, and they should be fiercely protected for generations to come.”

“Our public lands are exactly that: public, owned by all of us for the benefit of Oregonians, Tribes, and every species living in every ecosystem. These lands are not for private or partisan profit. We at Sierra Club thank and applaud Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley for once again fighting to protect the lands that make Oregon the unique and wonderful place we call home,” said Damon Motz-Storey, Chapter Director, Sierra Club Oregon

“Selling off public lands to the highest bidder is a terrible idea, and we are pleased to see Senator Merkley co-sponsor the Public Lands Integrity Act, alongside Senator Wyden. Oregon’s Senators have been champions for public land conservation and stewardship, and this bill would ensure that Congress makes decisions about public lands in regular order, and not through some expedited budget procedure,” said Michael Dotson, Director, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center.

“Public lands are the crown jewel of America and provide habitat for critically imperiled species, clean water for communities, and unparalleled recreation opportunities that drive local economies. Senators Wyden and Merkley’s Public Lands Integrity Act must be supported to ensure Congress can’t fast track the privatization of our commons to the land barons who seek to maximize profits over all else,” said Josh Laughlin, Executive Director, Cascadia Wildlands.

“A proposed provision in H.R. 1 (AKA the “One Big Beautiful Bill”) left 22,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service lands within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, including beloved places like Dog Mountain and Eagle Creek, vulnerable to sale. Protecting our public lands is at the heart of what Friends does. The Public Lands Integrity Act is a much-needed solution to protect our federal lands from being sold off for political purposes,” said Gabe Sheoships, Executive Director, Friends of the Columbia Gorge.

“Our national parks and public lands reflect our shared history and values. Americans love our 433 national parks, from Gettysburg and the Statue of Liberty to Rocky Mountain and Crater Lake. And for more than a century, Congress has upheld a promise to protect them. We commend Senators Wyden, Merkley, Bennet, and Heinrich for standing up for that promise. America’s legacy isn’t for sale, and the Public Lands Integrity Act would help ensure these places are protected and preserved as they deserve to be,” said Tucker Johnson, Associate Director of Government Affairs for National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).

“America’s public lands provide enduring benefits for people and nature, supporting healthy communities, outdoor economies, and wildlife habitat. This proposal helps ensure these lands — held in trust for all Americans — aren’t sold off through rushed budget maneuvers,” said Tom Cors, Senior Director of Legislative Affairs, The Nature Conservancy.

The Public Lands Integrity Act was led by Colorado’s U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and also cosponsored by New Mexico’s U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich. The text of the bill is available by clicking HERE. A summary of the bill is available by clicking HERE. Letters of support for the legislation can be found by clicking HERE.

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VIDEO RELEASE: Senator Moody Honors Florida’s Law Enforcement Heroes During National Police Week

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Ashley Moody today kicked off National Police Week by cosponsoring a Senate Resolution honoring Florida’s law enforcement heroes. Since serving as Florida’s Attorney General to now as U.S. Senator, Moody has advocated for and advanced the mission of Florida law enforcement. This week, Senator Moody will also be hosting a reception to honor more than 100 Florida law enforcement officers, meeting with family members of fallen heroes and more.

“During Police Week, we honor the brave men and women in law enforcement—those who serve with courage every day, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. As the wife of a law enforcement officer, this week is deeply personal to me,” said Senator Ashley Moody. “To every law enforcement officer in our great state—thank you for your courage, your sacrifice, and your unwavering commitment to keeping us safe.”

BACKGROUND:

National Police Week runs May 10-May 16. Senator Moody cosponsored a Senate Resolution honoring Florida’s law enforcement heroes.

Senator Moody is a long-time supporter of the rule of law and of law enforcement officers. Since becoming Florida’s newest Senator, Moody has:

Introduced the Halo Act to shield federal officers from those who seek to threaten and harass them on duty;

Supported the Graham Hoffman Act, which would allow the U.S. to use the full force of state and federal law to prosecute those who assault first responders and act as a deterrent to anyone considering such acts of violence;

Introduced the HELPER Act to make homeownership more obtainable for Florida heroes, including law enforcement officers;

Co-Sponsored the HALT Fentanyl Act, which was signed into law by President Trump. The new law assists law enforcement officers get fentanyl traffickers off the streets and permanently classifies fentanyl-related substances under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act;

Sponsored the RIPPLE Act, which would expand the 287(g) program and provide resources to state law enforcement to more efficiently get criminal illegal aliens out of communities; and

Voted to pass the largest pro-law enforcement package out of the Judiciary Committee during Police Week last year.

As Florida’s Attorney General, Senator Moody created many programs to recognize the selfless efforts of law enforcement officers, including her Back the Blue, Thin Line Tribute, and Sunshine Salute programs. Moody also worked with state lawmakers to strengthen statutes to hold criminals accountable and help officers and prosecutors do their jobs.

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Moreno Statement on Banking Lobbyists Attempt to Kill Financial Innovation

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) released the following statement after banking lobbyists attempted to kill the Senate Banking Committee’s vote on landmark crypto legislation this week. The banking lobby is trying to distort reality and prevent valuable innovation that will help hardworking Americans maximize their finances.


New Report Shows Child Care Subsidies Provide Relief for Families, Meanwhile Trump Requests $1.5 Trillion for War Budget While Costs Are Skyrocketing

Washington, D.C. – Today—as Trump proposes to slash domestic investments to help pay for a defense spending increase of roughly half a trillion dollars—U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement after a new report found the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program saves participating Washington state families over $19,000 a year on child care.

“Trump is asking Congress to increase his war budget by $500 billion dollars and even said: ‘’We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care.’ Well, as a former preschool teacher and mom, I think that is just absurd,” said Senator Murray. “This is not a question of what’s possible—it’s a question of priorities. President Trump and congressional Republicans want to spend your taxpayer dollars on costly wars and golden ballrooms, and I’d like to help more families afford child care. Instead of dumping trillions of dollars into Trump’s reckless wars, we could be expanding crucial programs like CCDBG—we could be saving families thousands of dollars a year on child care. Half a trillion dollars would make high-quality child care affordable for every family that needs it, and it would mean employers wouldn’t have to worry about their employees missing work because they couldn’t find child care. The child care crisis is holding back families and holding back our economy. But putting the kind of money Trump is talking about for war into child care instead would make a world of change for all families.”

A new report has detailed how CCDBG subsidies help families in Washington state afford child care for kids under the age of five. The average cost of child care in Washington state is over $21,000 a year, or almost $1,800 per month. For families who qualify, CCDBG brings the cost of child care down to a maximum of $1,980 a year, or $165 per month for a family of three in Washington state. But, of the over 118,000 children who are eligible in Washington state to be served by CCDBG, only 15,435 kids are being served at the current funding levels—that means only 13% of kids who have families who are struggling to afford child care, are receiving support. Senator Murray has long pushed to change that and played a critical role in securing historic funding increases for the CCDBG program to help serve more families.

As Trump proposes spending $1.5 trillion on the defense budget—roughly half a trillion more than this year—raising costs on everyday essentials for working families, Senator Murray is leading Democrats in Congress to continue their push to help working people make ends meet—including by tackling the child care crisis. In the FY26 appropriations bills Senator Murray secured $8.8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program (CCDBG)—an $85 million or increase over fiscal year 2025—and $12.36 billion for Head Start, an $85 million increase over last year’s funding level. Sustained annual increases of federal investments in child care and Head Start are critical in tackling the child care crisis and helping to ensure more families can find and afford the quality, affordable child care and early childhood education options they need. Senator Murray also protected funding for Preschool Development Grants, which President Trump and House Republicans pushed to eliminate.

Senator Murray is Congress’ top advocate for child care, and her Child Care for Working Families Act would tackle the child care crisis head-on: ensuring families can afford the child care they need, expanding access to more high-quality options, stabilizing the child care sector, and helping ensure child care workers taking care of our nation’s kids are paid livable wages. The legislation will also dramatically expand access to pre-K, and support full-day, full-year Head Start programs and increased wages for Head Start workers. Under the legislation, which Senator Murray has introduced every Congress since 2017, the typical family in America will pay no more than $15 a day for child care—with many families paying nothing at all—and no eligible family will pay more than 7% of their income on child care.

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Sen. Ossoff Upgrading Infrastructure Across Metro Atlanta & North Georgia

Stone Mountain, Ga. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is delivering new resources to upgrade Georgia’s infrastructure.

Sen. Ossoff brought Republicans and Democrats together to help upgrade infrastructure across metro Atlanta and North Georgia, including improving transportation safety in Stone Mountain, building new trails in Clarkston, remediating blight in Chickamauga, and more.

“Georgians deserve world-class infrastructure. Bringing Republicans and Democrats together, I’m delivering these resources to upgrade infrastructure across metro Atlanta and North Georgia to keep families safe, support business and commerce, and keep our state moving,” Sen. Ossoff said.

Sen. Ossoff is delivering funding for the projects through bipartisan government funding legislation that became law on February 3. GDOT will then distribute the funds to local communities to execute the projects.

Please find a summary of projects for which Sen. Ossoff is delivering funding below:

STONE MOUNTAIN ($1,781,000): The City of Stone Mountain will use the funding to improve safety, mobility and connectivity at Main Street and Mimosa Drive in Stone Mountain. Improvements include a variety of new pedestrian upgrades to ensure residents and visitors can safely navigate downtown and connect to Stone Mountain Trail.

CLARKSTON ($2,000,000): The City of Clarkston will use the funding to construct part of the Clarkston Greenway Trail, which will connect to residential areas and provide direct access to downtown Clarkston.

RIVERDALE: ($1,000,000): The City of Riverdale will use the funding to install sidewalks along Church Street in a residential area of Riverdale, which will improve safety and accessibility for residents.

CHICKAMAUGA: ($1,450,000): The City of Chickamauga will use the funding to address the clean-up of an abandoned mill site, move electric transmission lines underground, and rehabilitate storefront blight, allowing the City to capitalize on its historic sites and proximity to tourist destinations.

ATLANTA ($1,200,000): The City of Atlanta will use the funding to design and construct streetscape improvements along in downtown Atlanta to improve safety, accessibility, and quality of life for residents and visitors.

“The City of Atlanta is grateful for solid partners like Senator Ossoff who understand the value of meaningful investments in infrastructure. This $1.2 million for our Peachtree St. Streetscape project will help improve ADA accessibility, extend our network of safe and enjoyable bike lanes and enhance our pedestrian crossings. Thank you to Senator Ossoff and his team for being a true advocate for Atlanta’s communities,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.

“As the City of Stone Mountain continues its transformation into a regional historic tourist destination similar to cities like Savannah, the $1,781,000 Main Street and Mimosa Drive Intersection Improvement Project represents a critical step forward. We would like to thank Senator Ossoff for supporting this meaningful investment, which will enhance safety, mobility and connectivity through key pedestrian upgrades, allowing residents and visitors to more easily navigate downtown and connect to the Stone Mountain Trail,” said Stone Mountain Mayor Jelani Linder. “By improving access across this important railroad crossing, the project will better link our community to Stone Mountain Park; our historic train depot soon to be a museum; and one of our oldest homes, the residence of Stone Mountain’s first mayor dating back to the mid to late 1800s. This project will make the intersection safer, easier to navigate and more attractive, while supporting downtown businesses and moving us closer to our vision of creating one of the most vibrant and appealing downtowns in the state of Georgia.”

“Clarkston is a small city with a big vision, and this $2 million investment in our Greenway Project is a transformative step forward for our community. This funding will help us create safer, more connected spaces that support families, promote wellness, and strengthen our local economy. We are grateful to Senator Ossoff for recognizing the importance of investing in communities like Clarkston and for his continued commitment to equitable infrastructure and quality of life for all Georgians” said Clarkston Mayor Beverly Burks.

“I am grateful to Senator Ossoff for delivering $1,000,000 in Federal funding to support the City of Riverdale’s sidewalk connectivity improvement project,” said Riverdale Mayor Evelyn Wynn-Dixon. “This Federal investment will allow the City to begin implementing vital pedestrian safety upgrades and improve connectivity for Riverdale residents.”

“Chickamauga is like many small mill/mine towns across our country. When the Crystal Spring Print Works ceased operations in 2012 a slow decline began in the historic district. As plans to revitalize the area started to take root, a pandemic struck, and Chickamauga was caught in a challenging position. Emerging from the pandemic, Chickamauga has embraced tourism as a primary vehicle for recovery. Proximity to the nation’s first National Military Park and beautiful natural spaces, an approach coupling heritage tourism, outdoor recreation tourism and unique and fun events is helping recreate Chickamauga. A multi-agency cooperative initiative to build a multiuse pathway that connects the historic downtown district and the Chickamauga National Military Park is days from completion and this dove-tails perfectly with the City’s acquisition of the Crystal Springs Print Works property for redevelopment. The next phase will bring new commercial spaces, green spaces, and civic spaces,” said Eric Pullen, Director of Economic Development & Events, City of Chickamauga. “This is a long awaited enhancement and desperately needed redevelopment to the city’s future would not be possible without the leadership and support from Senator Ossoff’s office and the dedicated staff that came to Chickamauga to understand our situation and lead us through the process for a $1.45 Million grant to remediate the blight at the mill property and in our historic district.”

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Reed: Trump’s Poor Hantavirus Response Underscores Administration is Ill-Prepared for Public Health Emergency

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Jack Reed criticized the Trump Administration’s cuts to key federal public health programs, noting that a deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard an international cruise ship that infected Americans who are now repatriated highlights the risks of slashing funding for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), and eliminating federal inspectors and port health workers who should be on the frontlines of tracking this virus and keeping deadly diseases off cruise ships and out of the United States.

“I don’t want people to be worried, but I do want the U.S. government to be better prepared and more proactive. This was a known pathogen, so the risk should be low. Still, it exposed the Trump Administration’s ill-preparedness. President Trump unwisely cut funds, staff, and resources to study, prevent, and monitor hantaviruses and other infectious diseases that can spread quickly and sicken or kill people. Defunding public health and critical research isn’t just short-sighted, it inflicts a form of willful blindness. American lives should not be put at risk because of the Trump Administration’s lack of coordination between government centers and agencies, and weakened surveillance systems,” said Senator Reed.

Hantaviruses are a family of rare but potentially dangerous rodent-borne viruses that can cause flulike symptoms and severe lung or organ problems. Typically the virus is transmitted through contact with infected rodents or their excretions. The Andes strain of the virus is the only type of hantavirus that is known to spread person-to-person. This spread is usually limited to people who have close contact with the ill person. The illness, which has a 40 percent mortality rate, has left three ship passengers dead and at least another eight infected.

According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials, one American who was on the infected cruise ship has already tested positive for hantavirus while another is experiencing some symptoms of the virus. All of the American passengers are being monitored under medical watch. However, the virus has potentially already spread beyond the ship because there were passengers who disembarked during the voyage before the first suspected case came to light. Public health officials in Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia are actively monitoring individuals who may have come into contact with the virus.

Last year, the Trump Administration fired all full-time employees working for the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP), which helps the cruise industry prevent and control public health issues, including inspecting cruise ships and reporting violations, as well as providing information about outbreaks.

Reed noted that while the risk to the general public at this time is low, the fact that President Trump’s CDC took a back seat to WHO officials during the outbreak is troubling, especially since the Trump Administration retreated from the global data sharing and coordination network and reduced the U.S. capacity to lead the international response to the hantavirus outbreak.

“After needlessly severing the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization, the Trump Administration was completely missing-in-action during a major health incident that put American lives at risk. For decades, the CDC partnered with the WHO in similar situations and our experts were there to lead the response and investigations. But under the Trump Administration, while experts in other countries quickly responded, the U.S played a diminished role and the CDC was unacceptably slow to respond,” said Senator Reed.

The Trump Administration has proposed eliminating $750 million in federal preparedness grants for state and local health departments, firing Epidemic Intelligence Service fellows who serve as America's frontline disease detectives, and gutting infectious disease research, vaccine platform research, and viral-threat surveillance programs across HHS and the CDC.

According to the Associated Press: “I don’t think this is a giant threat to the United States,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center. But how this situation has played out “just shows how empty and vapid the CDC is right now,” she said.


Rosen Statement Celebrating National Police Week

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) released the following statement in honor of National Police Week.

“Our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to keep Nevadans safe – often going above and beyond to build trust and foster relationships in our communities,” said Senator Rosen. “Today and always, we thank the police officers who work tirelessly to maintain law and order in Nevada, and we honor those who have lost their lives in the line of duty. In the Senate, I’ve always worked across party lines to deliver the federal resources our police departments need to continue doing their jobs safely and effectively – and I’ll always stand with law enforcement.”

Senator Rosen has consistently worked across party lines to support Nevada’s law enforcement officers. As part of a bipartisan funding bill for Fiscal Year 2026, Senator Rosen secured millions of dollars in federal funding to support police departments across Nevada. Earlier this year, a bipartisan bill she supported to expand access to federal support for the families of firefighters, law enforcement officers was signed into law. Senator Rosen also helped introduce legislation to redirect excess funding from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to invest it in Nevada’s local law enforcement programs, and help hire and train 200,000 local cops in communities across the U.S.

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NEWS: Sanders Statement on Upcoming U.S.-China AI Talks

WASHINGTON, May 11 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement on upcoming talks between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

When I convened leading American and Chinese scientists at the U.S. Capitol, they warned that the world is woefully unprepared for the threats posed by the rapid and uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence. That is why I welcome the news that the U.S. and China are planning to discuss the risks related to AI this week.

Trump and Xi must seize this moment to make clear that humans, not machines, come first. In my view, this means:

Allowing top scientists to share technical information and develop “AI redlines” about dangerous behavior;

Ensuring that AI models are safe and effective; and

Making progress towards a treaty to ban superintelligence — an artificial mind smarter than any human, capable of operating independently beyond our control.

At the height of the Cold War, Reagan and Gorbachev found a way to negotiate nuclear arms control. The existential risk posed by AI demands nothing less from Trump and Xi.


Schatz Congratulates UH Men’s Volleyball Team On NCAA National Championship Win

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement congratulating the University of Hawai‘i’s men’s volleyball team on winning the 2026 NCAA National Championship.

“Congratulations to the UH men’s volleyball team on an incredible championship win! Our team battled all season long, played with heart, and showed what Hawai?i volleyball is all about. We’re all proud of you. Go ‘Bows!”

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PHOTOS: Sen. Schiff Tours Ventura County Farm, Highlights Farm Bill Priorities

Ventura, CA – On Thursday, May 7th, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, toured the Carranza and McGrath Family Farms in Camarillo, California.

Schiff, the first California Senator to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in over 30 years, discussed his priorities for the 2026 Farm Bill with local farmers, and leaders of the Ventura County Farm Bureau and agriculture industry.

Schiff highlighted his commitments to delivering a Farm Bill that empowers specialty crop and small-scale farmers, restores and strengthens nutrition programs, supports research investments, and provides farmers with increased opportunities to succeed in their businesses. And one that protects California’s proposition 12 and delivers the relief that California’s agricultural producers and families need.

Schiff on serving in the Senate AG Committee, “I’ve loved traveling around the state and meeting farmers and trying to get to know and understand the issues and the challenges…I can’t imagine a more difficult time to be a farmer than right now, with everything that’s going on between increased input costs and perennial water challenges, regulation, tariffs, boycotts, now, even stuff getting through the Persian Gulf and fertilizer costs. Seems like a perfect storm of challenges. And even at the best of times, it seems like a very challenging line of work, but it’s been an inspiration to meet so many multi-generational farm families that are devoted to farming and making it work and feeding all the rest of us.”

On the Farm Bill Schiff said, “We continue to want to restore a lot of the SNAP funding that was cut. I want to make sure, apart from that priority, that we’re meeting these specialty crop farmers that don’t tend to get much attention or help in the Farm Bill.”

Background:

Last week, Schiff released an outline of his priorities for the 2026 Farm Bill following the recent passage of a Farm Bill by the U.S. House of Representatives. Over the past year and a half, Schiff has visited farms up and down California, including fields of strawberries, almonds, broccoli, celery, and leafy greens.

View photos from the visit below:

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Sen. Tim Scott Applauds $212 Million Investment in U.S. Coast Guard Base Charleston

CHARLESTON, S.C. — U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) today applauded the U.S. Coast Guard’s announcement of more than $212 million in infrastructure investments at U.S. Coast Guard Base Charleston in North Charleston, South Carolina. The two projects are funded through the historic $25 billion investment in the Coast Guard included in the Working Families Tax Cuts and will modernize critical operational facilities, strengthen military readiness, and support Coast Guard service members and their families.

“South Carolina continues to play a vital role in our national security and supporting the men and women who serve,” said Sen. Scott. “These investments at Base Charleston, made possible by the Working Families Tax Cuts, will strengthen Coast Guard operations, improve quality of life for service members and their families, and strengthen the Lowcountry’s position as a strategic military hub. I’m proud to support these efforts to modernize our military infrastructure while creating economic opportunity here at home.”

“I am excited for the incredible potential these projects have to improve the welfare of our Servicemembers and their families, to homeport our future fleet of Offshore Patrol Cutters and to operationalize the generous investments being made in our Service by the American people,” said Vice Admiral Jo-Ann Burdian, commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area. “Our people are our greatest asset, and everything we do on their behalf, to ensure they are ready, trained and well-supported will enable us to act with clarity, cohesion, and purpose to deliver the outcomes our Nation expects.”

The announcement includes a nearly $117 million contract to fully rebuild and modernize Pier Mike, creating a state-of-the-art facility that will serve as the permanent base for four Offshore Patrol Cutters and one visiting cutter. The Coast Guard also awarded a nearly $96 million contract for the construction of a new combined medical and dental facility, a new visitor’s center, and additional support for mission readiness.

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Senator Shaheen, Governor Ayotte and USDA Announce Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest Will Remain Open

(Washington, DC) – Following conversations between U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Governor Kelly Ayotte and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins, Senator Shaheen and Governor Ayotte confirmed that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is not closing New Hampshire’s Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. USDA will continue to evaluate plans at Bartlett Experimental Forests to ensure the continued stability of these critical research sites in New Hampshire.

“Research from Hubbard Brook and Bartlett has guided forest stewardship across New England for the better part of a century, and we simply can’t afford to lose that,” said Senator Shaheen. “I’m relieved that the Administration heard New Hampshire’s calls, and I appreciate Secretary Rollins’ commitment to reexamine the initial proposal that would close facilities at Bartlett. It’s critical that we see a meaningful change in plans. I am also grateful for Governor Ayotte's partnership in protecting these cherished places. The lab and other facilities at Bartlett must remain open in New Hampshire to continue the decades-long research projects that serve our entire country while addressing new challenges.”

“New Hampshire’s forests are an essential part of our economy, our environment, and our way of life,” said Governor Ayotte. “I had a productive conversation with Secretary Rollins and Senator Shaheen, and I appreciate USDA’s commitment to keeping these important research forests operating.”

Secretary Rollins confirmed that there are no proposals affecting the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest or any of its associated facilities. Secretary Rollins also committed to review plans at Bartlett Experimental Forest. The Forest Service recognizes its significance to the community, the agency, and scientific partners and is currently developing a five-year research plan with the White Mountain National Forest.

The Governor and Secretary Rollins discussed the importance of New Hampshire's experimental forests, and their shared commitment for continued support of these research sites, along with New Hampshire's forestry and timber industries across the state.

Additionally, the Governor and the Secretary also reviewed opportunities for USDA to invest in improvements to facilities at the Bartlett Experimental Forest, including current repairs to the onsite bunkhouse. Senator Shaheen and Governor Ayotte additionally requested increased staffing support for the forests and agreed to further conversations about the topic. As a senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Shaheen helped secure increased funding for research and language directing the Forest Service to fill vacancies at experimental forests in the Northeast.

The Hubbard Brook and Bartlett Experimental Forests are nationally recognized research sites that contribute to forest management, environmental science, and economic activity in New Hampshire and across the region.

Senator Shaheen is a champion for New England’s experimental forests and pushed back against USFS reorganization earlier this month. Recently, Senators Shaheen and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) sent a letter to USDA expressing concern about the reorganization of the Forest Service following a roundtable they led in Bretton Woods with local conservation advocates and forest leaders. In April, Senator Shaheen questioned Secretary Rollins about the Forest Service’s plans to close Bartlett Experimental Forest. In the Fiscal Year 2026 government funding bills that were signed into law, Shaheen helped boost funding for state and private forestry, as well as forest research.

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Thune Previews Senate Work Period, Honors Law Enforcement During Police Week

Clickhereto watch the video.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):

“Mr. President, we have a lot to do over the next two weeks.

“Confirm Kevin Warsh to the Federal Reserve.

“Approve a nominations package.

“And fund law enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security.

“That last item, Mr. President, should not need to be on our agenda.

“We should have been able to fund border security and immigration enforcement officers as part of the final Homeland Security funding agreement.

“But my Democrat colleagues refused.

“In fact, the Democrat leader said today that Democrats will fight legislation to fund law enforcement at DHS with ‘every tool we have.’

“Mr. President, it’s difficult to believe that we’re here again.

“We all remember the ‘Defund the Police’ movement embraced by the left and members of the Democrat Party.

“We also remember how cities who moved to defund the police backtracked in pretty short order.

“Because it turns out, Mr. President – as even some leftists came to realize – we need police officers.

“We need law enforcement.

“We live in a fallen world, and there are always going to be people out there who seek to hurt and exploit the innocent.

“And we need men and women who will stand between the innocent and danger.

“We need men and women who courageously dedicate their lives to law enforcement.

“And all of this should go without saying, Mr. President.

“I can scarcely think of anything more obvious.

“But apparently the need for law enforcement is not obvious to my Democrat colleagues.

“Because they’re right back to a defund the police position.

“This time, it’s defunding law enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security – specifically Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement: the men and women who patrol our borders and take dangerous criminal illegal immigrants off of our streets.

“And when I say defunding law enforcement at DHS, I don’t mean reducing the budget.

“I mean complete and total defunding.

“My Democrat colleagues refused to provide a single dollar for the men and women who protect our borders.

“They refused to provide a single dollar for the men and women who take dangerous criminal illegal aliens off of our streets.

“And I want you to think about that for just a minute, Mr. President.

“My Democrat colleagues apparently believe that there should be no physical presence at our borders and no law enforcement officers to deport dangerous criminals who have entered our country illegally.

“Mr. President, we had four years of chaos at the southern border under President Biden.

“But at least we had the Border Patrol, overstretched as it was.

“Now Democrats apparently believe in removing all law enforcement officers from our nation’s borders.

“Mr. President, I shouldn’t need to state the obvious here – that we need border security and immigration enforcement officers to protect our nation, just as we need police officers and FBI agents and Secret Service agents and all of the law enforcement officers who serve our communities.

“Democrats might like to pretend otherwise, but there are dangerous individuals who would like to make their way illegally across our border.

“Drug traffickers. Human traffickers. Other criminals. Terrorists.

“And the men and women of the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are the men and women who stand between us and these dangerous individuals – who turn them back at our borders and take them out of our communities if they do manage to make their way into our country.

“These are the men and women that my Democrat colleagues want to defund.

“Not reform, Mr. President.

“No, my Democrat colleagues repeatedly rejected reforms.

“They want to defund.

“And defund completely.

“Zero – zero – agents at our border.

“Zero agents to deport criminals here in the U.S. illegally.

“That’s what my Democrat colleagues opted for.

“It’s Police Week this week, Mr. President.

“A week to honor our nation’s law enforcement officers and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice while protecting our communities.

“Perhaps – perhaps – it will remind my Democrat colleagues of just how much we rely on law enforcement, and just how much we need all – all – of our nation’s law enforcement officers.”


Tuberville Urges SCOTUS to Protect Women and Babies from Dangerous Abortion Drugs

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined more than 100 Republican lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting a lawsuit to protect women and their unborn children from dangerous mail-order chemical abortion drugs. The brief argues that mifepristone’s in-person dispensing requirement must be reinstated.

Earlier this year, Sen. Tuberville helped introduce the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, which would withdraw Food and Drug Administration approval of mifepristone for abortion and empower women harmed by taking the drug to sue its manufacturers.

“Mifepristone is extremely dangerous and has no place in this country,” said Sen. Tuberville. “The mainstream media won’t tell you this, but one in ten women who take this dangerous drug suffers serious health problems. The safety of America’s mothers and children should not be a political pawn. I urge the justices of the Supreme Court to affirm Louisiana’s decision and protect women and babies across the country.”

Sen. Tuberville was joined by Sens. Jim Banks (R-IN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Budd (R-NC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), John Kennedy (R-LA), James Lankford (R-OK), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rand Paul (R-KY), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), James Risch (R-ID), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), John Thune (R-SD), and Todd Young (R-IN) in signing the amicus brief.

Read the full brief here.

BACKGROUND:

Sen. Tuberville has long been a staunch pro-life advocate, raising awareness about illegal and immoral taxpayer-funded abortions being administered at the Biden-era Department of Veterans Affairs and the Biden-era Department of War. Sen. Tuberville’s efforts led to the reversal of both policies under the Trump administration.

In October 2025, Louisiana and Rosalie Markezich, a victim of Democrats’ harmful decision to remove the in-person dispensing requirement for dangerous chemical abortion drugs, filed a lawsuit to overturn the illegal policy. Because of Biden’s policy, Rosalie’s boyfriend was able to order chemical abortion pills online from an abortionist in California and coerced her to take the drug to kill her unborn child. The Republican lawmakers argue that Biden violated federal law by removing the in-person dispensing requirement, and that these protections should be reinstated.

Recently, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Louisiana, issuing an order that put the in-person dispensing requirement back into place while the litigation continues. The amicus brief asks the Supreme Court to uphold the Fifth Circuit’s decision.

MORE:

Tuberville Calls on Trump Administration to Reevaluate Safety of Dangerous Abortion Pill

Tuberville, Banks Make Push for Transparency in Medicaid Payments to Abortion Providers

Tuberville Applauds Trump Administration’s Reversal of Illegal, Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Policy at the VA

Tuberville Releases Statement Following Pentagon’s Reversal of Illegal and Immoral Abortion Travel Policy

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

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ICYMI: Warnock Delivers Commencement Address to Georgia Tech Class of 2026, Urges Graduates to Hold onto Hope

On Thursday evening, Senator Reverend Warnock delivered the commencement address to Georgia Institute of Technology’s Spring 2026 graduating class in Atlanta, Georgia

Senator Warnock encouraged the Class of 2026 to hold onto hope, use their voices to challenge the status quo, and help make America a better place for future generations

Senator Reverend Warnock: “We need our best and brightest who have not only been trained in head, but they’ve been tuned in their heart to do the right thing—to recognize that, at the end of the day, we need each other”

Photo courtesy of Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal Constitution

Above: Senator Reverend Warnock at Georgia Institute of Technology’s 2026 commencement

Atlanta, GA – Thursday evening, Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) delivered the keynote commencement address to Georgia Institute of Technology’s Spring 2026 graduating class in Atlanta, Georgia. Senator Warnock urged graduates to challenge the status quo and think creatively to help make America a better place for future generations and bring the country closer to its constitutional ideals.

During his remarks, Senator Warnock, an alum of Atlanta’s Morehouse College and the only sitting U.S. Senator to graduate from a Historically Black College & University (HBCU), encouraged the graduates to use their voices for good in pursuit of what Martin Luther King Jr., called the ‘Beloved Community’. He reminded graduates that the power to change the world resides within them, and that their hope and aspirations are strengths that they should continue to rely on.

“You give us all hope,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “There were difficult days to get here, but you are here. It took grit. It took immense effort. It took sleepless nights. There were days when perhaps you felt like giving up, but you kept going, and you kept the faith. You did not allow yourself to get lost in a sea of despair.”

“We are counting on you to build what Dr. King called the ‘beloved community’,” the Senator continued. “And I’m thinking a lot these days about the fact that through his activism and through the work of just ordinary people, we pushed our country closer to its ideals…And so I dare you, mighty class of 2026, if you see something wrong in the world that needs to be corrected, I dare you to keep walking, even if you don’t have it all figured out. I dare you to keep marching.”

Georgia Tech is the largest university in the state of Georgia and is nationally recognized as the best value public university in the country—providing the best return on investment to its graduates. Thursday’s undergraduate commencement ceremony featured 1,100 undergraduates from the school’s College of Computing and Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

A video link of Senator Warnock’s speech can be found HERE.

Please find a transcript of Senator Warnock’s speech at Georgia Institute of Technology below:

“Good evening, Georgia Tech. What’s the good word?

“And here I was looking for a Bible verse.

“It’s great to be here.

“I want to thank your amazing president, Dr Cabrera. Give him a great big round of applause for that introduction. So grateful for his leadership. Georgia Institute of Technology, thank you so very much. I mean it—from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for this great honor.

“I’m always happy to do everything I can to deliver for the people of Georgia and for the Georgia Tech family because you deserve it. And you have contributed—and continue to contribute—so much to our great country.

“Today is a high day. We stand on the mountain top. But I always like to remind students that while graduation may represent the end of this phase of your matriculation, commencement by definition, is not the end. It is the beginning. You have crossed the river, but the ocean lies ahead. In the words of Robert Frost—more than a century ago—the woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.

“I want to thank not only your president, but this amazing faculty. What is an institution without its faculty? Come on, students, give the faculty a great big—everybody— give the faculty a great big round of applause. So grateful to the staff, the people you see, the people you don’t see, but who keep the lights shining bright and facilitate the work. Grateful to board members, alums, let’s hear it for the parents and grandparents! Your names are on these degrees, but there are a lot of hands on those degrees. This is the village that makes it possible.

“Last but certainly not least, let’s take a moment, and really, I mean really, celebrate the future. Let’s hear it for the mighty class of 2026. Come on! Let me hear you, 2026!

“We all have reason to rejoice. The future is unfolding before our very eyes. I mean it when I say you give us all hope. There were difficult days to get here, but you are here. It took grit. It took immense effort. It took sleepless nights. There were days when perhaps you felt like giving up, but you kept going, and you kept the faith. You did not allow yourself to get lost in a sea of despair. You remained hopeful. You found a way to make a way out of no way. That’s what we say often in my church and in my church tradition, sometimes you got to make a way, with God’s help, out of no way.

“All of us are here, but it took some a little bit more just to get here. I speak from experience. I stand here as a member of the United States Senate, but I’m the first college graduate in my family. I’m number 11 out of 12. Clearly, my folks read the Bible: be fruitful and multiply. But I decided as a kid, growing up in the Kayton Homes housing projects of Savannah, Georgia, that my parents’ income did not need to determine my outcome. But the year, I went to Morehouse College—right up the street—the tuition, room, and board at Morehouse College was more than my family’s annual income, but I decided I just wanted to be there. Because that’s where Martin Luther King, Jr., Georgia’s greatest son, attended.

“And I wanted to be there at that school. I didn’t know one day I’d be the pastor of the church. God always dreams a dream bigger than the one we’ve been dreaming for ourselves. But I remember the day my parents dropped me off. I should tell you that my folks are both Pentecostal preachers. They spoke to us all the time in King James English. My mom would say, ‘thou shalt wash the dishes, lest I smite thee with my rod and my staff’. And I turned to my parents, and I asked my dad, you know, I needed a few dollars to get started. My dad was very generous. God bless his memory. But things were tight. He didn’t have any money to give to me, and so Dean, he looked at me and he spoke to me in King James English. He said, ‘silver and gold hath I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee’. Who speaks like that? ‘God be with you, son.’ And he put his arms around me, and my mom put her arms around me. They gave me a great big hug, and then they got in the car and drove off in the horizon, left me standing there.

“And there were guys there who hadn’t been to the first class, and they were already—if you’ve met Morehouse men—they were already dressed in suits, looking like they were working on Wall Street. Some of them were driving by in their fancy cars. Well, four years later, some of those guys in those fancy cars were driving by the stage. But I was standing on the stage getting my degree because I knew that my parents’ income did not have to determine my outcome.

“And the thing that keeps me up at night—as a voice for Georgia, as a parent, as a citizen, as a Senator—is a recognition that it would be harder now for me to accomplish what I did as a kid growing up in the 80s than it was back then. And so that’s something that we’ve got to fix. We’ve got to make sure that every child has a chance. The God I know raises up genius and talent and intelligence all over town, all over the world, on both sides of the railroad track. It’s not about where you start, it’s about where you’re going. All of us have something to contribute, and we ought to create a world where every child can live up to their highest potential. That’s not just good for them, that’s good for all of us. And so today is a happy day.

“And so, class of 2026 stand up. I didn’t mean literally, but since you’re standing up, —they really do follow instructions. Please be seated. I think they’re ready to get out of here [laughs].

“So let me defy Baptist gravity and be relatively brief. I love these themes, this theme of progress and service. You passed the test. You’ve done the work, but now we’re counting on you to build what Dr King called the ‘beloved community’.

“There are those in our country right now who are trying to divide us because people who have no vision traffic in division, they don’t know how to lead us, and so they’re trying to divide us. Here’s what I offer to all of us, no matter your politics. And I mean it, Democrats, Republicans, independents, red, yellow, brown, black and white, rich and poor, wherever you come from, we’ve all we got. There’s something magnificent about that American creed, e pluribus unum. Out of many, one. That’s the future, and we don’t have time to be divided. We don’t have time for this bigotry and xenophobia. It is in our enlightened self-interest to figure out how to live together in this world and how to get a get along in this country, and how to make sure we have a planet that is worthy of our incredible children, that’s in all of our enlightened self-interests. And so, we’re counting on you to do that work. We got many challenges in front of us.

“At Georgia Tech, I think especially about the promise and the perils of AI. I met a couple of days ago with AI leaders and creators from all of the various companies, and they were laying out how quickly this thing is changing every day. We have got to make sure that it emerges in such a way that it is more helpful than hurtful. Implications for the labor market, implications for privacy, our national security—a whole range of things—we need our best and brightest who have not only been trained in head, but they’ve been tuned in their heart to do the right thing, to recognize that at the end of the day, we need each other.

“And so, God bless all of you! Congratulations on this incredible achievement. I do hope, with your President, that you will go out, some of you at least, and make a whole lot of money and give back to Georgia Tech. But always remember, in the words of Benjamin Elijah Mays, that you make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give. It’s not simply about your education; it’s about your vocation. The issue is, what are you going to do with all that you have received?

“And I hope that if you haven’t already figured it out, that you will begin to discern your own life’s project. Your life’s project that’s bigger than a career, your life’s project. And I submit to you that your life’s project ought to be larger than your life span. If your life’s project can be accomplished in your life span, it is too small. You ought to take on something that’s so big that at the end of your life you’ll have to pass it on to somebody else to finish it, on behalf of humanity and on behalf of what Dr. King called the ‘beloved community’.

“And so, Dr. King who sat in these seats many decades ago, understood that he needed to make his education work for something. And I’m thinking a lot these days about the fact that through his activism and through the work of just ordinary people, we pushed our country closer to its ideals. And when they passed the civil rights movement, the Civil Rights Bill, into law. Dr. Cabrera—Dr. King and others went to see President Johnson. President Johnson was proud that they had passed the Civil Rights Bill into law. And Dr. King said, ‘great, we’ve got that Civil Rights Bill’. And without even missing a beat, he said, ‘I’m glad we got Civil Rights Bill. Now we need a Voting Rights Bill’. He said, ‘I need a voting rights law. And President Johnson began to say, ‘I can’t get that passed right now. I don’t have the power.’ And they left the meeting, and the staff was feeling all demoralized and dejected, and they began to say, ‘what are we going to do?’ ‘The president said he doesn’t have the power to give us voting rights.’

“At that time, by the way—as you look at me as a United States Senator—there were 77 black people in political office throughout the whole country. I’m not just talking about in the in the Capitol of the United States. All over the country, 77 black people were in office prior to the Voting Rights Act.

“And so, they left the meeting, and they began to say, ‘what are we going to do? The President said he doesn’t have the power.’ And Dr. King said, ‘Well, if the President doesn’t have the power, I guess we’re going to have to go and get him some’.

“So, when you see John Lewis crossing that Edmund Pettus Bridge, know that he understood that it’s not about the people in power. It’s about the power that’s in the people. And he kept crossing that bridge with brute force under the color of law. On the other side of that bridge, he had no reason to think that he could win, but he kept on walking. And so, I dare you, mighty class of 2026, if you see something wrong in the world that needs to be corrected, I dare you to keep walking. Even if you don’t have it all figured out. I dare you to keep on marching. I dare you to keep on speaking up. I dare you to keep on showing up. I dare you to insist that your voice will be heard, because your vote is your voice, and your voice is your human dignity, and everybody deserves a chance to be heard.

“So, to everyone that openeth up away and away and away. High soul climbs the highway and the low soul gropes to low and in between on Misty flats to rest, drift to and fro, but to each one, they openeth up a highway and a low and each one must decide the way his soul would go.

“I hope that you will find your magnificent obsession. I hope that something will so captivate your attention and your imagination that you will spend sleepless nights working on it, not just to get richer, but to make the world better. I hope that if you encounter a mountain, you’ll climb it, a river, you’ll cross it, a dream, you’ll pursue it, a vision you’ll do it, a bad habit, you’ll break it, a handicap, you’ll overcome it, a testimony, you’ll tell it, a book, you’ll write it, a sermon, you’ll preach it. I hope you have a vote and you will cast it, but you will make sure that your voice is heard in this grand experiment called America, and together, we’ll stand up in the spirit and fulfillment of those three great words that are not just the first three words of the Constitution, but they are the American creed. We the People! Red, yellow, brown, black and white. We the People! Jews and Christians and Muslims and Hindus and those who claim no particular faith tradition at all. We the People will stand together and ensure that the 21st Century, like the 20th century, is the American century, and we will make the world safe for all of God’s children.

“God bless you. Keep the faith and keep looking up.”


“The Democracy Doesn’t Belong to the Politicians” Warnock Stands with Faith Leaders to Decry Gutting of Voting Rights Act

Last month, the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, greenlighting states’ ability to making it significantly easier for states to dilute the power of Black and brown voters

Senator Reverend Warnock has long fought to protect the voting rights of Georgians, including introducing legislation to restore critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act and to ban gerrymandering

Senator Reverend Warnock: “The same people who have robbed people of health care and robbed people of food are now trying to rob them of their vote and their voice and their democracy because they don’t want the people to hold them accountable come November. But I’ve got news for them. We’re going to show up not just in November, but in the months leading to November, because the democracy doesn’t belong to the politicians.”

Photo credit: WJCL Savannah

Savannah, GA – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) stood with dozens of faith leaders and elected leaders across South Georgia. The Senator, along with Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, and Reverend Thurmond Neill Tillman, stood in front of the historic First African Baptist Church. The speakers highlighted the legacy of Savannah’s Civil Rights heroes, including Rev. Ralph Mark Gilbert and Hosea Williams, and denounced the court’s decision, which undid their lifetimes of work.

“So, let’s be very clear, Last week marked a devastating day in the history of our country and a massive step backwards in American democracy. And the impact of that massive step backwards will be felt by all Americans. I’m here because I’m worried about all Americans,” said Senator Warnock. “I promised that I would fight for all Georgians, and this is an assault on the ability of ordinary people to be heard, thanks to the Supreme Court’s deeply misguided decision, states are now free to racially gerrymander however they see fit.”

“The same people who have robbed people of health care and robbed people of food are now trying to rob them of their vote and their voice and their democracy because they don’t want the people to hold them accountable come November,” continued Senator Warnock. “But I’ve got news for them. We’re going to show up not just in November, but in the months leading to November, because the democracy doesn’t belong to the politicians.”

The Senator’s full remarks can be found HERE and below:

“Well, good morning, Savannah, Georgia, it’s great to see all of you here today. We really can’t overstate how important this moment really is. Thanks to my friend Mayor Van Johnson. Let’s give the mayor a great big round of applause, and the pastor who knew me when I was an elementary school student, you’re getting up there, Rev. But I used to spend evenings in the basement here for overnight retreats. And now I’m his Senator, and he’s forever my pastor, Reverend Thurman Tillman. None like him. Give him a great big round of applause.

So, let’s be very clear, Last week marked a devastating day in the history of our country and a massive step backwards in American democracy. And the impact of that massive step backwards will be felt by all Americans. I’m here because I’m worried about all Americans. I promised that I would fight for all Georgians, and this is an assault on the ability of ordinary people to be heard, thanks to the Supreme Court’s deeply misguided decision, states are now free to racially gerrymander however they see fit.

The court is bringing back so-called race-neutral policies. Let me be really clear, Black and brown voters are being targeted by these gerrymanders. This notion of race neutral is a lie on its face. We have seen so-called race-neutral policies before that completely erase the ability of Black and brown voters to be heard. Grandfather clauses, literacy tests, tell me how many jelly beans are in the jar. All of those policies were allegedly race-neutral. There’s nothing new about this.

Black and Brown voters are being targeted, but women are also being targeted because the same folks who cheer this awful decision by the Supreme Court were also trying to pass the so-called SAVE Act. And let me be clear, they’re not trying to save America. They are certainly not trying to save the democracy. They’re trying to save their power at any cost.

So the SAVE Act said that you’ve got to have your birth certificate in order to register to vote. Most people can’t find their birth certificate, or you’ve got to have a passport. Most Americans don’t have a passport. And if you’re a woman and your name is different from the name that’s on your birth certificate, you’ve got to find your birth certificate, then find your marriage certificate, which you may not want to find! And then go get an affidavit.

You’ve got to jump through all of these hoops just to vote. Voting is not a privilege, it’s a right, and I’m tired of people treating it like a privilege, it’s a right, it’s a right.

And so I’m honored to stand here. We are on holy ground. This is First African Baptist Church. This is the church that was built by slaves who never gave up on the American promise. They really didn’t have much reason to believe, but they kept fighting. This is the church of Reverend Ralph Mark Gilbert, who was also the president of the NAACP, dedicated to ensuring that we had access to the ballot and he saw firsthand the challenges of black representation, again, under allegedly race-neutral policies. We’re standing on holy ground.

Folks in Washington are playing with the blood of our ancestors. Jon Lewis, my own parishioner, who gave a little blood that day, as he used to say, on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Amelia Boynton, who was gassed, but not just African Americans, Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman, two Jews and an African American, who died fighting for the right to vote. Viola Louisa, a white woman from Detroit, killed in the heart of the South, fighting for that basic American covenant, one person, one vote.

And so all of these things must be seen as knit together, the SAVE Act, the assault on Section 2, after the assault on Section 5, the raiding of the Fulton County Board of Elections by the FBI about an election that was in 2020? And now a subpoena from a US Attorney in North Carolina demanding information about regular election workers in Georgia. Why? Why is the Trump administration harassing election workers? Why are they intimidating ordinary people that they might be afraid to volunteer just to be the gears that keep our system going?

He doesn’t believe in democracy. He believes in power. And he’s aided and abetted by cynical politicians who, just hours after the Supreme Court tore down Civil Rights Era protections, jumped into action, and they’re busy redrawing the maps, mid-decade in Louisiana, in Tennessee, threatening to do it in Mississippi, doing it in Alabama.

The same people who have robbed the people of their doctors with their draconian cuts to Medicaid, who robbed ordinary children of food through these awful cuts to SNAP, which, by the way, are disproportionately hitting red rural districts. I’m out here fighting because I don’t want to see poor little white children in rural Georgia hungry. I don’t want to see Black kids growing up in Kayton homes, [gestures in direction of Kayton homes] where I grew up hungry. I don’t want to see working people unable to get their health care because they can’t afford it, because this Congress would not provide those tax credits.

The same people who have robbed people of health care and robbed people of food are now trying to rob them of their vote and their voice and their democracy because they don’t want the people to hold them accountable come November. But I’ve got news for them. We’re going to show up not just in November, but in the months leading to November, because the democracy doesn’t belong to the politicians. They’re trying to turn the democracy upside down. That’s what gerrymandering is about, so that rather than the people picking the politicians, the politicians get to pick their voters. That’s what it is. That’s what gerrymandering is.

But I’ve got news for them: The democracy doesn’t belong to the politicians. It belongs to the people, and the people are coming to get their power back.”

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