Floor SpeechNeutral2026-06-17

REQUESTING INFORMATION ON HONDURAS'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion To Discharge

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On 2026-06-17, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) delivered a floor speech titled "REQUESTING INFORMATION ON HONDURAS'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(C) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF" in the Senate.

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REQUESTING INFORMATION ON HONDURAS'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion To Discharge

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 102 (Wednesday, June 17, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 17, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S2880-S2881] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] REQUESTING INFORMATION ON HONDURAS'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion To Discharge Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, I rise today to bring transparency to the American people. S. Res. 616 requires the Trump administration to produce a report detailing the human rights violations in Honduras under its former President, Juan Orlando Hernandez. Let me just stress this--and I am going to be talking about this quite often--Juan Orlando Hernandez--most people don't know--was convicted here in the United States. He is a notorious drug trafficker. And President Trump pardoned him last year. The American people deserve to know the consequences of pardoning such an infamous criminal and, quite honestly, how that conflicts with President Trump's focus, as he talks about, on law and order and combating drug trafficking. Mr. Hernandez was serving a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking when President Trump pardoned him. He had been convicted by a U.S. jury in 2024 for conspiring to import hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States and for related firearms offenses. He also had been accused of taking bribes from the infamous Mexican cartel leader El Chapo and raking in millions of dollars in drug money himself. This is the man who is responsible for illegal drugs entering our country, for harming families, and for endangering our communities. Yet President Trump pardoned him. This is the man who prosecutors said had partnered with some of the world's most prolific narcotics traffickers to build a corrupt and brutally violent empire. The prosecutors who were later able to get a conviction against him said that. Yet President Trump deemed him worthy of a pardon. The President's action here is the opposite of law and order. In fact, it contradicts efforts to combat drug trafficking, and it undermines law enforcement. Why do I know that? Because as a former attorney general, these are areas in which I worked with law enforcement in my State--our law enforcement agents, our investigators, our prosecutors in the State of Nevada--to combat drug trafficking that comes into the State of Nevada. Let me clarify this because most people don't realize that Nevada is not on the border with Mexico, but what happens on that border bleeds into Nevada. So the drug trafficking that crosses that border comes into Nevada, where we were seeing opioid abuse, where we were seeing methamphetamine abuse, where we were seeing fentanyl abuse--the very drugs the President now is talking about wanting to combat and stop from coming into our country. Yet--yet--he pardons a big drug trafficker who was convicted in this country for doing that very thing. You know, quite frankly, it is an insult to the professional men and women--nonpartisan, let me just say, men and women--who work year after year to address this issue and who actually worked hard to put Hernandez behind bars. It also sends the wrong message. Here is why: Since he was pardoned, Mr. Hernandez has been giving interviews to the BBC, and he is saying that President Trump's pardon proves he was innocent. I will tell you what: The American people deserve better than that, and they deserve transparency. Quite honestly, our law enforcement, who works so hard to address-- really address--the drug trafficking that is coming into this country, deserves to know why President Trump pardoned this man. They deserve to fully understand the connections between Hernandez' government, drug trafficking organizations, and Honduras' human rights record. That is why I am calling up this resolution today. This resolution would require the Trump administration to provide information about Honduras' domestic human rights practices. Specifically, the administration would have to assess human rights violations during the time that President Juan Orlando Hernandez was President. That includes analyzing the connections between high-level government officials and drug trafficking organizations, and it means looking at the corruption of Honduras' Government officials as it relates to drug trafficking, money laundering, and bribery. In this report, they would also have to evaluate the links between the drug cartels in Honduras and torture, rape, illegal detention, witness tampering, and murder. Finally, it would include understanding efforts in Honduras to undermine police reforms and drug crime investigations. The resolution also requires an assessment from the Secretary of State of any ongoing ties between Hernandez and--whether he has maintained those with drug cartels. Now, I have heard some of my colleagues talking out against this in that somehow this is some ``gotcha'' moment or this is some sort of lefty, liberal effort to make the President look bad. Well, let me just say this: Everybody is responsible for their actions. I don't know, in working in law enforcement, that there is a left or a right to it. We want to stop drug trafficking. We want to hold those drug traffickers accountable, and they shouldn't be pardoned after they have been convicted in the United States. If we are truly going to combat the War on Drugs in this country, everybody needs to be held accountable--everyone. This resolution is important because if the administration fails to give us this report, the resolution would pause U.S. security assistance to Honduras. There is no good reason for the administration not to author this report. Again, some colleagues have voiced concerns about the potential pausing of assistance to Honduras. Well, let me be very clear. Trump has already threatened to pause aid to Honduras multiple times. In fact, since the start of his second term, his administration has slashed the amount of funding we are sending to the country. There is no promise that the Trump administration won't threaten support for Honduras again with or without this resolution, right? So if President Trump is really concerned about preventing drug trafficking and supporting Honduras, he can start by not pardoning drug kingpins. At the end of the day, this vote is about giving the American people the answers they deserve. We need the truth. We need the facts. We need to understand what is going on here. The President is going to use his pardon power to pardon a drug kingpin who has been convicted in this country. People deserve the right to know why. They deserve the right to know why. So I hope my colleagues will work with me to pass this resolution. I thank Senators Kaine and Welch for standing with me and joining me in this resolution and talking on the floor today as to how important this is. Again, I cannot stress this enough: This is not a lefty or a right issue. This is not a Republican or a Democrat issue. This is a nonpartisan issue. This is about drug trafficking, who is responsible, and accountability for them. And if we have a President who decides he is going to use his pardon power to pardon them, we have every right to question that and understand the extent to which an individual is being [[Page S2881]] pardoned in this country and what he did. That is what this resolution is all about--transparency for the American people. It is about time. With that, Mr. President, pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S. Res. 616. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: Motion to discharge S. Res. 616 from the Committee on Foreign Relations, a resolution requesting information on Honduras's human rights practices pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. I know of no further debate. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate? Vote on Motion to Discharge If not, the question is on agreeing to the motion to discharge. Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll. Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell). Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) are necessarily absent. The result was announced--yeas 44, nays 50, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 179 Leg.] YEAS--44 Alsobrooks Baldwin Blumenthal Cantwell Cassidy Collins Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--50 Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young NOT VOTING--6 Bennet Blunt Rochester Booker Gallego Kelly McConnell The motion was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The Senator from Nevada. ____________________

Referenced legislation: SRES616, SRES616

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REQUESTING INFORMATION ON HONDURAS'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion To Discharge Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 102 (Wednesday, June 17, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 17, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S2880-S2881] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] REQUESTING INFORMATION ON HONDURAS'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES PURSUANT TO SECTION 502B(c) OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961--Motion To Discharge Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, I rise today to bring transparency to the American people. S. Res. 616 requires the Trump administration to produce a report detailing the human rights violations in Honduras under its former President, Juan Orlando Hernandez. Let me just stress this--and I am going to be talking about this quite often--Juan Orlando Hernandez--most people don't know--was convicted here in the United States. He is a notorious drug trafficker. And President Trump pardoned him last year. The American people deserve to know the consequences of pardoning such an infamous criminal and, quite honestly, how that conflicts with President Trump's focus, as he talks about, on law and order and combating drug trafficking. Mr. Hernandez was serving a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking when President Trump pardoned him. He had been convicted by a U.S. jury in 2024 for conspiring to import hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States and for related firearms offenses. He also had been accused of taking bribes from the infamous Mexican cartel leader El Chapo and raking in millions of dollars in drug money himself. This is the man who is responsible for illegal drugs entering our country, for harming families, and for endangering our communities. Yet President Trump pardoned him. This is the man who prosecutors said had partnered with some of the world's most prolific narcotics traffickers to build a corrupt and brutally violent empire. The prosecutors who were later able to get a conviction against him said that. Yet President Trump deemed him worthy of a pardon. The President's action here is the opposite of law and order. In fact, it contradicts efforts to combat drug trafficking, and it undermines law enforcement. Why do I know that? Because as a former attorney general, these are areas in which I worked with law enforcement in my State--our law enforcement agents, our investigators, our prosecutors in the State of Nevada--to combat drug trafficking that comes into the State of Nevada. Let me clarify this because most people don't realize that Nevada is not on the border with Mexico, but what happens on that border bleeds into Nevada. So the drug trafficking that crosses that border comes into Nevada, where we were seeing opioid abuse, where we were seeing methamphetamine abuse, where we were seeing fentanyl abuse--the very drugs the President now is talking about wanting to combat and stop from coming into our country. Yet--yet--he pardons a big drug trafficker who was convicted in this country for doing that very thing. You know, quite frankly, it is an insult to the professional men and women--nonpartisan, let me just say, men and women--who work year after year to address this issue and who actually worked hard to put Hernandez behind bars. It also sends the wrong message. Here is why: Since he was pardoned, Mr. Hernandez has been giving interviews to the BBC, and he is saying that President Trump's pardon proves he was innocent. I will tell you what: The American people deserve better than that, and they deserve transparency. Quite honestly, our law enforcement, who works so hard to address-- really address--the drug trafficking that is coming into this country, deserves to know why President Trump pardoned this man. They deserve to fully understand the connections between Hernandez' government, drug trafficking organizations, and Honduras' human rights record. That is why I am calling up this resolution today. This resolution would require the Trump administration to provide information about Honduras' domestic human rights practices. Specifically, the administration would have to assess human rights violations during the time that President Juan Orlando Hernandez was President. That includes analyzing the connections between high-level government officials and drug trafficking organizations, and it means looking at the corruption of Honduras' Government officials as it relates to drug trafficking, money laundering, and bribery. In this report, they would also have to evaluate the links between the drug cartels in Honduras and torture, rape, illegal detention, witness tampering, and murder. Finally, it would include understanding efforts in Honduras to undermine police reforms and drug crime investigations. The resolution also requires an assessment from the Secretary of State of any ongoing ties between Hernandez and--whether he has maintained those with drug cartels. Now, I have heard some of my colleagues talking out against this in that somehow this is some ``gotcha'' moment or this is some sort of lefty, liberal effort to make the President look bad. Well, let me just say this: Everybody is responsible for their actions. I don't know, in working in law enforcement, that there is a left or a right to it. We want to stop drug trafficking. We want to hold those drug traffickers accountable, and they shouldn't be pardoned after they have been convicted in the United States. If we are truly going to combat the War on Drugs in this country, everybody needs to be held accountable--everyone. This resolution is important because if the administration fails to give us this report, the resolution would pause U.S. security assistance to Honduras. There is no good reason for the administration not to author this report. Again, some colleagues have voiced concerns about the potential pausing of assistance to Honduras. Well, let me be very clear. Trump has already threatened to pause aid to Honduras multiple times. In fact, since the start of his second term, his administration has slashed the amount of funding we are sending to the country. There is no promise that the Trump administration won't threaten support for Honduras again with or without this resolution, right? So if President Trump is really concerned about preventing drug trafficking and supporting Honduras, he can start by not pardoning drug kingpins. At the end of the day, this vote is about giving the American people the answers they deserve. We need the truth. We need the facts. We need to understand what is going on here. The President is going to use his pardon power to pardon a drug kingpin who has been convicted in this country. People deserve the right to know why. They deserve the right to know why. So I hope my colleagues will work with me to pass this resolution. I thank Senators Kaine and Welch for standing with me and joining me in this resolution and talking on the floor today as to how important this is. Again, I cannot stress this enough: This is not a lefty or a right issue. This is not a Republican or a Democrat issue. This is a nonpartisan issue. This is about drug trafficking, who is responsible, and accountability for them. And if we have a President who decides he is going to use his pardon power to pardon them, we have every right to question that and understand the extent to which an individual is being [[Page S2881]] pardoned in this country and what he did. That is what this resolution is all about--transparency for the American people. It is about time. With that, Mr. President, pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, I move to discharge the Committee on Foreign Relations from further consideration of S. Res. 616. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: Motion to discharge S. Res. 616 from the Committee on Foreign Relations, a resolution requesting information on Honduras's human rights practices pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. I know of no further debate. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate? Vote on Motion to Discharge If not, the question is on agreeing to the motion to discharge. Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll. Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell). Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) are necessarily absent. The result was announced--yeas 44, nays 50, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 179 Leg.] YEAS--44 Alsobrooks Baldwin Blumenthal Cantwell Cassidy Collins Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--50 Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young NOT VOTING--6 Bennet Blunt Rochester Booker Gallego Kelly McConnell The motion was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The Senator from Nevada. ____________________ Referenced legislation: SRES616, SRES616