Floor SpeechBipartisan2026-09-16

PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT OF 2026--Motion to Proceed

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Context

On 2026-09-16, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) delivered a floor speech titled "PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT OF 2026--Motion To Proceed" in the Senate.

Full Text

PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT OF 2026--Motion to Proceed

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 146 (Wednesday, September 16, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 146 (Wednesday, September 16, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S4747-S4752] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT OF 2026--Motion to Proceed The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ricketts). The Senator from Michigan. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about an extremely important and lifesaving program that touches every single community in the United States: the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Every year, we lose far too many Americans to suicide. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Perhaps even more heartbreaking, it is the second- leading cause of death for our young people. Too many people across our country--parents, spouses, children, and friends--are dealing with the unimaginable loss of a loved one. And, unfortunately, we know that the overwhelming majority of individuals who die by suicide are struggling alone or did not receive the proper diagnosis or treatment. This is a serious public health problem, and we must urgently work together to address it. Research shows that timely intervention is one of the best ways to prevent someone from making the decision to take their own life. As a society, we have an obligation to provide that lifesaving crisis support to every American in every single community--and that is exactly what the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline does. Across our country, Americans facing mental health struggles can access free and confidential support 24-7, 365 days a year. Help can be accessed by calling or texting 9-8-8 or by chatting with a 988 counselor online. It is on all of us to make sure that our fellow Americans know that this help is available to them, and that is why during National Suicide Prevention Month, I was proud to join my colleagues in introducing a resolution recognizing September 8 as 988 Day to raise awareness of this essential and invaluable resource. Now, I want to commend the crisis support counselors across America who answer these calls and help deliver this vital support to every citizen, both day and night. Your compassion, your dedication, and your willingness to be there for others during an incredibly difficult moment literally saves lives. I also want to recognize Michigander Bob Goble. He is in the gallery with me today. And, like me, Bob is an avid motorcyclist who I am proud joined me on my annual motorcycle tour across Michigan, which I have been doing for years now and we just completed a short time ago. But, most importantly, he is an Air Force veteran, and he has worked tirelessly to ensure that 988 connects his fellow veterans with qualified Veterans Affairs counselors who can provide the specialized mental health support they deserve--and they certainly have earned. No one should have to suffer alone. So if you or someone you know is in need of support, please call, text, or chat 9-8-8. Caring counselors will be there to help. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Armstrong). The Senator from Colorado. Corruption Mr. HICKENLOOPER. Mr. President, in 2016, then-Candidate Donald Trump traveled to Gettysburg where he vowed to ``drain the swamp.'' ``The system is designed for one reason, to keep the corrupt establishment and special interests in power,'' he told the crowd. He then declared, ``I have no special interest but to you, the American voter.'' In hindsight, I am not sure that was a promise--maybe more of a projection. Millions of Americans voted for President Trump in that election and again in 2024 because they sincerely believed he would end the corruption in Washington and lower costs. Now nearly 20 months into his second term, President Trump calls this period in American history a ``golden age.'' The question would be, golden for whom? Is it for billionaires or for Mar-a-Lago members, for the President's friends and cronies? It is not a golden age for the farmers on the Western Slope of Colorado or small business owners in Colorado Springs or working families in Denver. What we are living through isn't a golden age of America. It is a golden age of corruption. It is an era of spoils and bribery for the powerful and well connected while all of you are left behind. Americans do what they can; the President and his friends and cronies do what they want. Take housing. Nearly half of all U.S. renters now spend more than a third of their income on housing costs. Nine in 10 young people say it is harder to buy a property now than it was a generation before. Instead of building more affordable housing here, the extended Trump family is building more housing in Saudi Arabia. The President's son- in-law is using his position as Special Envoy for Peace to cut a $3 billion sweetheart deal to build high-end housing some 6,000 miles away. So while people on the Eastern Plains are unsure whether they will ever afford a home, the Trump family is shoring up housing in the Middle East. Then there is energy. While Americans are shelling out over $100 billion in energy costs since President Trump started his illegal war with Iran, he has raked in millions of dollars off of investments in oil and gas publicly traded stocks. He is not only enriching himself but also his pals as well. The President has spent more than $1 billion of your taxpayer money, our taxpayer money, to cancel clean energy projects, all while his neighbors in Palm Beach stand to cash in on massive payouts. Your energy bills go up; the bank accounts of his friends go up faster. That pattern of self-dealing extends to artificial intelligence. Donald Trump, Jr.'s venture capital firm has invested millions in a variety of AI companies. One of the United Arab Emirates' most powerful royals has invested half a billion dollars in the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture--half a billion dollars. So it should come as no surprise that President Trump has rolled back AI safeguards and authorized Big Tech to sell some of America's most advanced AI chips to the Emiratis, those from the United Arab Emirates. It should be no surprise that his Big Beautiful Bill cut a trillion dollars from this country's healthcare while handing out massive tax breaks to fuel investments, many of which went into AI. So, even as your energy bills are spiking, even when you are worried that your job could be the one that gets cut next, even as you worry your farm is already facing a water shortage in many parts of this country, billionaires who have turned AI into a horserace focused pretty much solely on who is winning with too little thought for who gets left behind. But now some of the biggest names in AI are warning that we are moving too fast. I think the question is, Do we listen? Will we listen? Will we act? Housing. Gas. Groceries. When everything costs more, it is hard for Americans to plan for today let alone tomorrow. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are abandoning long-term financial milestones and cutting back just to get by. They are giving up on those planned investments for retirement to just get by. President Trump's Wall Street friends aren't cutting back. His company is charging them up to $100,000 a month for faster access to his Truth Social posts that routinely influence stock prices. So, let me repeat that. President Trump's friends on Wall Street are spending $100,000 a month so that they will know ahead of time what he is going to post on Truth Social. So, that $100,000 a month is more than the median household makes in an entire year in this country, all just to give greedy investors another leg up. Now, you can't pass this off as normal. This isn't simply run-of-the- mill corruption. This is a sellout--a sellout [[Page S4748]] of the public, of all of you. It is a sellout of America. And it is a sellout of the office that we used to--at least when I was growing up-- pretty much everyone respected. In his first year back in office, President Trump made over $2 billion largely from investments that are closely connected to his being President. What has he learned from his first term? Well, certainly the answer appears clear. It is not how to lead or how to make life more affordable for more Americans; it is how to leverage the Presidency for personal profit. And that is really what it seemed to boil down to: profit over peace; profit over people; profit over principle. And that is the opposite of what government service should be about. Over the last couple months, I have traveled through the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, through Colorado's mountain communities across the west slope, and everywhere in between, to try and hear what Coloradans believe they need at this moment. And what we hear again and again, they want leaders who are going to tackle this cost-of-living emergency, this crisis that affects them at the end of every month as they are trying to figure out how to make rent. They want leaders that are going to help keep their businesses open amid all these headwinds, and they want leaders who will help them keep their farms afloat through a record drought and some of the most rapid inflation in their input--the things they spend to bring their products to market--some of the most rapid inflation in their lifetimes. They don't need leaders who are going to look after themselves or, you know, cut a break for another group of wealthy people. They don't need leaders focused on renaming lakes or mountains, or building monuments to themselves. I think you could argue that this President can't get out of his own way. When we passed the most consequential housing bill in decades, opening the door for home ownership for millions of Americans and stopping Wall Street from buying up homes that belong to working families, the President refused to sign

Referenced legislation: S5390, S5390, S5417

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PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT OF 2026--Motion to Proceed Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 146 (Wednesday, September 16, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 146 (Wednesday, September 16, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S4747-S4752] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT OF 2026--Motion to Proceed The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ricketts). The Senator from Michigan. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about an extremely important and lifesaving program that touches every single community in the United States: the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Every year, we lose far too many Americans to suicide. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Perhaps even more heartbreaking, it is the second- leading cause of death for our young people. Too many people across our country--parents, spouses, children, and friends--are dealing with the unimaginable loss of a loved one. And, unfortunately, we know that the overwhelming majority of individuals who die by suicide are struggling alone or did not receive the proper diagnosis or treatment. This is a serious public health problem, and we must urgently work together to address it. Research shows that timely intervention is one of the best ways to prevent someone from making the decision to take their own life. As a society, we have an obligation to provide that lifesaving crisis support to every American in every single community--and that is exactly what the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline does. Across our country, Americans facing mental health struggles can access free and confidential support 24-7, 365 days a year. Help can be accessed by calling or texting 9-8-8 or by chatting with a 988 counselor online. It is on all of us to make sure that our fellow Americans know that this help is available to them, and that is why during National Suicide Prevention Month, I was proud to join my colleagues in introducing a resolution recognizing September 8 as 988 Day to raise awareness of this essential and invaluable resource. Now, I want to commend the crisis support counselors across America who answer these calls and help deliver this vital support to every citizen, both day and night. Your compassion, your dedication, and your willingness to be there for others during an incredibly difficult moment literally saves lives. I also want to recognize Michigander Bob Goble. He is in the gallery with me today. And, like me, Bob is an avid motorcyclist who I am proud joined me on my annual motorcycle tour across Michigan, which I have been doing for years now and we just completed a short time ago. But, most importantly, he is an Air Force veteran, and he has worked tirelessly to ensure that 988 connects his fellow veterans with qualified Veterans Affairs counselors who can provide the specialized mental health support they deserve--and they certainly have earned. No one should have to suffer alone. So if you or someone you know is in need of support, please call, text, or chat 9-8-8. Caring counselors will be there to help. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Armstrong). The Senator from Colorado. Corruption Mr. HICKENLOOPER. Mr. President, in 2016, then-Candidate Donald Trump traveled to Gettysburg where he vowed to ``drain the swamp.'' ``The system is designed for one reason, to keep the corrupt establishment and special interests in power,'' he told the crowd. He then declared, ``I have no special interest but to you, the American voter.'' In hindsight, I am not sure that was a promise--maybe more of a projection. Millions of Americans voted for President Trump in that election and again in 2024 because they sincerely believed he would end the corruption in Washington and lower costs. Now nearly 20 months into his second term, President Trump calls this period in American history a ``golden age.'' The question would be, golden for whom? Is it for billionaires or for Mar-a-Lago members, for the President's friends and cronies? It is not a golden age for the farmers on the Western Slope of Colorado or small business owners in Colorado Springs or working families in Denver. What we are living through isn't a golden age of America. It is a golden age of corruption. It is an era of spoils and bribery for the powerful and well connected while all of you are left behind. Americans do what they can; the President and his friends and cronies do what they want. Take housing. Nearly half of all U.S. renters now spend more than a third of their income on housing costs. Nine in 10 young people say it is harder to buy a property now than it was a generation before. Instead of building more affordable housing here, the extended Trump family is building more housing in Saudi Arabia. The President's son- in-law is using his position as Special Envoy for Peace to cut a $3 billion sweetheart deal to build high-end housing some 6,000 miles away. So while people on the Eastern Plains are unsure whether they will ever afford a home, the Trump family is shoring up housing in the Middle East. Then there is energy. While Americans are shelling out over $100 billion in energy costs since President Trump started his illegal war with Iran, he has raked in millions of dollars off of investments in oil and gas publicly traded stocks. He is not only enriching himself but also his pals as well. The President has spent more than $1 billion of your taxpayer money, our taxpayer money, to cancel clean energy projects, all while his neighbors in Palm Beach stand to cash in on massive payouts. Your energy bills go up; the bank accounts of his friends go up faster. That pattern of self-dealing extends to artificial intelligence. Donald Trump, Jr.'s venture capital firm has invested millions in a variety of AI companies. One of the United Arab Emirates' most powerful royals has invested half a billion dollars in the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture--half a billion dollars. So it should come as no surprise that President Trump has rolled back AI safeguards and authorized Big Tech to sell some of America's most advanced AI chips to the Emiratis, those from the United Arab Emirates. It should be no surprise that his Big Beautiful Bill cut a trillion dollars from this country's healthcare while handing out massive tax breaks to fuel investments, many of which went into AI. So, even as your energy bills are spiking, even when you are worried that your job could be the one that gets cut next, even as you worry your farm is already facing a water shortage in many parts of this country, billionaires who have turned AI into a horserace focused pretty much solely on who is winning with too little thought for who gets left behind. But now some of the biggest names in AI are warning that we are moving too fast. I think the question is, Do we listen? Will we listen? Will we act? Housing. Gas. Groceries. When everything costs more, it is hard for Americans to plan for today let alone tomorrow. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are abandoning long-term financial milestones and cutting back just to get by. They are giving up on those planned investments for retirement to just get by. President Trump's Wall Street friends aren't cutting back. His company is charging them up to $100,000 a month for faster access to his Truth Social posts that routinely influence stock prices. So, let me repeat that. President Trump's friends on Wall Street are spending $100,000 a month so that they will know ahead of time what he is going to post on Truth Social. So, that $100,000 a month is more than the median household makes in an entire year in this country, all just to give greedy investors another leg up. Now, you can't pass this off as normal. This isn't simply run-of-the- mill corruption. This is a sellout--a sellout [[Page S4748]] of the public, of all of you. It is a sellout of America. And it is a sellout of the office that we used to--at least when I was growing up-- pretty much everyone respected. In his first year back in office, President Trump made over $2 billion largely from investments that are closely connected to his being President. What has he learned from his first term? Well, certainly the answer appears clear. It is not how to lead or how to make life more affordable for more Americans; it is how to leverage the Presidency for personal profit. And that is really what it seemed to boil down to: profit over peace; profit over people; profit over principle. And that is the opposite of what government service should be about. Over the last couple months, I have traveled through the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, through Colorado's mountain communities across the west slope, and everywhere in between, to try and hear what Coloradans believe they need at this moment. And what we hear again and again, they want leaders who are going to tackle this cost-of-living emergency, this crisis that affects them at the end of every month as they are trying to figure out how to make rent. They want leaders that are going to help keep their businesses open amid all these headwinds, and they want leaders who will help them keep their farms afloat through a record drought and some of the most rapid inflation in their input--the things they spend to bring their products to market--some of the most rapid inflation in their lifetimes. They don't need leaders who are going to look after themselves or, you know, cut a break for another group of wealthy people. They don't need leaders focused on renaming lakes or mountains, or building monuments to themselves. I think you could argue that this President can't get out of his own way. When we passed the most consequential housing bill in decades, opening the door for home ownership for millions of Americans and stopping Wall Street from buying up homes that belong to working families, the President refused to sign Referenced legislation: S5390, S5390, S5417