CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026

On 2026-01-30, Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) delivered a floor speech titled "CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026" in the Senate. The speech addressed immigration and also covered taxes, the environment. It referenced legislation including HR7148, S411, S417, among other bills.

CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 22 (Friday, January 30, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 22 (Friday, January 30, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S411-S417] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026 The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title. The legislative clerk read as follows: A bill (H.R. 7148) making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes. Thereupon, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky. Amendment No. 4272 Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 4272 and ask that it be reported by number. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The bill clerk read as follows: A Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Paul], for himself and Mr. Lee, proposes an amendment numbered 4272. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To eliminate funding for refugee and entrant assistance) In title II of division B, under the heading ``refugee and entrant assistance (including transfer of funds)'' under the heading ``Administration for Children and Families'', strike ``$5,163,956,000'' and all that follows through ``sections 462 and 235.'' and insert ``$0.'' Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, a freelance journalist discovered recently that billions of dollars had been stolen from welfare programs in Minnesota. Congress didn't discover this theft; a member of the public did. How did Congress respond? Did Congress open an investigation? Did Congress claw back the money from Minnesota? No. Congress simply decided to give another $5 billion in refugee welfare. My amendment says: Stop. No more welfare for refugees until there is a nationwide investigation of the level of this fraud. No more welfare for refugees until Congress balances the budget. America can't be the world's sugar daddy when we can't even afford welfare for our own citizens. [[Page S412]] Many refugees are good people--frankly, some of the best Americans just got here--but our welcome mat should not be a welfare check. Anyone who sponsors immigrants or refugees should be responsible for their welfare. Charity is when you give your money. Any groups assisting immigrants or refugees should themselves be responsible for the welfare of the refugees. So my amendment will remove from the bill a little over $5 billion from the refugee welfare programs. I ask for a ``yes'' vote. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin. Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today in opposition to amendment No. 4272. This amendment would completely eliminate funding for an office that helps some of the most vulnerable in our country. This office helps shelter and care for children who are seeking safety. It makes sure that these children aren't being trafficked. It makes sure these children aren't stuck in cages in Border Patrol facilities for extended periods of time. This office also supports refugees who are victims of torture and human trafficking and who have been admitted to the United States by this administration, by the Trump administration. Lastly, I will note that this program and its funding are supported by President Trump and were passed out of our Appropriations Committee with near unanimous support. This amendment is ill-advised, and I urge my colleagues to vote no. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia. Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise to join my ranking member on the subcommittee that we share leadership on. I do thank Senator Paul, but I rise in opposition to his amendment. As she has stated, this amendment would eliminate HHS funding provided in the bill--which the Trump administration actually requested in their budget--that will allow the Agency to drastically improve sponsor vetting for unaccompanied children, ensuring that they are no longer released to human traffickers. The Biden administration spent 4 years creating this problem, and while the Trump administration is making good progress in remediating the damage, this funding is necessary to continue the work of improving the safety and security of unaccompanied children. Thus, this funding will help to reimburse States, like Texas and Florida, for the cost of statutorily required assistance to certain legal refugees and to support victims of trafficking and victims of torture. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington. Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, all week, Democrats have made clear that there is a simple, commonsense path forward. First, pass these five critical funding bills that we all overwhelmingly agree on and prevent a serious shutdown. Secondly, split off the DHS bill so we can negotiate reforms to rein in ICE and the CBP. It is what the vast majority of Americans want Congress to do. It is good news that we have a deal to fund these key programs that families count on while work continues on serious DHS accountability over the next 2 weeks. It could not be more clear that ICE and the CBP are out of control and that we cannot just wait for the same President who caused this mess to address it. Congress cannot pass a Homeland Security bill until real restraints are in place. It is that simple. Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in voting for this package. Let's pay our troops, fund clinical trials right now, work to rein in DHS, and end the chaos that is happening on America's streets. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky. Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I yield back all time on Paul amendment No. 4272. Vote on Amendment No. 4272 The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question occurs on adoption of the amendment. Mr. PAUL. 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 bill clerk called the roll. Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy). The result was announced--yeas 32, nays 67, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 14 Leg.] YEAS--32 Banks Barrasso Blackburn Britt Budd Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Johnson Justice Kennedy Lee Lummis Marshall McCormick Moody Moreno Paul Risch Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Tuberville NAYS--67 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Boozman Cantwell Capito Collins Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Ernst Fetterman Fischer Gallego Gillibrand Graham Grassley Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Hyde-Smith Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lankford Lujan Markey McConnell Merkley Moran Mullin Murkowski Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Ricketts Rosen Rounds Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Sullivan Thune Tillis Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wicker Wyden Young NOT VOTING--1 Cassidy The amendment (No. 4272) was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri. Amendment No. 4241 Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 4241 and ask that it be reported by number. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: The Senator from Missouri [Mr. Schmitt] proposes an amendment numbered 4241. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To eliminate National Endowment for Democracy funding) In title I of division F, under ``RELATED PROGRAMS'', strike the heading ``National Endowment for Democracy'' and everything that follows under such heading. The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 2 minutes equally divided. Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, we are at an inflection point right now in America's role in the world. As we reassess how we deploy our time, money, and political capital abroad, Congress has an obligation to ensure that taxpayer-funded organizations operate within the mission and guardrails Congress has established. The National Endowment for Democracy was created to support democratic norms overseas, not to engage in domestic political advocacy or to amplify one side of America's internal debates. That distinction is essential to its legitimacy. Yet there is ample evidence that NED has drifted from its statutory mission. Senior leadership and staff have used official positions to engage in domestic political advocacy, and NED funded a foreign organization that created ideological blacklists of conservative American media outlets. These concerns go directly to whether NED is fulfilling the role Congress intended. That is why the President's budget included no funding for NED this year. I requested the State Department inspector general investigate NED's leadership conduct and the use of taxpayer dollars. Until that investigation is complete-- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired. Mr. SCHMITT. I would argue that if we are true to advocating the democratic norms, accountability must come first in our own democracy. I urge adoption of the amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii. Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, President Ronald Reagan founded the National Endowment for Democracy, in 1983, as an independent, nonprofit foundation with a bipartisan board, and since then, it has been the main way that the United States has helped to strengthen democratic institutions around the world. [[Page S413]] NED exposes Russian propaganda, counters Chinese Communist Party censorship, circumvents the Iranian regime's efforts to silence critics, and highlights corruption and drug trafficking in Venezuela. And it does all of that for a fraction of a penny on the dollar. Let's be perfectly clear. Letting authoritarians go unchecked directly undermines our interests and our safety, and these attacks against NED, led by a small group of people, have been repeatedly proven to be lies. It is why the House defeated the same amendment resoundingly. I urge my colleagues to vote no. Vote on Amendment No. 4241 The PRESID

Referenced legislation: HCONRES14, HR7148