“I am honoring Lee Saunders, who just retired as president of the public workers union. He fought for workers' pay and benefits for nearly 50 years. I am also warning Donald Trump about his meeting with China's leader, Xi Jinping. Trump must not let China buy our best AI chips and equipment, and my colleagues and I are calling for strict bans on those sales. Trump must also stop Chinese electric cars from hurting our auto workers, push China harder to stop fentanyl chemicals, and stop being weak on China while fighting trade wars with our allies.”

“Mr. President, let me say a few words about a great leader who has just retired--AFSCME president Lee Saunders. Today, I will pay tribute to a dear friend and a juggernaut for labor who recently began a well-deserved retirement--AFSCME president Lee Saunders. On Monday, there will be a celebration of Lee and all his work for the labor movement over the years. It will be quite a party. I am grateful to have known Lee for decades and have always been in awe of his steadfastness in defending working people. For nearly 50 years, you could find Lee on the frontlines for every labor issue imaginable--equal pay, better benefits, safer working conditions. You name it, Lee fought for it. That includes these past 14 years that Lee has served as president of AFSCME. He also made history as the union’s first African-American president. As Lee steered this mighty union, I have had the privilege of standing shoulder to shoulder with him on issue after issue after issue. Together, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we fought hard to secure $350 billion for frontline workers and State and local governments, keeping communities afloat with public servants on the payroll. Many, if not most, of these workers would have lost their jobs had it not been for these dollars. We had real opposition from many on the other side of the aisle, but we fought hard and prevailed. Together, we worked tirelessly to ensure that over 2 million public servants received their hard-earned Social Security benefits. Together, we continue to fight for the PRO Act so that workers can better organize and bargain for fair wages and benefits, and we have applied that PRO Act in companion legislation for public workers. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in the trenches, and AFSCME’s members couldn’t have elected a better president to stand up for their rights in the face of some of the greatest challenges to organized labor for generations. In my own city of New York, city workers get paid a much better wage than they used to, better benefits, better pensions--all because of the AFSCME and fight Lee Saunders led. It is nice to see that hard-working public servants are actually being paid a decent wage, although obviously many of us think it should be greater. Lee was always rising to meet the moment, unafraid to take on the hardest fights, and Lee’s example will continue to inspire future efforts to support American workers. Lee, you lit an eternal flame in the heart of the labor movement, and it will long endure no matter how hard corporate interests and union busters try to stamp it out. I wish this great American the very best in his retirement and congratulate him on such a historic career. Mr. President, now on the Xi Jinping visit, as Donald Trump hunts for a headline and photo-op with Xi Jinping today, he is at risk of losing sight of what is at stake for the American people. Trump risks giving China a leg up on a variety of issues if he bends the knee to Xi. As I have been warning not only for weeks but actually for years, Trump cannot let the Chinese Communist Party get its hands on our most advanced AI chips and manufacturing equipment. If Trump truly wants to preserve America’s lead in the AI race, the answer is to prohibit the sale of this cutting-edge technology to China, not to let AI develop and continue without guardrails. We all ought to be concerned by Trump handing over this tech to China, which is why Senator Warren and I, along with Senators Slotkin and Kim, will be holding a press conference today on the urgent need to tighten export controls and cut off the flow of AI technology to the CCP. AI is just one area where there is a risk of Trump selling out America. We will be closely watching what Trump does across the spectrum of challenges that the United States faces with the PRC. Trump has already undermined America’s competitiveness by gutting Federal R&D and technical training and making it harder for American companies to recruit top talent from abroad. His actions have forced much of our best talent to flee this country and go to Europe and go to China--the best talent who come here to work and prosper, and he cuts off their grants, and they leave. What does that do for America? It certainly makes us weaker in scientific endeavor and makes our rivals-- even friendly rivals--stronger. It is almost like China is trying to sabotage American industry for decades to come. He gets these stupid bugs in his head that research is bad, that science is bad, that they are all a big bunch of liberals or something. He is so hurting America--Trump is--and strengthening China. Decades from now, historians will look back and say this may have been a turning point because we had such bad, stupid, ignorant leadership. Let’s not forgot the implications Trump’s meetings with Xi could have for American autoworkers. If Trump lets China flood the market with Chinese EVs--an idea he has flirted with before--he will put even more manufacturing workers out of a job than he already has. China also needs to stem the flow of fentanyl to the United States that is devastating our communities. I met with Xi on this very issue face to face 3 years ago. I told President Xi that he ought to stop the flow of these precursor chemicals to the United States. Well, Trump must push the PRC to do more to crack down on these synthetic opioid precursors. Our first discussions with Xi got some action but not close to enough. Trump ought to take legal action against those opioid precursors that have already been scheduled to come in here and crack down on illicit financing schemes keeping this deadly trade going. As I said, after our meeting with Xi, China made some steps in the right direction, but it needs to do more. Trump also needs to explain why on Earth he continued providing tariff relief to China, our main competitor, while escalating his costly trade war with Canada, one of our closest allies. Square that circle for us, Donald. Crucially, there is real risk that Trump could let Xi off the hook for helping Russia and Iran evade sanctions, even helping Iran target American troops in the Middle East. All of this and Trump has the gall to call Xi Jinping ``a great gentleman.’’ Trump, stop fawning over strongmen like Xi, and put your foot down. Put your American foot down, and defend our country and our workers. Standing up for the American people means standing up to Xi. (The remarks of Mr. SCHUMER pertaining to the introduction of S. 5461 are printed in today’s Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.’’)”

“I want Congress to pass a law giving legal status to Dreamers. Most Americans support this. These young people grew up here, work hard, and pass background checks, but they still live in uncertainty. I am asking Republicans to work with us to protect them.”

“Mr. President, for 25 years I have come to the Senate floor with a simple request--for Congress to protect children who know no other home than the United States of America. I first made this request after I heard from a constituent, a young high school graduate in Chicago and a brilliant, brilliant piano prodigy. She was brought to the United States when she was 2 years old. She didn’t know how to fill out her college applications because of her undocumented status. I couldn’t believe, when we looked up the law, that our Nation had no path to citizenship for a young person like her so I introduced a bill to change it. Shortly afterward, I received a call from my colleague Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. He said that he was working on similar legislation. I asked him if we could join forces, and we did. Together, Senator Hatch and I introduced the DREAM Act. Now, isn’t that how Congress is supposed to work? Two senators of opposing parties, who didn’t agree on much, came together to work on legislation to provide a pathway to legal status for these young people brought to the United States as children. These young people came to be known as Dreamers. Since I first introduced the DREAM Act, I have come to the Senate floor over 150 times to share the stories of these Dreamers, who, today, are doctors, nurses, business owners, educators, parents, and so many other professions. I have pushed for this legislation to make them legal in the eyes of the law, to be included in bipartisan efforts like the 2013 Gang of 8 immigration bill which passed the Senate with 68 votes. Over the years, the DREAM Act has passed the Senate and it has passed the House, but never at the same time so that we couldn’t send it to the President’s desk to have it signed into law. As I near the end of my time in the Senate, Congress continues to fail these young people who are American in every sense of the word, not just to me but to the vast majority of the country. The American people have heard about the DREAM Act for many years. Eighty-one percent of the American people support citizenship for Dreamers--81 percent--including 56 percent of Republicans. Despite its overwhelming popularity, the DREAM Act is still stuck in Congress. And so, instead of celebrating legislation, establishing a legal pathway for these Dreamers, I come to the floor today to highlight my 153rd Dreamer story. This is Karen Montes Gaga, who arrived in Seattle from Mexico when she was 3 years old. She loves school, dreamed of becoming a teacher one day. In high school, she was an honor student and a tutor to her peers, but she knew her options beyond high school were limited. Without legal status, she could never get the education she needed to become a teacher. Then DACA was announced by President Obama. Karen jumped at the chance to enroll in the program and go back to school. So that you understand what DACA is, it says to young undocumented people like Karen that they have to--every 2 years--apply for a work permit and go through a criminal background check and pay what is now a $600 fee every 2 years. So there is no question about people harboring criminals under the DREAM Act or DACA today. There is a criminal background check required every 2 years. She immediately enrolled in college classes after qualifying for DACA and obtained her bachelor’s degree in education. But she didn’t stop there. Karen went on to receive her master’s in education curriculum and instruction. Karen has now been a proud elementary school teacher for almost a decade. She serves on her school’s leadership team. She has been nominated twice for the Teacher of the Year Award. As a DACA recipient, Karen, of course, is responsible for renewing that work permit every 2 years. But there is a problem. This year, she filed in a timely manner and expected her most recent renewal to be like every other one for the last 14 years she has been qualified for DACA, but this renewal process was different. The Trump administration failed to process her DACA renewal in time, even though she had filed it months in advance. As a result, Karen’s work permit expired, and she was forced to walk out and leave behind her classroom, abandoning her students in the middle of an academic year for months at a time. In a world of rising costs and inflation, losing a single paycheck could be the difference in keeping a roof over your head and food on the table. But you know what Karen is most worried about? Her 27 students that she had to leave behind. Let me quote her: That is whom this administration and Republicans are failing: a teacher--a teacher--who is committed to instilling strong values and work ethic into her students and whose heart was broken when she could not. To my Republican colleagues, I ask you, if you went out looking for the worst of the worst, would you choose Karen? If you wanted to remove from the United States rapists, murders, terrorists, child predators, would you identify Karen as one of those people? Of course not. Karen put it best when she said: There is still time to help Dreamers in the final months of the 119th Congress. To all my Republican colleagues, please join me and Senator Murkowski in standing up for these young people who epitomize the meaning of the American dream. Stand up for Karen, stand up for her students, and stand up for what is right. I may be leaving this Senate in a few months, but I am not leaving this fight. I yield the floor.”

“I want the Senate to pass the Protect College Sports Act before we leave. College sports are in crisis because players transfer constantly and schools spend too much money, forcing them to cut women's and Olympic sports. This bill protects athletes by writing their pay rules into law, capping agent fees at 5 percent, guaranteeing 10-year scholarships, and giving all college athletes better healthcare.”

“Mr. President, I don’t know about your family, but when mine gathers for Thanksgiving every year, regardless of political view, faith, politics, region, what brings us together is college sports. Somewhere between passing the turkey and catching up on each other’s lives, we turn on the TV, and, usually, there are a couple of games going on. This points to something that I think is relevant at this moment: College sports are uniquely American and help bring Americans together. More than 1,000 American colleges and universities have teams of all kinds, playing everything from soccer and rugby to rowing and badminton. Twenty years ago, a young quarterback named Joe Flacco played for the University of Delaware. He transferred there for the chance to become a starter and become part of a growing and winning team. He led the University of Delaware to the FCS championship. He set 20 school records, and then he went on to be the Super Bowl MVP with the Baltimore Ravens. Today, that story would not happen. Today, transfers to and from colleges, particularly in football, are happening at an unbelievable pace. My favorite team Notre Dame has played two other teams in the last 3 weeks wherein a majority of their players had just transferred in. We have heard from coaches and fans and players that this transfer portal being open endlessly without consequence, the cloud of agents hovering over and driving this behavior, the unreliability of coaches and their transferring in the middle of the season, and the lack of clear standards around eligibility--meaning, some as old as 27, 28, 29 go pro or play in Europe and then come back--has changed a lot of the core of the college sports experience. One of the real positives is that college student-athletes, after years of litigation, have won the right to their fair share of the significant revenue generated by a few college sports, mostly football and basketball; but now that there are endless changes in transfer and eligibility and terms and conditions of play, college sports are in crisis. It doesn’t take a diehard sports fan to see that college sports are currently broken: the collapse, the evaporation, of the Pac-12--one of the major conferences; an arms race to raise money and pay for players, for coaches, for facilities. This year, 70 of the schools in the Power 4 conferences will together generate over $7 billion in revenue from ads, from merchandise, from supporters, but they are all running at a deficit. In most universities, the model is this: If you have got a nationally prominent football team or basketball team that brings in a lot of revenue, that revenue pays for all of your other sports, the nonrevenue sports. Things like rugby or wrestling, rowing or track get supported in their facilities, in their coaches, in their training from the revenue of the big sports--football and basketball--that draw a lot of eyeballs and a lot of support. Now it is not working. Schools like the University of Delaware and Delaware State University have reached out to me to say they are spending more than they can sustain to recruit and retain talent, to develop their team, to invest in their facilities, and with student- athletes transferring every year, it is really hard to build a culture and to coach a team. So, to find the money to chase athletes, coaches, and facilities, universities have begun cutting sports, and they have begun with women’s sports and Olympic sports. There are so many examples. Washington State cut most of their track and field program. Georgia Tech eliminated swimming. Cal Poly cut back on swimming. Grand Canyon, a nationally ranked men’s volleyball program, has been eliminated. I have a dozen more in front of me. When we lose these opportunities for college athletes, we lose something that is uniquely American. There are more than 500,000 college student-athletes, but in the rest of the world, this isn’t a thing. In Europe and in Asia, the experience of going to college, to a university, doesn’t include everybody coming into a huge stadium and cheering on their world-class basketball team or football team. That just doesn’t happen. And what are the advantages of playing college sports? You learn about resilience, about toughness, about team play, about strategy. In the United States, a majority of the women who are C-suite executives played college sports. I went to a small liberal arts college where a majority of the student body played a varsity sport, and it changed the culture of campus. It engaged all sides of a person to be able to compete athletically and excel academically. To stem the current crisis in college sports, to stabilize the field, and to give us an opportunity to move forward, Senators Maria Cantwell and Ted Cruz--the chair and the ranking of the Commerce Committee--have worked tirelessly together. One of my main points today is to congratulate them and their staff for their amazing work on this. I have been honored to join with them and with Senator Schmitt in putting together and advancing the Protect College Sports Act. Last week, it got 77 votes in this Chamber, and you might have noticed it is rare for there to be anything genuinely bipartisan. In the State of Iowa--and I note my colleague has just joined me, and I will conclude in a few minutes here--when there is a game between the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes, that is a big weekend. In many of the States in our country, college football contests are bigger than elections, and in some ways, as I said at the beginning, that is a welcome diversion from the work we do here. I wanted to briefly explain my focus in working on negotiating this bill and why I strongly support it and think it is a great outcome. I looked at it as if I had a child who was playing college sports. What would I want them to get in terms of protection? compensation? transparency? This bill enshrines the name, image, likeness--or NIL-- compensation in law. The court settlement that college athletes currently have, it makes it statutory, and it adds another fund--so, in total, $43 million--for the biggest programs to recruit and to retain. There is a dedicated $5 million fund for Olympic and women’s sports. This is not public money from the U.S. Congress. This is money that has been raised and administered by State universities and by major colleges. It protects student-athletes from predatory agents. It requires that they be registered and certified, that there be an accessible database of NIL agreements, and that they charge no more than a 5-percent fee. Right now, with the gold rush of NIL, there are folks claiming their agents are showing up at the doors of standout high school athletes in rural parts of our country and selling them a bill of goods. This would protect college athletes. It guarantees the scholarships. How many times have you heard the story of someone who accepted an offer to play at a leading school because they were going to get to go to college for free? After playing half a season, they get injured, and they lose their scholarship or they decide to leave the sport or they decide to pick a different class or major than the coach wants. This guarantees, for 10 years, the opportunity to learn and study based on the scholarship offer made by a university. If you are hurt on the field, the decision about return to play has to be made by medical personnel whose professional responsibility is to the player and can’t be overruled by coaches. Lastly--and I thought this was incredible--is wraparound healthcare coverage while in school; 5 years of postgraduate coverage for any sports-related injuries and a lifetime medical trust for any serious injury that develops later in life, like brain trauma or brain injury. These protections are available for all NCAA student-athletes--all, a half a million, not just the few in the highest visibility, highest revenue programs. So there are a few things that aren’t in this bill. It keeps the door open for future collective bargaining. It does provide a new private right of action--the opportunity to sue, to protect yourself and enforce your rights that are created under this statute. And there is a new student-athlete ombudsman to make sure that athletes understand their rights and how to pursue their remedies. This bill will bring stability to a collapsing college sports system. No more conference chaos. No more coaches transferring midseason. And it will make for stronger teams where athletes know each other, and the coaches and the fans know who they are coaching and who they are cheering for. Look, most of the more than half a million NCAA athletes will never go pro, but they need to get and use their college degree. They will potentially suffer lasting physical consequences of their play, and this protects them and protects their future. By putting boundaries around transfers and eligibility, this bill stabilizes college sports. In conclusion, it is rare to find an issue that brings together tens of millions of Americans and that brings together Democrats and Republicans in this body. This isn’t about political party or even what team you cheer for. It is about the future of young Americans who will engage and entertain and motivate all of us as we watch them throughout the year compete, but it will also protect. So my hope is that we will pass this bill before we adjourn because it will strengthen the path to college through sports. When our families gather at Thanksgiving this year, I hope the conversation is about the bright future of American college sports, which have been protected by a strong bipartisan compromise. I yield the floor.”