Deb Fischer

“I am asking the Senate to let six committees meet today. Both party leaders agree to this.”

“Mr. President, I have six requests for committees to meet during today’s session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today’s session of the Senate: The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet in closed session during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. The Committee on Finance is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations. The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations. The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations. The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 10:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on a nomination. The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 10:15 a.m., to conduct an executive business meeting.”

“I want the Senate to pass the new farm bill. Our farmers and ranchers are struggling with drought and high costs, and the old farm law expired years ago. This bill permanently allows year-round sales of E15 fuel, helps farmers buy new technology, protects food programs for Native American tribes, and helps ranchers rebuild after wildfires.”

“Mr. President, the last time that Congress passed a full farm bill was in 2018; that was 8 years ago, and that law expired in 2023. We should have passed a new bill by then, but Congress has only passed short-term extensions. A lot has changed over the past 8 years, and the farm economy looks vastly different. To be frank, America’s farmers and ranchers are struggling. Drought, high input costs and low yields have made it a very trying time. I heard some of these concerns firsthand in August during a livestock roundtable in Crawford, NE. I also heard this at our State fair where I listened to ag producers from across our State. These producers are in dire need of a modern farm bill, and we owe it to them--the people who feed, fuel, and clothe us all--to enact policies that promote stability and markets to sell their products. I keep this goal front and center as a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. And I am proud to say that last week, we advanced the farm bill out of committee. We are one step closer to giving America’s farmers and ranchers the long-term certainty that they need. But I am disappointed in how long it took us to get there. You know, we first tried to move the farm bill in July. The Agriculture Committee took a vote, but it failed. Every Republican voted yes. Every single Democrat voted no. This was particularly disappointing given that this year’s farm bill includes numerous priorities led by Democrats. Republicans worked in good faith to include their legislation to help the producers in their States. I am proud of those bipartisan priorities in this bill. I worked with Chairman Boozman to build policies that support a safe, steady supply of food, fuel, and fiber. Importantly, our bill also includes locking in permanent year-round E15. This is one of the most direct ways that Congress can provide relief without subsidies, by strengthening domestic demand for corn and ethanol. We cannot continue to operate on the current waiver system. For 8 years now, we have needed a Presidential waiver for E15 to be sold during the summertime. And these waivers, they have been granted every year. But this uncertainty makes it harder for producers and retailers to invest and plan. Permanent year-round E15, well, that would create a consistent, predictable market. It would allow farmers, ethanol plants, and fuel stations to operate with confidence. Our biofuels producers and our retailers need that certainty. They deserve a stable market 12 months out of the year, and I have been fighting for this for over a decade. It is long overdue. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there circulating around E15. Let me be clear: This bill is not a government mandate. It simply gives fuel retailers the choice if they want to sell E15 at their gas station. And it also gives consumers a choice to fill up with E15 at the gas pump and to save some money. The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that E15 is completely safe in cars made in 2001 or later. Let me repeat that. If you have a vehicle manufactured in 2001 or later, E15 can be used in your car. It does not hurt your engine. So please, colleagues, public, quit saying that. E15 expands domestic fuel options using American-grown corn. This reduces vulnerability to global supply shocks. A more diverse energy mix of oil, gas, renewables, nuclear, and biofuels makes the United States harder to pressure, and it makes us more resilient in times of conflict and disruption. In addition to E15, this year’s farm bill includes my precision ag package, three bills that will help America’s producers harness the full potential of precision agriculture. We need to make it more affordable for our farmers and ranchers to be able to access these cutting-edge tools. In turn, we can help their operations become more productive, more efficient, and less resource intensive. This farm bill also includes my legislation to prevent future food shortages in our Tribal nutrition programs. By incorporating input from Tribes on contracting decisions, we can strengthen this important resource for communities that depend upon it. And I was very, very happy to work with my Tribes in making sure that we got that included in this bill. Additionally, I secured a provision to safeguard Federal conservation funds from being exploited by America’s adversaries. This is going to protect U.S. taxpayers and our domestic manufacturers from being taken advantage of. And, finally, I am very pleased to see my colleague Senator Ricketts’ FENCE Act included, a bill that I cosponsored. Senator Ricketts’ bill will give farmers and ranchers an opportunity to use virtual fencing as they build and recover from natural disasters, and this is especially helpful after the historic and devastating wildfires that blazed across Nebraska earlier this year. All of these provisions are needed. Together, they make a 2026 farm bill a strong bipartisan legislation that truly serves our farmers, our ranchers, and rural Americans. As a committee, we did the work. We agreed to include good bills from both Democrats and Republicans. We built strong bipartisan support for year-round E15. We offered a fair compromise on SNAP cost-share concerns. We compromised on many items, and now we need to get this done. Let’s pass the farm bill. Let’s give America’s farmers and ranchers the stability that they need. To my colleagues, please, join me, and let’s get this over the finish line. I yield the floor.”

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“I want the Senate to pass the Sanctioning Russia Act. It puts tough economic penalties on Russia's leaders, banks, and energy sales. It also uses taxes on goods to punish countries that buy Russian oil and gas. We need this bill to cut off the money funding Russia's war in Ukraine and to protect our NATO allies.”

“Mr. President, Lindsey Graham, a friend, a colleague, and a tireless national security advocate. He was a true leader in strengthening our military and our country’s defense, and I miss him dearly. I am so pleased that his sister Darline now serves here in this institution. She is carrying on his legacy and honoring his commitment to the people of South Carolina and to this country. So I rise here today to, yes, pay tribute to Lindsey Graham, but to also call on my colleagues to help us carry on one of his greatest efforts: ending Putin’s barbaric and unjust war against sovereign Ukraine. For more than 4 years, the Ukrainian people have shown extraordinary resilience and resolve. They have defended their homeland with courage that has inspired the world. In 2022, Putin thought he could seize eastern Ukraine in days. He thought he could drag Europe back into the dark shadow of the Soviet Union. He thought that he would be feared and respected. But he is neither strong nor powerful; he is a war criminal. Putin has made clear his intentions to push beyond Ukraine and into NATO territory. Russian drones have encroached on Polish, Finnish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, and Romanian airspace. These were deliberate--deliberate--provocations to test NATO’s resolve. Putin seeks to push deeper into Europe to see just how far he can go before we push back. That is why the United States and our allies must raise the stakes through tougher sanctions and a stronger United States’ deterrence posture along NATO’s eastern flank. I commend the Polish and Dutch, German, and the Italian Armed Forces for their swift and also their professional response in intercepting drones that could have killed innocent civilians during these incursions. Their actions remind us that NATO’s strength lies in that unity and readiness. President Trump has made clear that Europe must carry more of the burden for its own security. Poland, in particular, has answered that call, committing 5 percent of its GDP to defense. Other allies are stepping up as well. This is the path forward, a stronger more capable NATO prepared to deter but also to defeat any threat. But make no mistake on this: Putin understands only one language, and that is power. The surest road to peace in Europe lies in NATO’s strength and Ukraine’s survival. Yet, strength must also be economic. The Kremlin’s war machine runs on money it makes from selling cheap oil and gas to countries like China and India and Brazil. Those nations, well, then they profit by turning around and reselling Russian energy at a markup, and that must end. It is long overdue for the financial enablers of Russia’s atrocities to pay a price. They cannot keep fueling Putin’s war and expect business as usual with us, with the United States. That is why Congress must pass the Sanctioning Russia Act. This legislation would impose mandatory sanctions on Russia’s political leadership, financial institutions, energy sector, and sanctions evasion networks. By employing targeted tariffs, this policy would pressure the world’s largest purchasers of Russian energy to reduce their dependence on Moscow. This gives the President maximum flexibility to enforce these measures, ensuring both legal strength and political durability. I am grateful to Senator Blumenthal who worked closely with Lindsey on this important bipartisan legislation, and I am encouraged to see him carry this effort forward. I was proud to be an early supporter of the bill, and I am proud to support this updated version now. The Sanctioning Russia Act is the sledgehammer that we need, decisive economic pressure that cripples Putin’s lifeline, and it hastens the day that his war with Ukraine is finally going to end. Peace will not come from weakness or hesitation; it will come from strength--military, economic, and moral strength, welded together by the free nations of the world. So I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join our broad coalition in supporting this bill. Let us carry on Lindsey’s mission. Let us stand up to evil. Let us bring freedom and security to the people of Ukraine. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.”

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“I oppose this bill. It stops us from using planes bought from other countries. We need those planes to protect the president and control our nuclear weapons during a war.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would like to say a few words about Senator Schumer’s legislation on the Presidential airlift. This has been discussed before, and it was voted down earlier this year as part of a vote-arama that we participated in. Senator Schumer’s legislation would prevent any funding to be used to modify a foreign aircraft for Presidential airlift. We made this point during the vote-arama. The Senator is trying to make a political point today, of course, about the VC-25 Bridge aircraft, which was made in America and then owned by Qatar. Unfortunately, this legislation would also apply to a different aircraft, the Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, or SAOC. Those aircraft were actually purchased from Korean Air. So this legislation would hamper a crucial program that ensures Presidential safety in the event of a nuclear war. Thus, Senator Schumer’s bill would significantly harm our U.S. nuclear deterrents. To be clear, the SAOC is the cornerstone of our NC3 modernization. This is the plane that will command and control our nuclear weapons on America’s worst day. We cannot play these political games with the NC3. So with that, I object.”