MEMBER OF CONGRESS

Eric Schmitt

Republican MO 5 statements translated

Senate

Recognizing the 1960 University of Missouri Tigers Football Team

2026-08-06

“He wants to close a prison. I don't want to close the prison. I want to spend more money on the prison. I say his real goal is to not enforce the law. That's not a good solution. That's not serious. I object.”

Official Congressional Record

Madam President, reserving the right to object. I have been advised to address this so-called Delaney Hall Closure Act. My colleague's bill, though, really doesn't do anything to address the issues that he has raised. He doesn't hire a single doctor. He doesn't ask a single nurse. It doesn't require a single inspection. It simply orders the Department of Homeland Security to close Delaney Hall, cancel its contract, and permanently prevent ICE from using the facility again. Two pages, three commands: Close it, cancel it, never open it again. That is abolition with a short title. The diagnosis is ideological, and the prescription was written before the patient entered the room. If something goes wrong at a hospital, you investigate what happened. You identify the failure. You discipline the people responsible. You repair the facility, improve the procedures, and make the hospital better. You don't unlock every door, abandon the building, and announce that healthcare itself was the crime. If the bridge needs repair, you fix the bridge. You don't blow it up and congratulate yourself for preventing future traffic accidents. Yet that is the theory behind this bill. A tragedy did occur; therefore, Democrats say law enforcement must disappear. But closing Delaney Hall doesn't eliminate the need for detention. It leaves three choices: transfer detainees somewhere else, possibly further from their families, lawyers and doctors; crowd them into another facility and further strain medical staff; or release people the law says should remain in custody, while this ceases the removals, and so they are not completed. The bill provides no replacement capacity, no transfer plan, no continuity of care requirement, no additional medical funding. It removes a thousand-bed facility from the system and calls the resulting chaos compassion. And let us be clear about why immigration detention exists. It is used to ensure appearances at immigration proceedings, facilitate lawful removals, and to protect the public from criminals. My colleague and my friend from New Jersey says many detainees have not been convicted of crimes. That is beside the point. A person doesn't need a criminal conviction to lack a lawful right to be in the United States of America. That is our immigration laws. That is how we have operated for decades. And anyone detained can leave detention whenever they want. They must simply agree to return to their home country. What Democrats demand is for illegal aliens to remain in America and be above the law. Now, I am willing to take my colleague's concerns seriously. If Delaney Hall needs more doctors, let us fund more doctors. If it needs more nurses, better medication tracking, stronger inspections, faster emergency response, or better communication with families, let us write those regulations into law and pay for them. I would gladly work with my friend the Senator from New Jersey on additional resources for safe and secure ICE detention facilities. But there is one problem. My colleague and others on his side have vowed to not give ICE one more penny. We have just lived through this with a shutdown. We heard these words on the floor from many Members of the other side. They also voted against a bill that allocated 45 billion to further fund and sustain the capabilities of ICE in their detention facilities. So the position apparently is this: Vote against the beds. Vote against the facilities. Vow to deny the agency another dollar. Then point to a stray condition and demand that the facility close. You can't pull the batteries out of a smoke alarm and then pose behind the ashes demanding to know who failed. You can't starve a system, condemn the strain, and call abolition the only human solution. That is not good-faith oversight. That is not serious governance. That is not a viable solution. Democrats oppose the funding needed to enforce the law. They oppose the facilities needed to hold people safely. They oppose the removals that detention makes possible. Then, when the system shows any pressure, they point to that pressure as proof that enforcement itself must end. The sequence never changes: defund, obstruct, investigate, abolish. The goal for many Democrats is very clear. It is not better detention facilities; it is no detention at all. The bill does not make one detention facility safer; it shuts down a facility and pushes the problem somewhere else. A serious Senate would let the current investigation run its course, correct failures, and strengthen the system. An unserious Senate shuts down the building and pretends the law no longer needs enforcement. I object to using a pending investigation as a ploy to dismantle law enforcement. I object to defunding ICE and then blaming ICE for lacking resources. Fix what is broken. Hold wrongdoers accountable. Protect every person in Federal custody, of course, but we must enforce the law. For those reasons, I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Husted). Objection is heard. The Senator from New Jersey.

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“I want to praise a football team from 60 years ago. They won a championship. They kept their promises. Our state is proud of them.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, I rise today to honor one of the greatest teams to ever wear the black and gold, the 1960 Missouri Tigers. They finished 11 and 0. They conquered the Big Eight. They defeated the Navy Midshipmen 21 to 14 in the Orange Bowl in Florida. But their greatness can't be measured by their record alone; their story is about something deeper--perseverance after humiliation, accountability in the face of injustice, and the integrity of men who kept their word. To understand what they accomplished, we must go back 2 years. Dan Devine arrived at Missouri in 1958 and inherited a program searching for its footing. His first team brought one terrible afternoon in Norman, OK. The Sooners beat Missouri 39 to nothing. It was a humiliating, dismantling, and devastating loss. After the game, Coach Devine stood before his players in the visiting locker room, knowing full well many of those men would graduate having never beaten OU. Coach Devine looked at the younger men and made a promise: Two years from that day, Missouri would return to Norman, and Missouri would win. That was no small pledge. Oklahoma ruled the conference at that time. The Sooners hadn't lost a conference game at home since 1942. Norman was where the soaring dreams of visiting teams came crashing down to reality. But a promise had been made by Coach Devine, so for 2 years, the Tigers went to work. By the fall of 1960, Missouri had become a machine--powerful, disciplined, relentless. The Tigers went into Happy Valley and beat Penn State. They traveled to Lincoln, NE, and shut out the Cornhuskers. They defeated the powerhouse that was Colorado. Eight games, eight victories--not a single team put up double digits against them. Then came the return to Norman. Oklahoma struck first. For a moment, the Tigers were seeing ghosts. For a moment, the boys in black and gold had ``Boomer Sooner'' ringing in their ears. For a moment, it felt like 1958 all over again. But this Missouri team did not panic; it answered. Norris Stevenson, one of the great pioneers in Mizzou history, tore down the sideline for a 77-yard touchdown. Later, with Oklahoma threatening to seize the momentum, Stevenson broke free again, this time from 60 yards out. He finished with 169 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Missouri finished with 41 points. And when the clock hit triple zeroes, the scoreboard read ``Missouri 41, Oklahoma 19.'' Two years from the humiliating loss on the field, Dan Devine and his players walked out of Norman as victors--a promise they had kept. The Tigers returned home undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the Nation. Only one obstacle remained between Missouri and an unblemished season. Unfortunately, that obstacle was Kansas. Rivalry games can produce strange results. Sometimes, the underdog rises. Sometimes, the favorite has an off day. And sometimes, Kansas simply uses a player who wasn't eligible to be on the field. The Jayhawks defeated Missouri on the scoreboard. For a few brief and fraudulent weeks, they called themselves conference champs, but there was a problem: The Jayhawks had discovered that the only way they could execute better than Missouri was by breaking the rules. The Big Eight ordered Kansas to forfeit the victory and stripped the Jayhawks of the conference title. Kansas could keep the memory of the final whistle; Missouri kept the title. That distinction matters. A football game, yes, is a contest of strength, but it is a contest that is governed by rules. Without rules, victory means nothing. A championship obtained by cheating is not a championship at all. The people of Kansas have spent more than six decades trying to turn a blatant penalty into a moral victory, but the truth is harder to bear, and facts are stubborn things. Missouri finished 11 and 0, reminding the conference and the American populace that cheaters never truly win. But Missouri's season wasn't finished. On January 2, 1961, the Tigers took the field in Miami against fourth-ranked Navy. Watching from the stands was President John F. Kennedy. Navy had a Heisman Trophy winner named Joe Bellino. Missouri had a defense built to break the will of its opponent. The Tigers held that year's Heisman winner just to 4 rushing yards. Then they overcame a 98-yard fumble return. They absorbed every blow Navy could deliver, and when the night was over, Missouri had won 21 to 14, securing the first bowl victory in school history. Every generation needs examples of men who stuck to their word. Dan Devine made a promise in the ashes of defeat. His players believed him. His players were descendants of those who fought in Europe and the Pacific. His players were hardened by parents who had weathered the Great Depression. They accepted their coach's promise as their word when they spent 2 years earning the right to fulfill it. They did not complain about the humiliation they had experienced in Norman; they prepared for a return. They didn't allow the Kansas dishonesty to define their season; they trusted that the truth would prevail. When adversity followed them to Miami, they answered it with discipline, toughness, and ultimately victory. More than six decades later, the 1960 Tigers still embody the character of Missouri. We are a people who work. We are a people who endure. We are a people who keep our promises. The men of that team brought home a Big Eight championship and the Orange Bowl championship game in a perfect season, but their greatest legacy was the example they left behind: Stand firm, do the work, keep your word, run the ball, and never surrender what was rightfully yours. Today, I am proud to honor Coach Dan Devine, Norris Stevenson, and every member of the undefeated 1960 Missouri Tigers. Their promise was kept, their championship was earned, their record remains perfect, and Kansas still lost. Mr. President, as if in legislative session, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 833, which is before the desk.

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Senate

Legislative Session

2026-07-29

“I object to this mass amnesty bill. It would turn temporary status into permanent status with green cards and citizenship. It would even let people who were deported apply to return. But what about the impact on Americans? What about wages, housing, schools, hospitals? The Democrats don't care about the Americans who put them in office. They just want to flood the labor market and dilute American citizenship. There's nothing compassionate about that. I reject it completely. I stand with the American people.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I object to this mass amnesty bill. Last week, Democrats asked the Senate to extend Haitian temporary protected status. Today, they have dropped the quotation marks. Instead of extending temporary status, this legislation would convert temporary status into permanent status--green cards, permanent settlement. At least the bill last week continued the same old Washington lie. Today, Democrats finally admit what this scheme was always designed to be. Temporary was always meant to be permanent. It is the final stage of the scam. But that is how Democrats do mass amnesty. First, they declare an emergency. Then, they import hundreds of thousands of people. They then extend the program over and over and over. Then, they unleash activist lawyers against anyone who tries to enforce the deadline. When the American people finally elect a President to end this chaos, to end this abuse, Democrats demand mass amnesty. And when the American people finally elect a President who enforces the law, Democrats change the law and hand out green cards. That is what this bill does. It turns a program created for temporary emergencies into a pipeline for green cards and citizenship not only for people who have temporary status--not only for people who once had TPS; this bill reaches beyond our borders and allows people who were already removed from this country to apply for permanent residency from abroad. Think about how crazy that is. The law was enforced. The alien was removed. The case was closed. Yet Democrats want to erase the removal, reopen the border, and bring that person back with a green card. Under the radical, new Democratic immigration platform, deportation isn't deportation; it is merely an inconvenience before a green card arrives. This bill does not merely reward those who broke our laws and remained in our country; it reaches around the entire globe to reverse deportations and to restart mass migration. But even that is not enough. This bill also creates an ICE blackout. Information provided in these applications can't be used for immigration enforcement. The bill even threatens penalties against law enforcement who properly use the information. So Democrats want the information we have about foreigners to be placed behind a legal shield so it cannot be used to enforce immigration law. Republicans want to handcuff illegal criminals; Democrats want to handcuff law enforcement officers so they can't do their jobs. They are not hiding the choice anymore. They will punish the officer before they punish the illegal alien. Why are illegal aliens more important to them now than protecting American citizens? Oh, but it doesn't stop there. This bill ensures that any President-- any future President--can't end TPS. So what is missing from the bill? Americans; American citizens and the impact mass migration is having on our people. This bill has no consideration for American wages; no consideration for American housing; no consideration of schools, hospitals, or communities; no consideration of whether mass migration serves the national interest of the American people. Every question is about what the foreign country needs; no question about what America needs or what American families need. That tells you everything that you need to know. To today's Democrat Party, immigration policy is written for foreign governments, immigration lawyers, activist groups, and leftwing organizations waiting to file the next lawsuit. The American people are treated as a logistical obstacle. Their votes--our votes--are an inconvenience. Their communities--our communities--are an afterthought. Their country is treated as common property for the rest of the world. Democrats are becoming more and more radical by the day on this issue. Yesterday, they insisted that temporary programs must never end. Today, they demand permanent residency for all--permanent residency for people who already left, legal shields against law enforcement, and more ammunition for activist lawsuits. And they will turn around and call us cruel. You will hear it shortly. It will be said about me blocking this bill. Let me speak clearly to my Democrat colleagues: There is nothing compassionate about betraying your own citizens--the very citizens who put you in office. There is nothing compassionate about flooding the labor market with more foreign workers while Americans struggle for a decent wage. There is nothing compassionate about flooding the housing market and putting young families behind the eight ball. There is nothing compassionate about diluting American citizenship. America is a nation, not a global waiting room, not a refugee camp, not a lifetime stay at a taxpayer-funded hotel. Our immigration laws exist to serve the American people. Foreign nationals do not have a right to permanent settlement here. Today, I speak on behalf of the American people who have been ripped off by this scam for far too long. No more. We had an election on this issue. The Democrats have not gotten the message. They want the United States of America to be a global refugee camp cloaked behind their compassion. There is no compassion for the American people--the guy that swings the hammer, who is working 7 days a week so he can pay for the benefits of an illegal alien who they don't ever want to leave this country. The American people are a sovereign people who have the right to decide who enters this country, who remains, and who has to leave. This bill reverses that principle. This Democrat bill tells the American people that their elections cannot end a temporary program, that the President cannot enforce the law, that their officers cannot use information in front of them, that their country belongs to everyone but them. Only the migrant's claim matters. Only the foreign country matters. Only the ambulance-chasing immigration lawyer matters. I reject all of that completely, in public, for the world to see, because I stand by my brothers and sisters of this country. Last week, I objected to the Democrats' attempt to give 350,000 Haitians extended TPS. Today, I am objecting to this Democrat attempt to give millions of illegal aliens mass amnesty, green cards, and work authorizations. I will always object to this mass amnesty. I will always object to this mass migration. I will always object to putting American workers last. I will always object to tying the hands of our law enforcement. So therefore I object.

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Senate

Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 1689 (Executive Calendar)

2026-07-22

“I object to this bill. Democrats call a program temporary but want it to be permanent. They extend it again and again. The voters want the program to end. Democrats ignore them. Democrats have no compassion for American workers. They only care about foreigners. America is our home, not a refugee camp. If Democrats want Haitians to stay permanently, they should say it plainly. I object to the Democrats' scam. Elections have consequences. Temporary must mean temporary.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, reserving the right to object. I object to this legislation, which would once again extend Haitian temporary protected status. Washington has invented a new definition of temporary--it means permanent. Haitian TPS was supposed to be just 18 months when it began in 2010. Sixteen years later, 350,000 Haitians are still here. Today, after the Supreme Court cleared the way for President Trump to end TPS and send them home, Democrats are trying to change the law to keep the 350,000 Haitians here permanently. Not on my watch. I rise today to block the bill, and also do something else, to make clear that those supporting this bill have a message for the American people: Your vote doesn't matter. Your community doesn't matter. Your livelihood doesn't matter. They are trying to use Washington's oldest immigration trick: Call it temporary, extend it forever, and cash in on a new voter base. The American people voted to end this scam. Washington Democrats are voting to keep it alive and remind you who they think is really in charge. Here is the truth Democrats won't say out loud: They never, ever plan to end any of these programs. They call them temporary to get them started, then they manufacture an excuse for every extension--another year, another election, another deadline ignored. By the time the public notices, temporary status has become permanent residency in everything but name. Democrats can use this scam to build a new political constituency, a new voter base. Haiti was first designated for temporary protected status following the 2010 earthquake. The designation was supposed to last for 18 months; it has now lasted 16 years. Yet, we are still being told that this is a temporary program. In Washington, temporary, apparently, means forever. A child born when Haitian TPS began is nearly old enough to vote or sponsor their family for green cards now. That is how long Washington has been calling this program temporary for the Haitians who are here. TPS was created for emergencies. Democrats turned it into a one-way racket towards permanent mass migration. Here is how the racket works: An emergency creates temporary status. Then the emergency passes, but the status stays. The deadline arrives, but Washington extends it. The voters demand enforcement; the Democrats refuse. Every click moves towards permanence; none moves back toward the law. That is the TPS racket. Democrats have decided that mass migration must continue and that no President chosen by the American people, who ran on this issue, by the way, will ever be permitted to end it. That is the real purpose of the bill. Its supporters will wrap this bill in language of compassion, but they never seem to have any compassion for the American worker, competing against an ever-expanding cheap labor supply. They have no compassion for families priced out of housing, workers whose wages are undercut, schools punished and pushed beyond capacity, or communities forced to absorb decisions Washington made for them that they voted against. Their compassion always flows outward, but the bill always arrives on your doorstep. America is not a global refugee camp. America is not a get-rich scheme for the Third World. America is our home. And when houseguests become squatters, you don't delay enforcement; you call the sheriff and you send them home. That is exactly what we must do here today. If Democrats want 350,000 Haitians to stay permanently, they should say it plainly. Introduce a bill. Put your name on it. Vote for the permanent status. Then explain that vote to the American people. Quit with the games. But stop calling permanent immigration temporary. The voters are not stupid, and they already made their choice. The voters demanded enforcement. President Trump is delivering on that, but Democrats are fighting to keep the same old scam alive. I have the power to stop this nonsense bill, and I am going to use it. That is why I am here today. So I object to the bill, which would keep 350,000 Haitians here permanently. I object to changing temporary to permanent. I object to flooding American communities with cheap foreign labor. I object to treating foreigners as the priority and Americans as the afterthought. I object to mass migration. Temporary must mean temporary; and elections have consequences, therefore, I object.

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Senate

Constitution Week

2026-07-13

“I am here to celebrate the Constitution. It was written a long time ago by some smart people. It made our country great. We should remember how important it is. I don't want to talk about any problems with it.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, this July, we celebrated the 250th year of the great American experiment. Yet 239 years ago this September, a similarly important moment in our Republic's history took place. Eleven years after our Nation's founding, 55 men met in Philadelphia to revise America's first governing charter. Recognizing that the Articles of Confederation were too deeply flawed to guarantee effective government and safeguard our homeland, the Convention crafted a new Constitution to guide our great Republic forward. Like the mortal men who shaped it, the Constitution made compromises that modern people may be critical of, but none should deny the revolutionary impact this great document has had in transforming the United States into the bastion of liberty we are blessed to live in today, spreading democratic ideals across the world, and making our country the envy of the free world. As the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, I am happy to recognize Constitution Week this year, which runs from September 17 to 23. This celebration highlights the importance of the beating heart of our great Republic, which continues to guide our Nation forward today. May God bless the American people, and may God bless the United States of America.

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