“I am asking the senator from Utah if he will let us debate this for an hour and vote on it tomorrow, or if he will block it.”

“I would ask my colleague from Utah--and I appreciate his staying for this--if I reframe this, if I come back and say unanimous consent, if I come back tomorrow and say let’s have debate for an hour on this and actually vote on it, would you object to that or would you approve that, let us debate it and consider it?”

“I want the Senate to pass my bill right now. Congress made the Kennedy Center a memorial to President Kennedy by law. President Trump tried to rename it after himself, shut it down, and now wants to tear it down. My bill says a president cannot demolish a presidential memorial created by Congress unless Congress passes a law allowing it.”

“Mr. President, I would like to think that at least, as those in the Senate carried the oath of our office to defend the prerogatives of our Constitution and separation of powers, we could at least debate such a bill rather than block it. Mr. President, I have a second bill I would like to see us pass tonight by unanimous consent. To be summed up in a sentence, a memorial to honor a President of the United States, designated by an act of Congress, may not be demolished unless authorized by an act of Congress. This has, of course, to do with the President planning to demolish the Kennedy Center. Kennedy said: And those words have taken on special meaning this month. Following President Kennedy’s assassination, Congress renamed the National Cultural Center the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as a ``living memorial’’ to our slain President--a ``living memorial’’ to our slain President. I was in second grade on the West Coast. The word came. Everything shut down immediately. The Nation wept. And this is the way we honored President Kennedy. It was a fitting memorial to a President who reminded us: But now we are in a chapter where President Trump wants to demolish this memorial. He wants to demolish this enormously incredible building, which hosts operas and plays and ballets, concerts, the Kennedy Center’s Honors Program that is watched by millions of Americans every year celebrating our Nation’s most revered artists. But the doors have been locked shut at the Kennedy Center. How did that happen? Last year, when President Trump won election, took office, he filled the Board of the Kennedy Center with loyalists. He installed himself as chairman. He renamed the institution after himself, not because he asked for legislation to do so but because, with his imperial mindset, he can put his name on anything he wants because he is the imperial ruler of our country. But we are not a nation with an imperial ruler, a man sitting on a throne to whom people must genuflect. We are a Republic. And there is a stark difference in the ways that the two Presidents’ names were added to this building. In 1964, the U.S. Congress passed a law to remember President Kennedy’s commitment to the arts. That was the legislation that made the Kennedy Center this living memorial. And then, in 2025, Donald Trump broke that law by renaming the Kennedy Center after himself. It is wrong--constitutionally, legislatively, morally. Morally, the Kennedy Center has been a place for generations where people of both parties go to celebrate the arts. They put aside their politics. They honor America’s artists. They revel in incredible performances. Back in 1977, I dropped out of college for a year to be here, to be here during the first year of the Carter administration to see how a new administration would shape a change of course for our Nation. And during that year, I worked all these different odd jobs and volunteered for different groups. And I was volunteering for an environmental nonprofit. They were working on the Law of the Sea, a treaty that never has come before this Chamber almost a half century later, Law of the Sea. In walks someone--they said: There is a concert tonight that pertains to the environment and the Law of the Sea. Would anybody like a free ticket? I said: Well, yes. Yes, I would. I would like to go. And I went that night. And I have never been in a venue like that. I was just kind of struck in awe. Lots of folks from Washington’s elite were there--Senators and House Members--and sitting up in the box was President Carter. And Rostropovich played a cello concert. It was stunning. I mean, I had never heard a cello played except for the kind of slow, droning sounds of my sister when she was learning the cello. I mean, this was just amazing. And I have been there when President Trump was in the Presidential box. Politics set aside; American people rejoicing in the arts in this living memorial to President Kennedy, our President who was slain. Constitutionally, the separation of powers means no President can ignore laws passed by Congress, which is exactly what a Federal judge ruled on May 29 of this year. He said that the President cannot rename the Kennedy Center unless Congress approves it because Congress, by law, made the Kennedy Center a living memorial to the President--by law. And you can’t undo the law unless you pass a new law. Immediately, Trump’s handpicked Board tried to get around the judge’s ruling by proposing to add the words: ``Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump’’ or by renaming the Kennedy Center’s plaza, the President Trump Plaza. And the Federal judge, citing the law, on September 15 said: In other words, done by law. So it isn’t about President Trump; it is about the principle that would apply to any President who was proposing breaking the law, and the President’s court says you can’t break the law. You want to do what you do? Go get a law that says you can do it. Apparently, that infuriated President Trump. A judge--how dare he tell him that he had to follow the law. After all, he is our King. He is our imperial leader. He is the ``on high’’ who can do any damn thing he wants in this country. He can start wars when the Constitution says he can’t start wars. He can spend money on projects where the Constitution says he can’t spend money on projects. And, boy, did it infuriate him that a judge said he had to follow the law. How dare we have a judge stand in his way? So he called into the Kennedy Center Board meeting to scream at a Board member, Congresswomen Joyce Beatty. Beatty had filed the lawsuit defending the Kennedy Center. Minutes later, the Board voted to shut down the Kennedy Center for 2 years because President Trump couldn’t have his name on it. Oh, they said: Well, we will shut it down for renovations. You are shutting down the beating heart of our arts world that reverberates across America because the President can’t put his name on it? What kind of children are serving on that Board? And what kind of childish tantrum was thrown by the President of the United States shutting down the Kennedy Center? Shortly afterward, Trump implied on Truth Social that the Kennedy Center would not reopen until he had his name on it. Let’s be clear, this is an aging building. It needs maintenance. It needs to have old boilers replaced and electrical wiring updated and old seats modified and ceiling tiles, water damage fixed. There is a lot of work to do, standard types of maintenance. You don’t shut down the building to do these types of maintenance. But he can’t have his name on it. So he is shutting it down for 2 years. But the situation got a lot worse on September 16. Photojournalists captured images that show Trump looking at a large poster, talking about demolishing the Kennedy Center. The words said: ``Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.’’ Trump believes that if he can’t take over and name it after himself and swipe Kennedy’s name off of it, no one can go to perform and no one can go to listen to someone perform. In fact, the building must not remain standing. So my bill tonight--this very short bill--simply says: It is that simple. It is that straightforward--us standing up for the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the fact we are a Republic; and standing up for the fact that our Nation wept at the assassination of John Kennedy, and this is the memorial that we go to to remember him. So I ask, on behalf of myself and Senator Murkowski--she asked me to carry her spirit into this conversation tonight. So on her behalf and myself, and Senators Van Hollen and Reed and Whitehouse, the bill says: A memorial to honor a President designated by Congress may not be demolished unless the demolishment is authorized. President Kennedy said: That is why we made the Kennedy Center the memorial to Kennedy, because of his belief in elevating the human spirit. Let us not let it be torn down. As if in legislative session, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the bill at the desk that would prohibit the demolition of the Presidential memorials; that the bill be considered read three times and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.”

• Personal attack
  ?

  Speech in the House

  Respect 90 of 100

  This statement targeted a person rather than their actions or views: “After all, he is our King”.

  See full analysis →

“I want to ask the senator from Utah to let us debate this bill for a short time so the Senate can discuss defending the Constitution.”

“Thank you. I think I am recognized. Would my colleague from Utah object if I come back with a proposal that we debate this for a limited amount of time so that this Chamber can weigh in on defending our Constitution?”