EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the
following nomination, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant executive clerk read the nomination of Kara
Marie Westercamp, of Virginia, to be a Judge of the United States Court
of International Trade.

                              America 250

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, we recently celebrated the 250th
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence--the 250th birthday of
our country.
  On July 4 in 1776, the Continental Congress formally adopted the
Declaration. The document laid out the causes which impelled the
colonists' separation from Great Britain. But more than that, it laid
out the political beliefs that would govern a new nation.

       We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
     created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
     certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
     Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That in order to
     secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
     deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

  Unalienable rights--rights inherent in man, given by God; rights that
exist before government; and that it is the job of government to
protect--government not by divine right or military might, but by
consent; a government that represents the people, not the will to
power.
  A revolutionary document--pun intended. Many of the ideas in the
Declaration, of course, were not new. It was a document built on the
wisdom of the ages, on the tradition of British common law, on the
inheritance of Christianity, and the colonists' own experiment in self-
government in the colonies.
  Jefferson himself, writing in 1825, said of the Declaration:

       Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment,
     nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it
     was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to
     give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for
     by the occasion.
       All its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments
     of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, in
     printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right,
     as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, etc.

  While many of the ideas in the Declaration were not new, the document
was nevertheless, as I said, revolutionary because the Declaration
marked an event essentially unique in human history.
  There had been philosophical treatises on laying out principles of
government, but this was not a philosophical treatise. It was the
founding

of a government, of a new nation, based on philosophical principles--a
nation inaugurated not by conquest but on a set of ideas.
  And what ideas: All men are created equal. Where before in the
history of governments do we find that? All men are created equal. No
one is given special dignity by nature; no man has a divine right to
rule over any other. No, all men are created equal--created equal and
endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, rights that cannot be
taken away, rights that are not the gift of government but of nature
and of nature's God, rights that government must defer to and defend.
  As everyone knows, the United States is currently hosting the World
Cup. The media has been filled with stories on how much visitors to
this country are enjoying the United States. They are encountering the
American character: generous, optimistic, big-hearted, friendly. And
they are embracing it.
  And it occurs to me that that American character almost
unquestionably has a lot to do with our founding principles. When you
believe that all men are created equal, when you believe that they have
God-given rights and dignity--well, that has consequences.
  All men are created equal. There is no class of divinely appointed
rulers, no hereditary aristocratic class, no barriers set to prevent
you from rising. Those principles have consequences.
  So I don't think it is surprising that Americans are generous and
big-hearted and optimistic and friendly. I think it is the natural
consequence of the principles that we espouse.
  Every Fourth of July is a day of celebration, but this one--marking
250 years--was particularly special. South Dakota was honored to
welcome President Trump to our fireworks at Mount Rushmore--a truly
spectacular event. There is no better place to reflect on the majesty
of this great country.
  It is fitting too, though, that along with the celebrations--along
with the fireworks and the parades and the hotdogs and the hamburgers--
that July 4 be a day of thanksgiving for the Declaration of
Independence and the Nation it founded, for the blessing of liberty,
and for all those who have pledged their lives to its defense, from the
founding of our country to the present day.
  Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his ``Concord Hymn,'' referred to the opening
shot of the battles of Lexington and Concord as ``the shot heard round
the world.'' If I may borrow his phrase, I think it is fair to say that
the Declaration was the ``statement heard round the world.'' It is
still--still--heard round the world to this day, and I pray it will be
heard until the end of time.
  May God bless our beloved country and keep us faithful to the
principles for which we stand.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum
call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.

                           Election Security

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, Donald Trump's election speech tonight is
not about the election Trump lost 6 years ago; it is a threat against
the election he is afraid to lose this November.
  Trump may control the microphone tonight, but he will not control the
verdict in November. The voters will have the last word, and Senate
Democrats will rebut Trump's lies every day. We will fight like hell to
make sure Trump can't silence voters.
  Trump's prime-time speech tonight isn't simply about relitigating his
overwhelming defeat in the 2020 election; it is about undermining the
2026 election before a single vote has been cast. Trump won't expose
anything of substance about 2020; he will just echo the same stale,
baseless, pathetic lies he has repeated for 6 years.
  Donald, you have been trying this shtick for 6 years. Only your
little coterie of sycophants still believes these lies--no one else.
  You can say it tonight, Trump. You can say it tonight. You can say it
tomorrow. You can say it every night until election. No one believes
you. The election was not stolen.
  Trump keeps chasing his tail, going round and round and round in
circles so many times, he has left a rut in the ground. Every time he
tells a lie, he digs himself deeper into the hole. Trump's fixation on
these conspiracy theories reeks of desperation.
  Trump knows he can't defend Republicans' disastrous record--his
disastrous record as well--so he is trying to discredit the voters who
will judge it in November.
  Hey, Donald, the reason your numbers are so low is because you are
obsessed with BS like this instead of what Americans actually care
about.
  The American people are fed up with Donald Trump. Americans are fed
up with the chaos in their streets, fed up with the corruption in their
government, fed up with sky-high costs in every part of their lives
because of this administration's policies. Voters are sick of forking
over their tax dollars to line Trump's pockets and to fuel his failed
war in Iran.
  Trump has given up on winning over hearts and minds. Now he is
focused on rigging rules and purging voter rolls. Instead of changing
course on their deeply unpopular agenda, Trump and the GOP have
launched a coordinated, multifront campaign to subvert the 2026
election.
  But don't worry, America, it will fail.
  Trump has called for Republicans to ``take over voting in 15 states
in the country.'' That is what he said. Trump said: