Democrats flood tape on elections, housing, TPS as Senate sprints toward recess

The White House cancelled the signing ceremony for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act early Thursday, with Trump insisting Congress first pass the SAVE America Act. The housing bill had cleared both chambers by wide margins earlier in the week.

Sen. Warnock, whose provision would ban corporations owning more than 350 single-family homes from purchasing additional properties, placed the blame squarely on the president. "Here he is on a day staged for him to take credit for legislation he did little to shape, he managed to make the story about what's going on with Donald Trump," Warnock said. Corporate investors control more than 70,000 single-family rental properties in metro Atlanta alone, according to the release.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., appearing on MSNBC the night before, framed the SAVE Act as more than a voter ID measure: "This supposed SAVE America Act, is a hodgepodge of Trump, of vindictive vendettas, and he's not going to get his way." Padilla also linked the housing bill's collapse to a broader pattern: "The bottom line is this: he doesn't want to help lower costs, not for housing, not for groceries, not for health care, not for energy."

On the Republican side, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who attended Trump's closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans, described the president's pitch for the SAVE Act in unsparing terms: "If we don't do something with the filibuster, and we don't get things passed, it'll be the last time we'll have a Republican President, or Republican Senate, or House." Tuberville said Trump told the room: "Ball's in your court. I'm here to support you. Let me know if there's anything I can do, but this is what we have to do to save the United States of America from Communism."

The Court's 6-3 decision in Mullin v. Doe, allowing the Trump administration to revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians, generated releases from at least five senators within hours of the ruling.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., warned of economic ripple effects: "This ruling will put hundreds of thousands of people — many of whom are employed in industries already experiencing labor shortages — at risk of losing their ability to work or even being deported. Businesses will suffer and many parents will lose the ability to care for their U.S. citizen children as Trump continues to pursue his cruel and inhumane mass deportation agenda."

Senators Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Padilla, and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., issued a joint statement on behalf of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Senate members: "The Supreme Court's decision in this case is a betrayal of American families. TPS is a legal immigration status and a lifeline for those fleeing violence and disaster."

Coons, whose state includes a Haitian immigrant community he described as "our friends and neighbors and integral to our agricultural industry," framed the ruling as an institutional question: "Being a beacon for those seeking refuge from oppression and violence overseas defines one of the most important threads that runs through all of American history."

In a coordinated second letter to Postmaster General David Steiner, all 47 Senate Democrats demanded the U.S. Postal Service withdraw its proposed rule implementing Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting. The rule, published June 2, would allow USPS to refuse to deliver ballots to voters not included on a federally controlled absentee voter list.

The letter, quoted identically across multiple releases from Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., states: "Despite these grave and serious legal deficiencies, on June 2, 2026, USPS published a proposed rule that, if finalized, would establish President Trump's control over federal elections and allow USPS to adjudicate who can and cannot vote by mail. This proposed rule risks disenfranchising millions of voters. We again insist that you follow the law, refuse to implement President Trump's Executive Order, and withdraw this presidentially-directed proposed rule."

The senators raised an additional concern about data sharing: "In court filings, the Administration has acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security is already in discussions with USPS about potentially comparing the list to DHS datasets." Whitehouse and Jack Reed, D-R.I., led the effort from the Senate Judiciary side; Padilla and Schumer separately announced a first-ever Senate Election Observer Program to train Senate staff to document voter interference during the 2026 midterms.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee, released a tranche of internal CDC and HHS emails Thursday provided by former CDC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Debra Houry. The documents, covering January through August 2025, detail a series of actions Sanders says demonstrate Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s politicization of the agency.

Among the disclosures: Kennedy directed cancellation of flu vaccine campaigns during a severe flu season; HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon confirmed in an email that "This was a direct ask from Secretary Kennedy." A Kennedy senior advisor separately emailed asking "What legally needs to happen or should be considered if a vaccine is going to be removed from the [Vaccines for Children] program at CDC?" — a program estimated to have prevented 508 million illnesses in children born between 1994 and 2023.

The emails also show Kennedy's chief of staff told then-CDC Director Susan Monarez that political staff "would need to review 'major decisions at CDC…before they go into effect.'" Kennedy fired Monarez less than a week later, according to the release, "for failing to rubber stamp recommendations from ACIP." Sanders sent a private document request following a September 2025 HELP Committee hearing at which Monarez and Houry testified.

In a floor statement Thursday marking the fourth anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., chair of the Senate Values Action Team, raised a series of pro-life bills by unanimous consent — and said Senate Democrats blocked every one.

Lankford called up his Conscience Protection Act, which would bar health care providers from being forced to perform abortions against their religious or moral convictions. In floor remarks, he framed the debate in scientific terms: "Every single cell in the woman's body has the exact same DNA except when she's pregnant. Then there are certain cells in the womb that have different DNA. Do you know why? Because it's a different person."

Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Ted Budd, R-N.C., Ashley Moody, R-Fla., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., each raised their own legislation during the floor session. Separately, Tuberville joined Daines in introducing a resolution commemorating the ruling, co-signed by 14 other Republican senators.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman's working draft of the Agricultural Act of 2026 — dubbed Farm Bill 2.0 — drew a statement from Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who listed more than two dozen provisions he authored or championed that appear in the draft. "This farm bill is built for the people who feed, fuel, and clothe America," Marshall said, calling it "a strong foundation" while acknowledging "there is still more work ahead."

Several senators simultaneously introduced standalone agriculture bills that appear positioned as Farm Bill input. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., led colleagues in reintroducing the Small Farm Conservation Act, which would create a dedicated subprogram within USDA's Environmental Quality Incentives Program for farms under 50 acres. "By making these programs more accessible to smaller operations, we can help producers adopt soil health practices, strengthen local food systems, and protect our environment," Bennet said.

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., reintroduced the Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach Program Reauthorization Act, warning: "We need to support the next generation of independent farmers before the industry is eaten up by billion-dollar corporations, foreign companies and tech CEOs who see farming as another investment instead of a time-honored way of life." Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., introduced the bipartisan Opening Programs to Organic Farms Act with Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., to direct USDA to assess barriers organic producers face in accessing department programs. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., announced the Home Market Restoration Act of 2026 to establish tariff-rate quotas protecting Louisiana crawfish, shrimp, rice, and catfish producers: "Louisiana producers can compete with anyone if trade is fair."

Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Schiff, John Curtis, R-Utah, and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., introduced the bipartisan Hazardous Fuels Transportation Assistance Act, targeting the bottleneck that leaves woody biomass from forest-thinning operations piled on the forest floor after mechanical thinning.

"Thinning the forest is only half the job," Kelly said. "This legislation will help get the material left behind out of the forest to prevent more wildfires and support the jobs, businesses, and forest restoration projects so many Arizona families depend on." The release cites the Dragon Bravo and White Sage fires, which burned more than 200,000 acres on the Grand Canyon's North Rim last summer, destroying the historic Grand Canyon Lodge.

Curtis, a Republican, signed on as a cosponsor: "Across Utah and the West, we know that active forest management is essential to reducing wildfire risk and protecting communities. But when the cost of hauling woody biomass becomes a barrier, hazardous fuels can remain on the landscape and undermine the very restoration work designed to make forests safer."

Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Mark Warner, D-Va., introduced the bipartisan AI Labeling Act, which would require both visible and machine-readable disclosures on AI-generated digital content and mandate collaboration between AI developers and major social media platforms.

"As AI-generated content becomes more refined and realistic, people deserve to know whether what they're seeing is created by a human or generated by artificial intelligence," Curtis said. "Our bipartisan AI Labeling Act establishes clear, commonsense transparency standards that help consumers make informed decisions, promote trust in digital content, and discourage bad actors from using AI to deceive the public."

Warner pointed to the global competitive context: "Jurisdictions around the globe are moving to adopt common-sense rules around labeling AI-generated content — it's time for the U.S. to catch up and in fact lead the world with a disclosure and anti-circumvention model that should be the global standard." The bill is endorsed by 15 organizations including SAG-AFTRA, the Authors Guild, and the National Association of Voice Actors.

Sen. Warnock and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., led 23 colleagues in a bipartisan letter to Senate Appropriations Committee leadership opposing the Trump administration's decision to withhold State Department funding from the CDC for its HIV prevention and surveillance work under PEPFAR — a program credited with saving more than 26 million lives since 2003.

"No global health program better demonstrates the success of the U.S. global health strategy and the leadership of CDC than PEPFAR," the senators wrote. The letter argues that stripping the CDC of its PEPFAR role undermines decades of trust with health ministries around the world and cuts against the interagency model that made the program effective. Does it have to be this way? The senators are not calling for new funding — only for congressionally appropriated dollars to flow to the agency Congress designated to receive them.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Ranking Member of both the Senate Budget Committee and the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, opened a formal investigation Thursday into the Trump administration's $16 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — a project that has since experienced an algae bloom and peeling coating. "After railing about waste, fraud, and abuse, Donald Trump spent more than $16 million on a renovation of the Reflecting Pool that's now peeling and chock full of algae," Merkley said. "Taxpayers deserve swift answers — and a refund."

Merkley was separately among the most prolific filers of the day. He co-led with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a letter urging appropriators to block CFTC funding used to sue states enforcing their gambling laws against online prediction markets. The senators wrote that "through engaging in this campaign of litigation and intimidation, the CFTC risks becoming an instrument and enabler of online prediction markets' efforts to bypass states' consumer protections and oversight, creating a race-to-the-bottom in gambling."

Merkley also reintroduced the SAFE Banking Act of 2026 — with Republican co-sponsors Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Steve Daines, R-Mont. — to allow financial institutions to serve state-legal cannabis businesses, and introduced the Investor Choice Act with Rep. Bill Foster to ban pre-dispute mandatory arbitration in financial services. "Too often, the arbitration system is stacked against consumers — allowing financial firms to select the arbitrators who decide cases, pay them, and keep them in line for future work," Merkley said.

Sens. Schiff and Padilla condemned the White House's $87.6 billion supplemental spending request for omitting disaster relief funding for communities affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires — now more than 18 months after the blazes destroyed 16,000 structures in Los Angeles County and killed 12 people.

"Donald Trump's desire to punish Los Angeles and the state of California for not voting for him, means once again that thousands of Angelinos are left watching this administration fight for anything but them, their businesses, and their communities," the senators said in a joint statement. They noted the supplemental's primary purpose: "Most of the Administration's $87 billion supplement spending request would defray costs incurred as a result of the President's decision to go to war with Iran, a war not authorized by Congress or supported by the American people."

The senators added: "These fires did not discriminate based on party or political preference. Neither should this administration."

Signals

• volume47 releases Thursday versus a 89.5 Thursday average — 47.5 percent below baseline, consistent with pre-recess compression four days before the Independence Day state work period.
• recessThe Senate is four days from the Independence Day state work period; no scheduled floor votes appear in today's calendar.
• coordinatedAll 47 Senate Democrats filed near-identical language on the USPS vote-by-mail letter across at least three separate senator releases, a same-day coordinated rollout.
• coordinatedSix Republican senators filed a coordinated Dobbs anniversary floor effort led by Lankford, with Tuberville and Daines filing a parallel commemorative resolution co-signed by 14 colleagues.
• volumeSen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., filed four separate releases in a single day — the Reflecting Pool investigation, the CFTC prediction markets letter, the SAFE Banking Act reintroduction, and the Investor Choice Act — the highest single-senator output in today's set.
• silent breaksSen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has been quiet for 52 days; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for 16 days — both absent from today's release set.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC52d
• Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY16d
• Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY22d