Right before he was inaugurated, Trump launched and promoted what he called the Official $TRUMP cryptocurrency, a meme coin. It had no inherent value. It was his face and identity. And it was effectively a pump-and-dump scheme.

Trump relentlessly hawked and hyped his meme coin on social media, aiming to inflate the price of the coin days before it was dumped. Strikingly, he used his meme coin to sell access to the Presidency, offering private meetings to top investors.

Trump personally made $636 million from his meme coin—while going to work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue every day as President of the United States.

Trump famously once called Bitcoin a scam, accurately foreseeing his own crypto schemes. He has exploited crypto to enrich not only himself, but also his family, his sons, his insider friends, his campaign donors. Some of them, like Steve Witkoff, are also in positions of prominent responsibility relating to national security.

Corruption has costs. Trump’s personal profits produced victims. Approximately one million investors lost $3.8 billion on $TRUMP coin as its value cratered. The consequences were decimated retirement accounts, sacrificed savings, houses in foreclosure—losses that changed their lives.

Trump’s meme coin was doomed to fail ordinary investors. As Ranking Member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, my team spoke to three investors who bought into the $TRUMP coin. They each said they believed in the coin because it had the President’s glowing endorsement—and each told us about the heartbreak of near total loss.

You can read my Subcommittee report on the collapse of $TRUMP coin here.

The deck was always stacked against average investors: it in effect locked most out of profits while protecting a few well-connected insiders.

Trump’s crypto scheme was purposefully constructed for his benefit. It was simply self-enrichment. In fact, it illustrates a common theme throughout Trump’s Presidency—that he cares first and foremost about his own personal interest, not the American people.

Trump is now fiercely committed to protecting the crypto industry. He is strongly opposing reforms that would eliminate the weaknesses and loopholes in the law that he exploits—and others are doing right now.

Many of Trump’s friends and family, high-level officials in his Administration, and others are profiting while the rest of America is struggling with rising costs. Their crypto deals have victims, just like Trump’s. The President is shaping his Administration’s policies in his own image.

I hosted a public forum on Trump’s crypto corruption last week—you can watch my opening statement here.

Taking a stand against President Trump’s self-enrichment scheme means rejecting the Clarity Act.

The Clarity Act would expose the financial future of millions of Americans to unacceptable volatility and risk. It would degrade enforcement by relying only on the Department of Justice, which has become Trump’s personal law firm, excluding State Attorneys General.

Banks and other companies in our regulated financial services industry are subject to safeguards and scrutiny. The crypto industry wants a free pass around such regulatory oversight—with Trump’s support.

The bottom line here is simple: the law must be reformed to stop crypto corruption, most prominently President Trump’s.

We’ve always been a nation of upward strivers. Renegades and disrupters: scrappy, agile, hopeful, resilient. Respecting the past but not revering it. Embracing new ideas, breaking molds, and being willing to start over.

We’re the land of new frontiers, space and ocean exploration, pathbreaking research—all revolutionizing the way we think and live.

One of my favorite parts of this job is talking—or more precisely, listening—to all kinds of people across Connecticut. This Fourth of July weekend, between fireworks and bands, what I heard constantly is that they’re proud of our country—and they know we can be better.

From marching in the Columbia and Willimantic parades to joining bell ringing ceremonies in Norwich, to participating in Declaration of Independence readings in Guilford, I heard a repeated refrain from countless people who approached me: “Keep fighting for us.” They were people of different ages, races, and backgrounds—urging a continued fight for American ideals and values like free speech and fair elections.

People want leaders to fight for their future. They believe in a country that is revolutionizing technology—the world champion in jaw-dropping innovation—but that also protects its users from corporations that might put profits over safety. They believe that we should advance medicine, scientific exploration, architecture and infrastructure, and that those leaps forward can make people’s lives better, and not just companies richer. They find meaning in their jobs—and believe in the dignity of work—but think it should be easier to afford health care, housing, and good food for their families.

While material or financial wellbeing are on their minds, they’re also thinking about basic American values, the same values that led to the American Revolution two hundred and fifty years ago: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

They want leaders who will stand up for our shared values, democratic freedoms, and civil rights.

America has always been a glorious experiment. Indeed, nobody knew whether the American Revolution would succeed or the new fledgling republic survive. The patriots who pledged their lives and sacred honor were laying it all on the line, very clear-eyed in knowing the odds were against success and many of their own countrymen and women were against them.

Their declaration of revolt, as well as other founding documents like the Constitution, were not meant to be rigid dictates. As its author Thomas Jefferson said, the earth belongs to the living. Their differences and disagreements were pronounced and persistent. They argued vociferously and vigorously about those documents, for days, months, even years. But they held together, eventually elevating what they had in common, not in conflict.

And what they had in common are many of the same bonds that hold us together today: a belief in a better future; a desire for equality and fair treatment under the law; and a commitment to individual freedoms. Their ability to create a government that delivered on those promises was imperfect—just like we are.

They also had to be humble—a virtue we all would do well to honor more often. News of the Declaration of Independence failed to make the front page of the Hartford Courant. It was on the second page, and Jefferson wasn’t mentioned, only John Hancock, probably because of his outsized signature.

These values seem threatened now. But we’re ready to fight for them. And equally urgent, ready to come together as a nation for them.

We’re still revolutionary.

Right now, combat-injured veterans are docked dollar-for-dollar from their military retirement pay for any VA disability benefits—including at least 400 servicemen and women who have been injured in Trump’s war of choice in Iran. Simply put, this sacrifice is wrong. It’s morally wrong. It’s legally wrong. It’s politically wrong. It’s an injustice against our veterans.

I have asked for a vote on the Floor of the United States Senate eight times now—a simple vote on the Major Richard Star Act, to give veterans their full benefits. And every time, Republicans have blocked my attempts.

I spoke on the Senate Floor calling for Unanimous Consent to pass the Major Richard Star Act—an attempt Republicans blocked yet again. You can watch a video of my remarks here.

My Republican colleagues are saying there needs to be a reduction in some other program—commonly known as an offset—to pay for the Major Richard Star Act. In fact, they are proposing to fund the Major Richard Star Act by slashing benefits for other disabled veterans—devastating cuts for veterans currently eligible to receive disability benefits for tinnitus and sleep apnea.

Making sure combat-injured veterans receive the full benefits they deserve should not require robbing fellow veterans of benefits they’ve earned—which is what this Republican proposal would do.

The whole idea of an offset or “pay for” is absurd and unfair. The cost of war includes the cost of caring for our veterans. We make that investment when we send them to war. We make a promise to care for them when they return home. A great nation keeps its promises.

I strongly believe there should be no need for an offset for this bill, but I’m willing to compromise with my Republican colleagues. At their insistence, I’ve found an offset. I recently proposed using $13 billion in unspent and unobligated Department of Defense funds—and Republicans still blocked my proposal, refusing to do right by our nation’s veterans.

The Major Richard Star Act has overwhelming bipartisan support—including 79 cosponsors in the Senate, 334 cosponsors in the House, and support from Secretary Hegseth himself. In fact, Secretary Hegseth said very simply, “We support the Richard Star Act.”

Despite all this overwhelming support, Senate Republicans continue to block my legislation.

I am just totally unwilling to accept that the VA and veterans should pay for a program that the Department of Defense has a responsibility to implement. And I’m angry that I’ve been blocked again and again and again in asking for a simple vote on the Major Richard Star Act. If we have a vote, this legislation will pass.

Our veteran community—and all of us—know better. Veterans are entitled to both disability benefits and retirement pay. They’ve earned them. It’s not an act of generosity or charity that we would correct this injustice.

Veterans deserve action. The Major Richard Star Act is long-overdue. No more excuses, no more meaningless rhetoric or continued cowardice. I won’t stop fighting until we pass the Major Richard Star Act without slashing benefits for fellow veterans.

Not long before, the agenda of speeches and panels at the Black Sea Security Conference—where I appeared—is interrupted twice by air raids. In the bowels of the exquisitely beautiful, world-renowned Opera House is a drab concrete-walled bunker, which is temporary quarters for government leaders, staff, Opera House workers, and everyone else in the building. Since the press is there too, Congressional colleagues and I hold an impromptu availability.

And so it goes on my tenth trip to Ukraine in the past 4 plus years—an exhilarating tableau of heroism and humor, courage and caring, dedication and danger. And constantly, a radiant kindness, gratitude, humility and humanity.

During my trip, I met with President Zelenskyy to discuss security priorities as Russia continues to wage war. See more here.

The rescue worker is showing us the burnt hulks of an apartment building that Russian missiles only a day or so before turned homes into infernos, and where he worked to extricate survivors. There are tens of thousands like him across Ukraine, deployed day and night on urgent perilous lifesaving missions. We walk down the street to a several story mall and office building, hit by a missile about the same evening, only its blackened shell remaining. The stench of burnt plastic and other materials is still biting.

Could these strikes on clearly civilian nonmilitary targets have been a mistake, a badly directed miss? When I ask this question, he smiles slightly, and says, night after night, day after day, they’re hitting homes, hospitals, schools, power generation plants, and they’re equipped with precision guidance. These bloody strikes cannot be accidental. They’re insidiously intentional.

Cruelty is Putin’s calling card—perhaps most striking in the faces and voices of children kidnapped by Russia and subjected to re-education, in institutions or adopted families, and forced indoctrination often involving involuntary military service in the Russian army. We meet several of them at Save Ukraine, a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization headquartered in Bucha just outside Kyiv. Their stories are harrowing— abduction, isolation, deception, a traumatic life-altering hell for a child or teenager.

President Zelenskyy has met such children, seen destruction and death, visited with troops at the front, and with loved ones of the fallen. And more. He’s seen it all over these past four years, since Russia invaded and President Biden offered a helicopter to evacuate him. Famously, he responded, Don’t send helicopters, send ammunition. Our own military predicted that the mighty Russian juggernaut would overrun Ukraine within days, but the endlessly ingenious, brave Ukrainians demolished their tanks, killed their generals, and pushed them back.

Through the grief and pain, Ukrainians are spectacularly clear-eyed and real-world grounded about the need for military advantage. Their plans and ambitions are hugely impressive, laid out in a classified briefing by top leaders at the Defense Ministry and, separately, at their intelligence services. They talk in precise, numbers-driven, evidence-based terms. They delineate territory taken, casualties inflicted, resources required, and other metrics with the intense clinical tone of a surgeon assessing a highly challenging procedure. They have projections, but they know that war never goes totally according to plan.

Their cautious optimism is supported by what we see in our visit to a drone facility, doing both research and production. As on all my previous visits, I’m blown away by the technology— particularly how quickly it’s advancing in real time, as Ukrainian soldiers describe how they take new facts and developments on the battlefield to implement innovative improvements. Their ingenuity and agility are stunning, especially for a Senate Armed Services Committee member like myself, accustomed to hearing innovation described in timelines of years or months, not days. Ukrainian defense fighters are breathtakingly nimble, because their nation’s survival depends on it.

New technology for old values—freedom, democracy, security. Ukrainians have an ageless goal—to be let alone. Russia started this war by brutally invading and almost conquering their country, pushing to a short drive from Zelenskyy’s bunker in Kyiv. It followed an earlier incursion in 2014, and numerous episodes of armed hostilities. They believe Russia will invade again unless it is deterred by military might and ironclad international security guarantees. They’re building a military that is among the world’s strongest—on a path to winning—and they’re not stopping.

Every Friday, I try to attend at least one of these special, inspiring occasions, when I celebrate with new citizens from all over the world. In my brief talk to them, I thank them for becoming citizens and say, we are the greatest country because we are a nation of immigrants.

Nearly everyone in our country has an immigration story. Most people in the United States are descendants of immigrants. I was born in America, but my father came to the U.S. from Germany in 1935, escaping persecution in the Holocaust. He came alone, at 18 years old. He spoke virtually no English, had not much more than the shirt on his back, and knew no one. This country saved his life and gave him a chance to succeed.

He came to America for the same reason that people continue to do so today: for opportunity, for freedom.

When I look out into the audience of new citizens in the courtroom, I see my Dad. And I see America—different races, different religions, different national backgrounds from all over the world, all coming together as citizens. As the motto of our country says, E pluribus unum, out of many, one.

You won’t find anything like it in Russia or China or anywhere else. There’s no other country like ours—where so many different people come together, work together, live together. In fact, our strength as a country lies in our differences and our diversity. Immigrants bring different talents and ideas. Our differences give America energy and ambition and drive. In America, we celebrate our differences.

And in this country, we don’t have second class citizens. Everyone is equal under the law. No one is above the law. Some people would like to take rights away—who think they are above the law. The Trump Administration has an anti-immigration enforcement policy that has shown no limits in its cruelty, terrorizing communities with violence, breaking the law and violating the Constitution.

But our country will not stand for this heartless cruelty, going against all that makes our country great. I tell the new citizens in that courtroom that I will fight it.

As I look at these immigrants, I’m inspired beyond words. Their courage and humanity reinvigorate and reinforce my own sense of our nation’s strength and greatness. I say to them from my heart: Whatever your race, creed, or background, you belong here—my fellow Americans—in the greatest country in the history of the world, a nation of immigrants.

After hearing from parents and children facing graphic, shocking harms from AI chatbots and companions—driving families apart, leading children down dark paths, even inciting self-harm and suicide—Senator Hawley and I introduced the GUARD Act in October 2025. We have continued our bipartisan work to provide safeguards against such harms.

The GUARD Act bans AI companions for minors, mandates that AI chatbots disclose their non-human status, and creates new crimes for companies who make AI chatbots that present sexually explicit content to kids or pressure young people to commit violence or self-harm.

Imposing strong criminal penalties, we hope to deter AI companions that enlist trust and confidence of children, using fake empathy to become a friend—and then endangering them with exposure to sexually explicit conduct and self-harm.

Senator Hawley and I have heard heartbreaking stories from parents and children victimized by companions that became manipulative and predatory, abusing young users. We’ve listened to heroic moms and dads—Matthew Raine, Megan Garcia, Mandy Furniss—who have bravely come forward, demanding action from Congress. For them and the children of America, we must halt chatbot predatory practices.

AI companies are using our kids as guinea pigs in a race to the bottom. Their priority is higher profits—pushing treacherous companions at kids and looking away when their products cause harm. These companies say, “Trust us,” but experience with Big Tech has taught us that we can’t rely on self-regulation. Big Tech has betrayed any claim that we should trust companies to do the right thing when they consistently put profits ahead of child safety.

In a highly significant step, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved our GUARD Act to protect children from AI companies—a remarkable show of bipartisanship. Across the aisle, colleagues united to protect our nation’s children.

I spoke at a Senate hearing about the importance of the GUARD Act to protect children from predatory AI companions—you can find a recording of my remarks here.

Still, we are far from the finish line. We must redouble our determination—because now the AI companies will muster armies of lawyers and lobbyists to oppose, weaken, and defeat this legislation. For so many, these reforms are a matter of life or death. On our side, our biggest assets are the parents and children—advocates who know firsthand how much is at stake. I’ll be at their side continuing to fight for the safety of young people online. They are our future, and we must act now before more lives are lost.

One of the biggest dangers facing kids today is Big Tech’s exploitative, addictive algorithms, working to keep kids scrolling, clicking ads, and sharing every detail of their lives. Big Tech prioritizes profits over safety and refuses to protect our children—so it’s time for action.

In February 2022, I first introduced the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, with Senator Marsha Blackburn. KOSA provides young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency needed to protect against online harms. The bill requires social media platforms to put the well-being of young people first by providing an environment that is safe by default.

We have fought for this legislation, in the face of aggressive lobbying and flagrant lies from Big Tech companies, because this fight is about our nation’s children—and it’s a fight we must win.

Check out CSPAN3’s coverage of our vigil for child victims of social media here. A full video of the vigil is available here.

I want to say thank you to these parents—working to save others from the tragic grief that brings them to this fight. Reliving the pain of their loss is a service and sacrifice that is beyond words. And all I can say to them is thank you, and never doubt that you are making a difference.

One of those parents joined CNN to share their story and highlight the urgent need for legislation protecting children online—see the interview here.

These parents are in this fight because of losses caused by Big Tech putting profits before people. Big Tech has followed a business model that depended on more eyeballs for longer periods of time, more advertising revenue, and more money.

That business model must change, and what we’ve learned is we cannot trust Big Tech to do it on its own. I’m done trusting Big Tech billionaires when they say they’ll protect our children—because time and again they have failed to do so.

KOSA puts children’s safety first, requiring social media platforms to provide young people with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of personalized algorithmic recommendations.

As lawmakers, there is nothing more fundamental than protecting our children. They’re our future. I may be a United States Senator, but my main accomplishment in life is that I am a father. There is nothing partisan about protecting children from gut-wrenching harms caused by Big Tech’s exploitation.

Last Congress, the United States Senate passed KOSA in a 91 to 3 vote, overwhelmingly bipartisan. KOSA is an idea whose time has come—in fact, it’s urgently overdue. Our coalition is bigger and stronger than ever, and I remain committed to seeing this measure signed into law.

We are going to pass KOSA—because this fight is too important to lose. We must get it done for the children of America.

Our nation promises to take care of our veterans when they return home—and yet, for more than 50,000 veterans forced to medically retire or servicemembers injured in combat, we are wholly failing to deliver on that promise.

Right now, combat-injured veterans are docked dollar-for-dollar from their military retirement pay for any VA disability benefits.

Hard to believe but horribly true: veterans injured in the service of our country are rewarded by cuts in their retirement pay when they receive well-deserved compensation for disabilities. It’s absolutely unacceptable and unconscionable.

Twice now, I have gone to the Floor of the United States Senate asking for unanimous consent to advance the Major Richard Star Act—a bill that has 78 cosponsors, totally bipartisan. Senate Republican leadership has blocked both attempts. They’ve even blocked my calls to give the legislation a vote on the Floor.

There is nothing political about this bill. Doing right by our veterans shouldn’t be a partisan issue. There is no excuse for the United States Congress failing to vote on and pass this bill.

I’ve heard all the Republican objections as to why the Major Richard Star Act isn’t feasible—it’s double dipping, it’s too expensive. These excuses are factually false and morally inexcusable.

The cost estimated to carry out the Major Richard Star Act is a billion dollars a year for the next ten years. That’s half of what we are spending daily on the war in Iran, a war that the American people don’t want, Congress has never approved, the Trump Administration has failed to support with any clear strategies or objectives. The American people demand we do the right thing: provide full compensation for these veterans.

The cost of war includes the cost of care for our veterans, making sure the VA is able to do its job in providing our veterans with the benefits we promised them. We made these promises—and we’re failing to keep them.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This picture—men and women who have served and sacrificed, fighting for justice on behalf of themselves and their fellow servicemembers—is priceless.

Our nation’s veterans have given of themselves in ways that most Americans will never do. We need to keep our promise to them—our promise that they will receive the care, resources, and support they have earned and deserve when they return home.

I will continue to fight to advance the Major Richard Star Act—and I will give my colleagues who may object to the bill every chance to get right on this issue. Whatever the cost, we owe it to our nation’s veterans. Let’s get the job done.

You can watch a video clip of our press conference on the Major Richard Star Act here, and you can find more information on the bill here.

But most Republicans were pretty glum as well. They sensed a pyrrhic victory— voting again for a deeply unpopular, costly, and chaotic war of choice.

Actually, it’s a war of impulse and illusion. It has achieved none of President Trump’s contradictory, shifting objectives. A stark hard truth has become clear: none of these objectives can be achieved from 30 thousand feet by bombing alone. Securing the enriched uranium, changing the regime (not just names with titles), destroying missiles and drones, and now opening the Strait of Hormuz— all are unachievable militarily without American troops on the ground, suffering massive casualties.

This nightmare has haunted me— and others from both parties— from the outset of Trump’s bombing attack. Recent ceasefires are a hopeful sign that we may avoid it. But so many uncertainties persist, and Trump’s decisions seem so untethered to reality, that the fear remains real.

Feeling that fear, the American people are already facing the very real costs of this war, in both economic impact and lives lost. Trump’s war costs over $1 billion a day, while Americans are seeing rising prices for food, fuel, electricity, consumer goods of almost every kind. Trump squanders resources and imperils our servicemembers, shortchanging health care, education, and other needs.

This fear of another forever war wasting taxpayer dollars and incurring more deaths and casualties to American sons and daughters is one of many reasons why it’s so unpopular. Trump has never sought to build support among Americans, or even explain a plan or purpose, as every President has sought to do before going to war in the past.

Trump’s refusal to seek Congressional approval amounts to an admission that the war itself is impossible to justify. Republicans increasingly feel that they’re sinking into his moral and political quagmire. The Founders believed that the American people through Congress should have a say in whether, how, and when their country engages in armed conflict. Voting against our War Powers resolution deprives them of that Constitutional right.

I joined MS NOW to discuss the need to keep demanding votes on the War Powers resolution—see the interview here.

We can hope that the Trump Administration will now pursue serious negotiations— the only path to lasting peace and stability. Diplomacy should have been the first choice. War should always be a last resort. The costs have been enormous in losses of thousands of lives and billions of dollars, and shattered American credibility and alliances—all a consequence of deeply bad decisions.

The Mohegan Tribe began entertaining offers for the Sun in 2024, and multiple competitive bids were submitted for full or partial control of the team. Connecticut worked closely with some prospective buyers to ensure that the team would remain in the state after the sale—putting together a $325 million package to keep the Sun in our state playing for its adoring fanbase

However, despite competitive bids and a loyal fanbase, the WNBA stepped in to block all efforts to keep the Sun in Connecticut. Having rigged the process and vetoed Connecticut’s viable offer, the Sun was sold to Fertitta Entertainment in Houston for a reported price of $300 million.

With the Sun now headed to Houston for $25 million LESS than the Connecticut offer simply because of the WNBA’s intervention, it is clear that the WNBA tipped the scale for its own interests.

This is clearly anticompetitive interference, and it demands investigation by the Department of Justice.

Fans, local businesses, our state’s economy, we’re all going to suffer with the loss of the CT Sun. Competition & fan loyalty ought to dictate where the CT Sun calls home—not the WNBA, not monopolistic bigwigs, and not potential billionaires that want the team in Houston rather than in Connecticut.

The WNBA rigged the bids. They rigged the process. They rigged the outcome. And the Department of Justice ought to be investigating.

The WNBA is not exempt from antitrust laws. Indeed, the WNBA’s enormous market power as the only women’s professional basketball league in the United States means that it should face scrutiny whenever it uses that market power to harm competitive processes. The WNBA’s heavy hand in steering the Sun’s sale appears to be market interference so brazen it may constitute interference and bid-rigging—classic signs of monopolist behavior that should alarm the DOJ.

No sports fan deserves to lose their favorite team based on the whims of a monopolist sports league. This is especially true in Connecticut, a state that is famously passionate about women’s basketball and has witnessed the incredible talent of women’s teams at the collegiate and professional level. This is why I’m calling on the DOJ to investigate the WNBA for violation of antitrust laws and interfering with the sale of the Sun. We can’t allow the sun to set on our state’s team because of this brazen, selfish use of monopolistic power.

The SAVE America Act is a voter suppression bill—plain and simple. The legislation would create absolutely horrendous burdens for all Americans both registering to vote and then actually voting.

The SAVE America Act requires every state to turn over its voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security. In effect, the bill would require states to provide private information that is not available to the public to the federal government, which would then purge voter rolls—giving the Department the power to choose who is allowed to vote in our elections.

On top of that, the SAVE America Act does not require voters to be notified if they have been purged from the voting roll—meaning you might not know if you’ve lost the right to vote until you show up to the polls.

The bill also imposes draconian and unworkable voter ID requirements. This is more than just being asked to identify yourself when you go to vote, which is already mandated in Connecticut and what I do every time I go to the polls. The SAVE America Act is targeting registration to vote, the first step in being able to cast your ballot. Under this Act, a driver’s license would not suffice, nor would a military ID, or a REAL ID issued in most states when registering to vote. You would need a passport—expensive and unavailable to a lot of people—or a birth certificate, which may not even be enough for a married woman who has changed her name.

Republicans’ proposal is more restrictive than nearly every state in the nation, including Connecticut, and would preempt all 50 state laws immediately in disruptive ways that lead to voters being turned away at the polls.

Voting by noncitizens, which is the issue the bill claims to address, is rare to the point of nonexistence. It’s about as likely you’ll find voting by noncitizens as you will be struck by lightning tomorrow. But while the problem is fake, the bill would have real effects. It would make the sacred act of voting exponentially more difficult for all Americans, which to be clear, is exactly the point.

The SAVE America Act requires voters not just to present voter identification; it enables voter purges and federalizes that requirement in a way that is antithetical to all the principles of our Constitution that maintain primary state responsibility for voting.

President Trump is pushing Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE America Act—a bill that constitutes the most significant restriction on the right to vote in generations. The main objective of the SAVE America Act is suppressing the vote, a stepping stone in Trump’s plan to federalize elections and prevent fair and free voting.

The right to vote is a bedrock of our democracy, a government that is supposed to be by and for the people, and I am committed more than ever to fighting against this deleterious measure and protecting the precious right to vote for all Americans.

Sales for these tours have largely been managed by Ticketmaster, a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment, that by many estimates controls 80 percent of the country’s market for concert tickets.

The Department of Justice’s settlement with Live Nation Entertainment, announced on March 9, 2026, is the latest proof that the Trump Administration cannot be trusted to protect American consumers. The DOJ abruptly dropped its demand to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster after Ticketmaster hired lobbyists and fixers with deep ties to the Trump Administration, and instead settled for a meager fine, the divestment of a selection of venue booking agreements, and agreed to a few conditions on how it operates.

This settlement will do little to protect musicians, their fans, and independent venues. Alarmingly, it may drive up prices and further cement Ticketmaster’s monopoly.

That’s why I am releasing a report of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which presents new information on the ways in which Ticketmaster abused its monopoly power to reap huge profits and push concert tickets farther out of reach for fans.

Read the report here.

The Subcommittee’s investigation reveals the way Ticketmaster has used its enormous market power and control over data to make concert-going unaffordable and has misled the public and Congress in doing so.

Despite the company’s recurrent insistence that decisions about ticket prices and fees are largely out of its hands, Live Nation has exerted its enormous influence over venues and artists to increase fees and ticket prices. Ticketmaster also used its monopolistic dominance in the primary ticketing market, and deceptive marketing practices, in order to drive more tickets in the lucrative secondary market.

At each stage of this process, from primary tickets marked up by dynamic pricing algorithms, to secondary sales from consumers and ticket brokers, Ticketmaster has profited handsomely while Americans paid the price.

This abuse of dominance is what DOJ and state Attorneys General sought to stop when they filed their lawsuit. The half measures to which the Trump Administration agreed will not stop Ticketmaster’s behavior.

Indeed, the proposed settlement may make matters worse. Under the settlement, Live Nation will still be able to leverage its power over musicians and venues to drive the adoption of price gouging tactics. Further, the proposed terms would allow other secondary ticketing companies to list on its platform, meaning Ticketmaster could become permanently entrenched as a dominant marketplace for secondary ticketing. This could further encourage Ticketmaster’s harvesting of consumer data and adoption of exploitative pricing algorithms.

The ticketing market is broken. As a general matter, Congress should set national rules protecting consumers in the primary and secondary markets, such as my BOSS and SWIFT Act. It should also consider setting a price cap for secondary sales to deter scalpers and ticket brokers that greedily prevent regular fans from having a chance to see their favorite musician. Importantly, as state Attorneys General move to continue this important antitrust case, this report reinforces what DOJ said when filing its suit in 2024, but which the Trump Administration has evidently forgotten: “It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

Currently, only veterans with disability ratings above 50 percent and more than 20 years of service are eligible to receive their full military benefits—leaving behind more than 50,000 combat-injured military retirees who were forced to retire because of their injuries.

Right now, combat-injured veterans are getting a dollar-for-dollar reduction of their military retirement pay from their VA disability benefits. If they have to retire because they’ve been injured in combat, they sacrifice dollar-for-dollar their retirement pay because of the disability benefits that they receive. I and 78 of my Senate colleagues believe they’re entitled to both disability compensation and retirement benefits. They’ve earned both. The nation promised them both. They deserve both.

The Major Richard Star Act would provide these military retirees with their full disability and Department of Defense retirement benefits—finally righting this longstanding injustice.

Now more than ever, we must take action with the Major Richard Star Act. Right now, we are at war with Iran—a war that the American people do not want, a war that lacks clear objectives, a strategy, or competent leadership from the Trump Administration. Some of the brave men and women fighting in Iran who become combat-injured will be sacrificing their disability or retirement pay if we do not move forward with the Major Richard Star Act.

Not only would the bill reinstate financial fairness for our veterans, but it would also restore confidence among combat-injured veterans—that their sacrifice for our country has not gone unnoticed. Our nation’s veterans deserve the very best we have to offer them. The Major Richard Star Act is a commonsense fix to deliver for veterans, and it rightfully has earned the support of 78 of my colleagues in the Senate who cosponsor the legislation, including both Republicans and Democrats. It has similar support in the House of Representatives. Yet despite its overwhelming bipartisan support, we have never been provided with an opportunity to vote on this legislation. In fact, the simple request for a vote has been denied twice by Republicans.

There are a variety of excuses Republicans have hidden behind to block this legislation from receiving a vote, including claiming our country cannot afford the bill. Whatever the estimate on the amount of funding required, it is a pittance compared to the cost of our national defense—more than a trillion dollars now. If we can find the money to send our sons and daughters to war, we can find the money to do the right thing by these combat-injured veterans, and we have a moral imperative to do so.

I am heartbroken for a nation that can afford to spend tens of billions of dollars as we are doing right now, perhaps hundreds of billions, in a conflict far away putting American lives in harm’s way in Iran. This conflict is causing casualties in real-time, while Congress fails to match our servicemembers’ bravery with our own. It is unconscionable.

Our nation’s combat-wounded veterans deserve elected officials who will fight for them and deliver the benefits they’ve earned. Blocking this legislation from a simple vote is an act of cowardice from Republicans and a disservice to our veterans and servicemembers, who we are actively sending into harm’s way.

A message to my colleagues: respect without action is meaningless. Rhetoric without action is meaningless. Words without action are worthless. We must put the politics aside and listen to our veterans. We must keep pushing for the Major Richard Star Act and finally get it the vote veterans and their families deserve. Taking care of our veterans is a cost of war. It is a cost that has increased with time, but it is one that must always be paid.