This is not an official government website.
© 2026 PLEJ LC. All rights reserved.
Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a formal floor step rather than a policy debate. It mentions legislation such as Keep Kids in School Act, members such as Theodore Paul Budd.
Official title: UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--S. 4872
Issued
June 23, 2026
senate side of the record
People
2
Linked members mentioned in this section
Legislation
2
Bills and resolutions linked from this section
Committees
0
No linked committees in this section
Senate Holds
0
No hold activity linked here
Source Document
Connected Data
People mentioned
Source Control
Reader mode is for comprehension. The linked government PDF is the official published source.
Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. BUDD. Mr. President, if you open a history book in any middle school classroom in America, you are going to find a very familiar pattern. Throughout history, societies have repeatedly decided that certain groups of people were exceptions to the promise of human dignity.
understand how people could have accepted such profound disregard for human life. Yet history shows that these tragedies rarely begin with hatred alone; they begin with a more subtle idea that some human beings somehow fall outside the circle of protection owed to everyone else.
which brings me to a question, and I would like my colleagues and the American people and especially the next generation of leaders—some of them in this room today—the question is, Who deserves human dignity?
about equality, inclusion, and defending the most vulnerable, and we should ask those questions. I mean, those are fundamentally American values. But those ideas only mean something if they are applied consistently.
the voiceless, but for some reason, far too many fall silent when the dignity of the smallest and the most vulnerable members of our human race is questioned, and that is the unborn.
But human dignity is not conditional. It does not depend on age or size or ability or circumstance. Human dignity is inherent. It can't be earned. It can't be granted. It can't be taken away. And the most fundamental dignity we all possess is the right to life.
every person, then our actions both at home and abroad must reflect the values we profess. The United States cannot credibly champion human rights while pursuing policies that deny the unborn the most basic right of all, and that is the right to life.
there is more that we must do to defend the right to life. So I applaud the Trump administration for uncovering loopholes that previous administrations exploited to use U.S. foreign aid programs to fund and promote abortion abroad.
power that we profess, but it is the principles that we project. And it is the values we champion abroad that should reflect the values we share at home.
American taxpayers must be consistent with our Nation's most fundamental truth, and that is that every human life possesses inherent dignity and that the first human right is the right to life.
put American values first in U.S. foreign assistance programs, preventing any future administration from using such programs as loopholes to deny life to the unborn.
defend human dignity. It is my hope that future generations find that we remain faithful to America's first principle: that we are all created equal.
discharged from further consideration of S. 4873 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. SMITH. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I want to say a couple of words about this bill that I strongly oppose.
to more types of foreign aid, more services, and more organizations by codifying the Trump administration's so-called human flourishing policy. So this would basically be a gag rule not just on global health programs, which is bad enough, but on all nonmilitary foreign assistance.
the world that provides, refers, or even mentions abortion or support of LGBTQ+ people or any diversity and inclusion initiative would be banned from getting U.S. foreign assistance. This gag order would put— basically, it would put a gag order on the world's most vulnerable people by the world's most wealthy Nation.
an incoherent policy because it would not in any way reduce abortion, which is what my colleagues say their goal is.
administration, and in that case, abortion rates actually went up in those countries. Why is that? Well, because of this gag rule. It resulted in less access to contraceptives, to birth control, and more unintended pregnancies.
institutions and NGOs to accept an ideological agenda or risk being cut off entirely from U.S. assistance.
about their own bodies and their own lives and their own futures. Certainly, they should be able to make those decisions without somebody in Washington, DC, who knows nothing about their lives telling them what to do.
We should be joined together in our belief that U.S. foreign assistance should be helping people, lift them out of poverty, support them in getting the services they need, and not trying to impose an ideological gag rule on their activities.
Therefore, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
The Senator from North Carolina.
Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, my colleague, whom I very much respect, has chosen to support the loophole through this objection. It allows taxpayer dollars to be used in a manner contrary to the values we cherish at home, allowing no voice to the voiceless.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.