This is an ASTONISHING level of corruption.
DHS handed a $143 MILLION no-bid contract to a company that was 8 days old, with no headquarters, no website, no prior federal work, and an address linked to a residence of a political operative.
It was long past time for Noem to go. To whoever comes next: we will watch every contract and dollar, and we intend to hold you accountable for all of it.
And what did taxpayers get for $143 million of their money? Ads featuring Kristi Noem on horseback in front of Mount Rushmore.
That company then subcontracted with a firm whose CEO is married to Noem's former Assistant Secretary — the same official who ran the DHS office that awarded the contract.
This is an ASTONISHING level of corruption.
DHS handed a $143 MILLION no-bid contract to a company that was 8 days old, with no headquarters, no website, no prior federal work, and an address linked to a residence of a political operative.
That's why we need to pass the SHIELD Act, real, enforceable legislation I introduced that would actually make data centers pay for their own electricity and grid upgrades, so American families stop subsidizing the trillion-dollar tech industry.
Big Tech shouldn't get a free ride on your dime.
So what does this "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" actually do? It potentially lets Big Tech off the hook, makes you think the problem is solved, and leaves you holding the bill.
Here's why: Utility companies don't require data centers to cover the grid upgrades and transmission infrastructure their massive energy demands require. They pass those costs straight to ratepayers like you and me, so your bill goes up to pay for Big Tech's power.
Trump unveiled a "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" at the SOTU to make Big Tech pay for their data center energy costs.
Problem is, none of them are actually paying as of yet, and the pledge won’t necessarily make them.
Trump ran on bringing down the cost of living. An open-ended war in the Middle East that disrupts oil supplies across the region and sends prices through the roof for every American family doesn't do that.
Still think he's putting America first?
That means higher grocery prices. Higher prices on everything that gets shipped, heated, or powered.
Trump promised to lower prices. Instead, he's taking us to war with Iran, and you're already paying for it.
Gas prices jumped 12 cents in a single day after the attacks, the largest increase since 2022, and experts warn prices could climb another 5 to 10 cents per day for the immediate future.
Apparently, you can add “the president had a feeling” to the evolving list of reasons why they started a war with Iran.
Apparently, you can add “the president had a feeling” to the evolving list of reasons why they started a war with Iran.
This is insane. Two people buying the same item in the same grocery store should pay the same price.
Instead, companies want to use our personal data to decide how much we personally should be charged.
That’s straight out of Orwell. And it shouldn’t be allowed.
Starting a war with Iran and figuring out how to evacuate Americans later is NOT A PLAN.
Americans are stranded in the Middle East right now because this Administration couldn't be bothered to think past the first strike.
Today, I voted for the War Powers Resolution to end the Trump Administration's unauthorized military campaign in Iran.
I voted today to reassert what the Constitution has always required: that in this democracy, no one person decides when this nation goes to war. Not now. Not ever.
Donald Trump ran for president promising to end wars. He launched this one without authorization, without a full strategy, and with open contempt for the congressional oversight the Constitution requires.
But I refuse to accept that the path to those goals runs through an open-ended, unauthorized regional war that has already cost American lives and that this Administration cannot coherently explain.
Preventing Iranian nuclear proliferation is a serious objective. The Iranian regime has been a threat to American national security since 1979. I want to see a free, democratic future for the Iranian people, and I stand with the brave Iranians who have been fighting for exactly that.
They deserve a Commander-in-Chief who takes that responsibility seriously too, and a Congress that refuses to look the other way when the Constitution is ignored.
I represent the Marines and Sailors at Camp Pendleton. There is no vote I take more seriously than one that determines whether our service members are sent into harm's way.
The Trump Administration has been content to reduce Congress to an afterthought, as if the power to take this nation to war is theirs alone to wield. That is not how our democracy works.
They gave that power to Congress — to the people's representatives — precisely so that no one person could make this nation's gravest decision alone.
Article I is not a suggestion. It is the supreme law of the land. The Framers did not vest the power to declare war in a single executive because they understood, with clarity born of hard experience, what happens when unchecked power meets the temptation of military force.
He described the operation himself as "massive and ongoing." Those are not the words of a president exercising limited emergency authority. Those are the words of a president who believes he can take this country to war alone.
On February 28th, President Trump launched "major combat operations" against Iran in the middle of night, without a declaration of war, without an authorization from Congress, and without a coherent explanation to the American people of what he intends to achieve or how it ends.
Today, I voted for the War Powers Resolution to end the Trump Administration's unauthorized military campaign in Iran.
We cannot engage in a war that the American people never authorized and do not want.
