REMARKS: Senator Coons condemns deep cuts to humanitarian and disaster aid in moving speech on Senate floor

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) delivered a floor speech today condemning proposed Republican-led efforts to axe humanitarian and disaster relief funding, and eliminate publicly broadcast emergency alerts for rural communities in the latest budget rescission package. The cuts, totaling approximately $9 billion, or roughly 0.1% of the federal budget, target critical aid programs including the World Food Program, UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, and disaster response efforts around the globe. During his speech, Senator Coons said the cuts not only undermine America’s values, but they also betray the moral teachings at the heart of our faith traditions.

“Jesus wept,” Senator Coons began, referencing the Gospel of John. Senator Coons warned that the proposed $9 billion in rescissions, which include drastic reductions to food assistance, refugee aid, and disaster response, would cause similar needless suffering to our most vulnerable. “For God’s justice is swift and sure, and I tremble when I think about the answer this chamber will give today to the question, who is my neighbor? Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, we should turn aside. We should not, with this act and this vote today, make Jesus weep.”

Despite the focus of President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress on cutting foreign aid this year, the United States spends less than 1% of its annual budget on foreign assistance. The money feeds starving children, combats epidemics overseas before they reach American shores, helps us strengthen partnerships and alliances, and is critical in helping us outcompete China.

“I was on a bipartisan trip to the Philippines just a few months ago with Senator Ricketts, and I was struck to learn that the Philippines of all the nations on Earth is the most prone to natural disasters,” Senator Coons continued. “They value our partnership, our alliance. We’ve been security partners for decades. There’s many Filipino-Americans. There’s a close and deep relationship. But in meeting with their national leaders, their elected leaders, their senators and their ministers of their cabinet, they said, you know, it makes an incredible difference here in the Philippines: every time there’s a typhoon, there’s an earthquake, there’s a volcano, it’s the Americans who come. It’s the Americans who deliver the aid, who help us help ourselves with training and equipment and support.”

Shortly afterward, Senator Coons offered an amendment on the Senate floor to strip out $496 million of the cuts that target international disaster relief.

A video and transcript of Senator Coons’ remarks are available below.

WATCH HERE.

Senator Coons: Jesus wept. Jesus wept. Most of us who grew up in bible-believing households know this is the shortest verse in all of Scripture, and in some ways the most powerful – one that haunts me. Jesus wept in John, the 11th chapter, 35th verse, because he had come too late, seemingly, to save the life of Lazarus. He wept because someone he knew and loved had died, and it had caused such harm and loss to his family. Today we are doing something on this floor of this Senate – my Republican colleagues are doing something on the floor of this Senate – that I believe would make Jesus weep.

In Luke, there’s a moment in the 10th chapter where a lawyer – and it’s always a lawyer – comes to test Jesus, and trying to justify himself, presses Jesus with questions: “What must I do to gain eternal life?” And Jesus says, “what does the Scripture teach?” He says, “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. And the second commandment is like unto it, you should love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus says, “you have read well. Do this and you will gain eternal life.” But the lawyer, hoping to be justified says – “but, but, but wait. Who is my neighbor?” And what follows is the well-known parable of the good Samaritan where the righteous, the priestly, the respected, the powerful walk on the other side of the road when they encounter someone who’s been set upon by robbers. Not my problem, not my neighbor. But in the parable of the good Samaritan, it’s this person – a Samaritan from a disfavored ethnicity, someone outside the circle of concern to the ancient Israelites – who does the right thing.

This parable would have been shocking at the time that it was preached by Jesus. The idea that the “good neighbor” was the outcast – the unexpected – would be something that frankly would have been a surprise. So although today being a ‘good Samaritan’ is a common term, it’s important to know the history. We are taught as children that we are to see all as our neighbors, not just those who live next door, not just those who look like us or speak like us or pray like us, but the widest possible definition of neighbor is what we are called through righteousness to see in the world.

And what a difference it has made. Because our nation has for decades embraced the cause of being present, of caring, of making lifesaving differences to young mothers and children, to widows and orphans, to the imprisoned, to the hungry, to the refugee, to those fleeing oppression, to those seeking relief from authoritarian governments, for those seeking a better way. We are all God’s children, and from childhood we are taught that the Golden Rule, which appears in virtually every religion – do unto others as you would have them unto to you – is the very foundation of the goodness of America, that we care for each other as neighbors, and we care for the world as neighbors. Yes, we are the most charitable, giving, philanthropic, engaged nation on Earth. And yet all that we do in foreign aid is less than 1% of our total federal budget.

Months ago, when Elon Musk and DOGE began roaming about the federal agencies of our government, their first target was that that delivers disaster relief, that helps feed the hungry, that helps welcome the refugee, that helps stabilize countries going through turmoil. They laid off thousands. They shut down programs. They canceled billions [of dollars]. And yet, here today we are at it again. Republicans are proposing even deeper cuts.

I want to talk about one area of the many that will be cut, I fear, later today: disaster assistance. Our nation has been riveted as we’ve watched the tragedy that unfolded in the Texas Hill Country, where a raging river killed dozens and dozens of innocent children. And you know, around the world, when disaster strikes, it is the Americans who show up first. It is Americans who show up with relief, with assistance, with skill and talent and ability.

It’s been this way for decades and it should be this way still. I was on a bipartisan trip to the Philippines just a few months ago with Senator Ricketts, and I was struck to learn that the Philippines, of all the nations on Earth, is the most prone to natural disasters. They value our partnership, our alliance. We’ve been security partners for decades. There’s many Filipino-Americans. There’s a close and deep relationship. But in meeting with their national leaders, their elected leaders, their senators and their ministers of their cabinet, they said, you know, it makes an incredible difference here in the Philippines: every time there’s a typhoon, there’s an earthquake, there’s a volcano, it’s the Americans who come. It’s the Americans who deliver the aid, who help us help ourselves with training and equipment and support. And you know, in the excess of DOGE’s deep cuts, they fired and laid off most of our experts who are capable of delivering world-class disaster relief.

We saw the consequences with an earthquake in Myanmar just three months ago, where the few remaining folks who did this work were laid off as they were deployed. And instead, the response was led by the Chinese. We are driving nations into the open arms of our adversaries. We have long been known as a nation that sought to be respected, admired, believed in, embraced, not for the example of our power, but by the power of our example. That when there were dread pandemics killing millions, America showed up. 

One of the positives of this day is that my Republican colleagues have recoiled from fully shutting down PEPFAR, and that is a positive. One of the best things we’ve ever done as a nation is to save 27 million lives across the world that otherwise would have been lost to HIV and AIDS. But I’ll tell you, when Ebola raged across Africa in 2014, I was the one member of Congress who went to Liberia at the request of the president – a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a brave and proud leader of a nation struggling facing massive losses of life. Projections at the early stages of the Ebola pandemic were that a fifth to a quarter of their population would die in a matter of weeks. And who came to help? The Americans. Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, CARE, the U.S. military, our public health service. 

I’ll never forget meeting a young Liberian named Alvin. He dropped out of college to become a physician’s assistant to help when the outbreak began and he in caring for patients himself contracted Ebola – a near certain death sentence. Yet, Alvin was evacuated by Americans to the Ebola treatment center set up and funded and equipped by Americans. And his life was saved by Americans. Whether it was the president of the nation, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, or Alvin, the folks I met on that trip to Liberia thanked and praised the American people for our decency, our kindness, our seeing them as our neighbor in their moment of deepest struggle, risk, and loss. And yet today – yet today – my colleagues would rather trim one-tenth of 1% of the budget, $9 billion, to cut deeper into food aid and disaster assistance and fighting pandemics, all to justify a tax cut.

I can think of few more despicable acts on this floor in my 15 years. I can speak to process. We have a bipartisan appropriations process where we can and should debate and consider these further cuts, and put them on the floor, and vote them up. But this is an odd thing. It’s a rescission. It is a cutting back further of money we’ve already appropriated. Just a few minutes later today, I will be trying to get votes to end $465 million of further cuts in disaster assistance that’ll be on the floor today. Taking money from the World Food Program and UNICEF, from Red Cross and Save the Children, from Catholic Relief Services and World Vision. Folks may think at home that this money that goes out to the world is money better spent here, but for the pennies on the federal dollar that we spend responding to disasters around the world, organizations we all know and the majority of us believe in and support, like the Red Cross, World Vision, or Catholic Relief Services are able to appear in time and deliver lifesaving aid. 

Think about what we are doing. Think about the example we are setting. Think about what we are teaching our children. Open your hearts and eyes and realize what we are about to do. This is a nation of which I am so proud, and yet at times it does things of which I am so ashamed. I cannot imagine the faces in the refugee camps, in the villages, in the clinics, in the schools, in the towns, in the cities around the world, who for years have been used to the idea that when there’s a pandemic, the Americans come; that when there’s an earthquake, the Americans come; that when there is starvation, the Americans come. Today we will vote, “no, we won’t.” We are more interested in ourselves and in a bigger tax cut than we are in saving starving children, people laid low by the devastation of an earthquake, families separated by a typhoon. The best part of this nation – what truly makes us great – is our selfless giving to others. We will be judged by how we act today. For God’s justice is swift and sure, and I tremble when I think about the answer this chamber will give today to the question, who is my neighbor?

Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, we should turn aside. We should not, with this act and this vote today, make Jesus weep.

Senator Coons statement on President Trump’s decision to allow the export of advanced AI chips to China

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) issued the following statement after the Trump administration announced it would allow Nvidia to resume selling its H20 advanced computer chips to Chinese customers:

“President Trump’s decision today hands China cutting-edge technology that Beijing will use to erase our competitive advantage in artificial intelligence, undermine our military, and outpace our economy. Thanks to the efforts of the Biden administration and bipartisan work in Congress, the United States was better positioned at the beginning of the year than any other country on the planet to lead the way on artificial intelligence, from chip design to applications. Now, President Trump is throwing that all away, giving China a tool that will strengthen their economy and military, while, just today, China announced it will restrict American access to critical battery technology and equipment we need for our own economy and security. The administration must immediately reverse this harmful decision and take steps to make sure its actions on AI actually match its tough-on-China rhetoric.”

REMARKS: Senator Coons grills U.N. nominee Mike Waltz over his role in leaking sensitive information at confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today pushed Mike Waltz – President Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations – during a confirmation hearing to take accountability for his mishandling of sensitive military information that could have endangered the lives of U.S. servicemembers.

Waltz was questioned by lawmakers for the first time since he was ousted as national security adviser in May, weeks after The Atlantic reported that Waltz added the magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat where senior administration officials, including Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Vice President J.D. Vance discussed sensitive military plans for airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, including real-time updates about the strike. If the information in the chat had fallen into the wrong hands, Houthi rebels would have been able to prepare for the strikes and target the servicemembers carrying them out.

“We both know signal is not an appropriate, secure means of communicating highly sensitive information, and yet, on March 24, The Atlantic published a series of Signal messages including sensitive information about a U.S. military operation against the Houthis involving you and several other Trump officials,” said Senator Coons. “Were you investigated for this disclosure of sensitive operational information?”

In his response, Waltz repeatedly insisted that the information shared in the group chat was not “classified.” However, multiple military and intelligence officials have asserted that the information could have endangered servicemembers regardless of its classification. Sarah Streyder, Executive Director of the Secure Families Initiative, which advocates for military families, said her group had heard from members that they were feeling “a range of emotions, from heartbroken, disappointment, pretty angry … it feels like we’re being let down by our leaders who are at the bare minimum, supposed to be keeping us safe from unnecessary and preventable harm.”

Waltz acknowledged he built the Signal chain but has downplayed the security risks. While the National Security Council and the White House Counsel’s office claimed they were investigating how the breach occurred, the White House closed the case shortly after and failed to provide any details.

“We both know Signal is not a secure way to convey classified information, and I was hoping to hear from you that you had some sense of regret over sharing what was very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app, that’s not, as we both know, the appropriate way to share such critical information,” said Senator Coons.

A full video of his remarks and transcript are below.

WATCH HERE.

Senator Coons: I want to get to the larger questions of the U.N. and the U.N. Mission but – in your role in the army, in the house, as national security advisor, you have long handled classified and sensitive information.

We both know Signal is not an appropriate, secure means of communicating highly sensitive information, and yet, on March 24, The Atlantic magazine published a series of Signal messages including sensitive information about a U.S. military operation against the Houthis in Yemen involving you and several other Trump officials. Were you investigated for this disclosure of sensitive operational information? 

Waltz: Thank you, senator, and that engagement was driven by and recommended by the cyber security – infrastructure security agency – by the Biden administration CISA guidance. 

Senator Coons: I’m sorry –

Waltz: And I have here – well, just the use of Signal

Senator Coons: Your sharing this information on Signal was driven by –

Waltz: No excuse me, the use of Signal is not only – as an encrypted app – is not only authorized, it was recommended in the Biden-era CISA guidance, and in fact, it says here, I’ll read it to you: “Use only end-to-end encrypted communications. Adopt a free messaging application to secure communications that guarantees end-to-end encryption – particularly if you are a highly targeted individual, such as Signal or similar apps. CISA recommends end-to-end encryption messaging on both government and personal devices.

Senator Coons: For sensitive military information? 

Waltz: Oh, of course, of course. Senator, there was no classified information exchanged. 

Senator Coons: For sensitive military operations… You were sharing details about an upcoming airstrike and the time of launch and the potential targets. This was demonstrably sensitive information. And the question I asked was, were you investigated for this expansion of the Signal group to include a journalist?

Waltz: The White House conducted an investigation, and my understanding is the Department of Defense is still conducting an investigation. 

Senator Coons: Was any disciplinary action taken?

Waltz: From the White House investigation, senator?

Senator Coons: Yes.

Waltz: No. The use of Signal was not only authorized, it’s still authorized and highly recommended. 

Senator Coons: Would you recommend the use of Signal for classified information to be shared between folks who have access to classified information? 

Waltz: Again, we followed the recommendation, almost the demand, to use end-to-end encryption, but there was no classified information shared. 

Senator Coons: Did you speak to Secretary Hegseth about his decision to share detailed information on the specifics of an imminent military strike? 

Waltz: What we spoke about, senator, was a highly successful mission that did something that, something that the Biden administration did not do, was actually target the Houthi leadership. We subsequently saw a ceasefire, an increase in shipping and a drop in attacks on our ships. 

Senator Coons: Well, look, here’s what I hear on this exchange, and I want to get to the U.N. point. At the time you took responsibility for having added a journalist inadvertently to a Signal chat, but it doesn’t seem to me that the administration has taken any action to make sure this doesn’t happen again, there’s been no consequences, and yet the president continues to denounce those who leak information. We both know Signal is not a secure way to convey classified information, and I was hoping to hear from you that you had some sense of regret over sharing what was very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app, that’s not, as we both know, the appropriate way to share such critical information.

Waltz: Again, senator, I think, where we have a fundamental disagreement is there was no classified information on that – uh, on that chat.

Senator Coons, SFRC Colleagues Demand Answers Regarding State Department Layoffs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his Democratic committee colleagues wrote a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing deep concerns with imminent Reductions in Force (RIFs) at the State Department, and requested answers on the Trump administration’s process for carrying out these layoffs. 

To read the full text of the letter, click here. 

Senator Coons, Foreign Relation Democrats Statement on State Department Personnel Cuts

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD),Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) released a statement on announced plans by the State Department to terminate personnel.

“As the U.S. retreats, our adversaries—like the People’s Republic of China—are expanding their diplomatic reach, making Americans less safe and less prosperous. If this administration is serious about putting ‘America first,’ it must invest in our diplomatic corps and national security experts—not erode the institutions that protect our interests, promote U.S. values and keep Americans abroad safe.?? 

“The Administration’s decision to fire hundreds of members of the Civil Service and Foreign Service at the Department of State undermines our national security. While there are targeted reforms that our government can pursue to maximize the impact of every tax dollar, that’s not what this is. Blanket and indiscriminate cuts—the legacy from Elon Musk’s failed DOGE effort—weaken our government’s ability to deliver for the American people in a cost-effective manner. There are active conflicts and humanitarian crises in Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, Haiti and Myanmar—to name a few. Now is the time to strengthen our diplomatic hand, not weaken it. From pursuing peaceful resolutions to out-competing China diplomatically and economically, we can’t afford to not have experienced diplomats at the table. 

“We will continue to fight on behalf of the public servants and their families who now face job loss after careers spent advancing America’s interests and values in challenging and often high-risk environments. We call on Secretary Rubio to ensure that any proposed reorganization, including reductions in force, is carried out transparently and in full accordance with U.S. law.”

Senators Coons, Reed release joint statement on cancellation of Ukrainian weapons shipments

WASHINGTON – Ranking Senate Defense Appropriator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Senate Armed Services Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-R.I.) released the following statement in response to reports that the Pentagon had cancelled already-promised weapons shipments to Ukraine:

“The Pentagon’s reported cancellation of already-promised weapons shipments to Ukraine risks the lives of the brave Ukrainian men and women on the front lines of freedom, and rewards President Putin and his Russian forces. This assistance – including vital air defense interceptors and artillery munitions – was provided by Congress and designated to be delivered months ago. Ukraine continues to enjoy strong, bipartisan support across Congress, and we call on Secretary Hegseth to immediately restart the steady supply of these munitions.

“This is the latest and most dramatic blow to our support for Ukraine. It comes at a perilous time, just after Russia conducted the biggest missile strike of the three-year war on civilian targets in densely populated Ukrainian cities, and on the heels of North Korea’s announcement that it would send tens of thousands more troops to aid in Russia’s brutal invasion.

“Putin continues to be the foremost obstacle to peace. Unable to meet his goals on the battlefield, he has long hoped he could simply outlast the West. If Secretary Hegseth does not reverse this damaging step, we risk proving Putin right. President Zelenskyy has agreed to an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine. In contrast, Putin has rejected this deal time and again.

“Despite that stark reality, the administration has decided not to enforce our existing sanctions against Russia, declined to join our European allies in levying additional sanctions, and now, we are walking away from supplying Ukraine with American weapons they need to defend their sovereignty, and protect their hospitals, churches, schools, and apartments from relentless Russian attacks.  This is not theoretical for the Ukrainians. They are not preparing stocks for some potential future fight. Their fight is now, their people are in the crosshairs.

“We agree with the president’s stated objective of bringing about a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. President Trump has a critical opportunity to actually achieve peace through strength: improve Ukraine’s leverage and force Putin to negotiate. The United States must stand with the people of Ukraine. The world is watching. Our adversaries are watching.”

Senator Coons, Representative Chu lead bicameral letter demanding accountability for President Trump’s discriminatory travel ban

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Representative Judy Chu (D-Calif.) led 68 of their Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to rescind his discriminatory travel ban that will keep families apart and devastate the U.S. economy. The members are demanding transparency into President Trump’s decision-making process and answers about how the travel ban will impact communities across the U.S.  

In a letter addressed to President Trump, Secretary of Homeland Security Noem, Secretary of State Rubio, and Attorney General Bondi, the members outlined the disastrous consequences that President Trump’s travel ban will have on both families and the American economy.

“The effects of President Trump’s discriminatory travel ban will be devastating. In the last year alone over 126,000 visas have been issued to nationals from just the twelve countries on the fully restricted list. These are individuals who are looking to come to the United States to reunite with family, support our economy, or otherwise enrich our country in innumerable ways,” wrote the members.

During his first term, President Trump enacted extreme travel bans that disrupted thousands of lives and weakened our nation’s economy and global standing. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden rescinded these bans, but on June 4, 2025, President Trump enacted another sweeping, discriminatory travel ban.

President Trump is imposing full restrictions on entry into the United States from nationals of Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, and partial restrictions on entry from nationals of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela—meaning individuals from these countries cannot come to the U.S. permanently or apply for certain visas. President Trump is also reportedly considering imposing travel restrictions on an additional 36 countries.

“President Trump’s actions once again disgrace the founding principles of our nation and enshrine cruelty into our immigration system,” the members continue. “Additionally, this travel ban will harm our economy by depriving the United States of workers in key fields experiencing labor shortages like medicine and agriculture and further devastating our domestic tourism industry which is already expected to decline by $12.5 billion in 2025.”

As a result, the members demand accountability and answers from the Trump administration. The members wrote, “Given these severe impacts, we condemn this proclamation and urge President Trump to rescind it immediately. We also seek transparency into President Trump’s decision-making process and, accordingly, request answers to the following questions by July 3rd, 2025.”

Earlier this year, Senator Coons and Representative Chu, alongside 130 of their colleagues, reintroduced the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act, which would prevent any president from implementing a discriminatory travel ban by strengthening the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit discrimination based on religion. The bill would also require that any suspension of entry into the United States be narrowly tailored, backed by credible evidence, and subject to appropriate consultation with Congress.

You can read the full letter here.

ICYMI: Senator Coons explores how Democrats can better appeal to voters of faith on The Holy Post Podcast

WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined The Holy Post Podcast for an interview with Skye Jethani to talk about U.S. foreign policy matters in the Middle East, what led him to attend divinity school, and how Democratic leaders can work to speak more openly about their faith and bring more religious voters into the party. 

You can listen here. 

Key excerpts:

Early Faith and Path to Divinity School

Jethani: What’s the journey from divinity school to the U.S. Senate? Why does divinity school end up in public political service?

Senator Coons: I was very active in youth group and Sunday school and that just sort of formed the foundation of faith in action. My mother volunteered with a group of women at our church to welcome refugees, a refugee family from South Vietnam – who were literally rescued, you know, from the ocean – having fled persecution after the fall of Vietnam, and worked at a homeless ministry, Emmanuel Dining Room, that still serves every day in downtown Wilmington. And my father for a time volunteered in prison ministry.

….

The great thing – and this is a long-winded answer, so interrupt me if it’s getting past your level of interest – but the great thing about a divinity school as opposed to a seminary was, I had classmates from a very wide range of traditions. A great friend who had gone to Oral Roberts as an undergraduate, another friend who was Catholic, another friend who is Muslim, but coming to the United States to train to be a professor of religious studies, friends who were going into pulpit ministry as Congregationalists and Episcopalians and Presbyterians, and friends who really weren’t sure why they were there but their parents were ministers or you know, they came from a long line of ministers and so they were [pastors’ kids] who were there, sort of trying to work out their future. It was a wonderful experience. I left with less certainty than I went in. So, if I were to summarize my lessons: humility. Humility in the face of the awesomeness and depth of Scripture. Humility about the certainty of my interpretation and understanding, and thus a demand or a call to constantly re-evaluate and learn, so an increased certainty about the call and the grace and the mercy and the salvation offered to us by Jesus Christ and a less absolute certainty about, “this scripture means this and we can ignore these and we have to follow these,” which as you get into politics becomes a more pressing question.

Democratic Messaging

Jethani: How do you think the Democratic Party can do better at drawing religious voters back into its fold or what missteps do you look at and think, we need to do better in this area?

Senator Coons: First, I think we have to show biblical literacy. I think we have to make connections between why are you fighting for health care for the poor and the disabled and the elderly? Why are you working for food programs for children? Like where does this come from? If you can’t articulate some connection between a Torah definition of righteousness that focuses on how you welcome the hungry, the foreigner, the stranger, the orphan, the widow, the imprisoned – if you can’t draw a line between, sort of, here’s my priorities and what I’m doing and, it’s rooted in the Luke 4 passage where Jesus stands up in his home synagogue and says this is my ministry and my mission – if you can’t draw some of those connections, don’t be surprised when religious or theologically serious people sort of doubt the sincerity of your engagement.

Second, and I’m just going to be really blunt about this, the kind of liberal consensus in the Democratic Party of the last couple of years … mistakenly viewed Black and Brown Americans, folks who are from the Hispanic community, from the African-American community, as inalterably and fundamentally progressive because they had experienced racism and racially based oppression for centuries – missing that enduring that oppression largely was possible because of a focus on faith. And so, every Black church I’ve been to in my home state of Delaware, you’ve got a really powerful, focused, engaged, on-fire community that is getting through things that are hard to get through by leaning on the arms. And so, not bringing a message rooted in values and in particular, in faith, in connecting with communities that have experienced oppression and have transited it by faith is a huge mistake. Nothing offends and annoys Hispanic and Black communities more than treating them as victims, rather than as heroes who have transcended oppression through the depth of their faith.

Faith in Leadership and the Future of the Democrats

Jethani: Can you point to evidence that you think the party is getting that message that it’s trying to adjust, that it will be different in 2026 and 2028?

Senator Coons: There are certainly several of us trying very hard in this direction. Look, Joe Biden was our last Democratic president, and if there is one defining characteristic millions of Americans knew about Joe Biden that helped them trust him in 2020 in the middle of a pandemic, at a time of chaos and uncertainty, it’s that Joe Biden endured huge deep grief twice in his life: the loss of his wife and daughter just before Christmas in a tragic car accident, the loss of his beloved son Beau to glioblastoma, a terrible brain cancer. And they knew that in moments of loss and of celebration, he was on his knees praying at mass. Joe Biden does not talk about his faith much publicly…it is personal, it is something that has allowed him to endure. And I think lots of people looked at that and said, “You know what, he gets me, because that’s how I get through the hard things in life.” They may not agree with his exact positions on important moral issues, but they knew that he was a kind and compassionate man, they knew he’d been raised by a family that got through some struggles as a blue-collar, middle-class family in Claymont relying on their faith.

Senator Coons: … If you think about three out of four of the last Democrats who became president: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, in addition to Joe Biden who I just talked about. All of them were not really of Washington, all of them were not well known before they were catapulted to electoral success, and all of them talked comfortably about their faith. Jimmy Carter continued to teach Sunday school at his hometown Baptist church throughout almost a hundred years and was – I think the election of Jimmy Carter was made possible by Richard Nixon. And I think Donald Trump, a demonstrably cruel, aggressive, and vulgar president will make possible the election of someone who champions compassion, decency, and a welcoming and gracious heart as long as that Democratic leader also makes clear that he sees and cares about opportunity and security for the people of our country. 

Senator Coons statement on Senate passage of the Republican tax bill

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) issued the following statement on the Senate’s passage of the reconciliation bill:

“I know of no faith that teaches that we should take health care from seniors and the disabled, and food from hungry children, to rig the tax code even further for the ultra-wealthy. That’s what almost every Republican in the Senate just voted to do. Making Americans hungrier, sicker, and poorer won’t make America great. America is great because it is good.

“The American people sent all of us to Washington to bring down prices, keep them safe, and help make the American dream possible. Instead, they’re getting a bill that will strip health care from 17 million of the most vulnerable Americans – children, seniors, people with disabilities – and take food out of the mouths of hungry families. It will also add trillions of dollars to the national debt. 

“My Republican colleagues know this bill is a disaster. That’s why they rewrote it by hand in the final minutes, holding it together with backroom deals and giveaways. They rushed the bill to passage before most of them even understood the details of what they were voting for. They will learn more about what’s actually in this bill in the days to come. The rest of our nation will be dealing with its consequences for years. 

“I will do everything I can to protect Delawareans and people across the country from the devastating impacts they will suffer because of this reckless bill.”

Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Senator Coons statement on Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc., which upheld the provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires insurance companies to cover preventive services like cancer screenings and HIV prevention drugs:

“I’m relieved that the Supreme Court has protected lifesaving care for millions of Americans.

“The Court’s decision means insurers must continue to cover the cost of cancer screenings, medications that stop heart attacks before they start, and HIV prevention. It’s the kind of medical care that saves lives, makes hospitals less crowded, and – critically for my home state of Delaware – makes ER wait times shorter.

“While today is a victory, this win comes as President Trump has unilaterally and illegally cut other programs that provide preventive health care. He’s trying to kick millions off Medicaid and has slashed funding from programs proven to prevent HIV transmission at home and abroad.

“I will keep fighting for Americans’ right to affordable health care.”