Floor Statements

Mr. President, as we celebrate the history and contributions of women this month, I rise today to commemorate the legacy of one of our Nation's--and my beloved State of Maryland's--most iconic figures, Harriet Tubman.

Congress began officially recognizing March 10 as Harriet Tubman Day in 1990, and I am always grateful to speak to her accomplishments. Throughout her life, she served as an abolitionist, solider, spy, and most famously, as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

I would like to reflect on her contributions to human rights, civil rights, and women's rights in our Nation and to renew my commitment to addressing the shameful legacy of slavery in Maryland and across the

Mr. President, first, let me thank Senator Van Hollen for his friendship and the way that we have been recommending potential members to the bench, working together, in regards to the Maryland judiciary.

Nicole Berner is an outstanding candidate for the Fourth Circuit, to fill the position vacated by Diana Gribbon Motz.

I just really want to underscore some of the points that Senator Van Hollen said.

Nicole Berner is an extraordinarily qualified candidate to serve on the Fourth Circuit--her experience, which Senator Van Hollen went over in great detail, her understanding of the importance of the independent judicial branch of government and protecting our rights, and her commitment to the values which are the strength of our Nation. Senator Van Hollen went over her qualifications. I am just going to underscore a few of those points.

Ms. Berner serves as general counsel to the Service Employees International Union, SEIU, and she has been in-house counsel since 2006. She served as staff attorney for Planned Parenthood and worked as a litigation associate at a private law firm. She served as a law clerk for a district court judge in California and an appellate court judge in the Ninth Circuit.

She has a record of fighting for working families. She has filed numerous--numerous--amicus briefs before the Supreme Court of the United States as well as circuit and district courts that she has been involved with. She has been a lawyer in hundreds of cases in Federal and State courts, protecting the rights of working families.

So let me just share with you a couple things that really, I think, are outstanding in her background.

First, she is motivated by a desire to ensure full and fair access to the courts for all Americans, regardless of their social status or financial resources. She has consistently advocated for the interests of historically underrepresented communities.

Second, as a skilled appellate lawyer, she has organized legal strategies to bring her clients' voices to the court and tell their story. She seeks to show how their lives will be affected by the outcome of a case.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she represented frontline workers who literally put their lives and health at risk to do their jobs and keep our economy running when many Americans were told to stay home until the vaccine was developed. Her SEIU clients included workers in the fast-growing occupations of public services, healthcare, home care, childcare, janitorial, and building security. She represented them at that time.

We talk a lot about our frontline workers as being our heroes. Nicole Berner is one of those heroes.

Third, she would bring a unique and diverse perspective to the appellate court. We know that the Fourth Circuit is a particularly diverse circuit and includes the States of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. A more diverse bench will better reflect the population that the judges serve as well as better inform judicial decision making.

Fourth, Ms. Berner brings to the bench both her vast experience as an

appellate lawyer and her own personal advocacy as a Jewish woman on so many civil rights issues. Ms. Berner successfully won a long-running case involving her own family at the Israeli Supreme Court--a landmark ruling that required the government to recognize two mothers as the parents of one child.

Fifth, she has received strong endorsements, and Senator Van Hollen pointed out the list of endorsements from very diverse groups, from civil rights to law enforcement.

Let me highlight one of those letters--we received numerous letters-- one of those letters that came from former assistants to the Solicitors General of two different administrations--the Reagan administration and the Clinton administration. The letter is authored by David Frederick and Andrew Pincus.

We have worked with, litigated against, and collaborated on

cases with Ms. Berner in the Supreme Court of the United

States and federal courts of appeal over more than a decade.

Based on that professional experience, we are united in the

firm conviction that Ms. Berner is highly qualified to serve

on the Fourth Circuit and will be an excellent appellate

judge.

Ms. Berner has demonstrated superb skills as a writer,

legal analyst, and advocate in the appellate cases in which

we have seen her work up close. . . . Her legal training is

extensive, including as a law clerk to a distinguished court

of appeals judge, an associate in a well-respected law firm,

a lawyer in a public interest organization, and general

counsel of one of the largest labor unions in the country.

Ms. Berner's experience with a wide range of the legal issues

that arise in the federal courts, her diverse roles as a

lawyer, and her professional expertise, which we have

observed firsthand, demonstrate that she will be a first-rate

appellate judge.

Just as impressive as Ms. Berner's legal skills are her

personal qualities. She is unfailingly polite and measured in

her interactions with others, even on highly contentious

issues. She listens carefully and thoughtfully with an open

mind to new ideas--even those that may not comport with her

personal experience--so that she can offer the soundest

position in a case. These qualities make us certain that she

will transition seamlessly from the role of advocate to the

work of a circuit judge. She will understand that serving as

a judge requires her to act as a neutral arbiter based on

faithful application of the relevant constitutional or

statutory text, precedent, and record facts.

I would note that Ms. Berner is a longtime resident of Montgomery County, MD. She has been an active member of her synagogue and community and lives with her wife in Takoma Park, MD. I appreciated the opportunity to meet with Ms. Berner and talk to her about her priorities and her commitment to fully integrate into the vibrant Maryland legal community, including Baltimore.

I also want to join Senator Van Hollen in thanking her family because this truly is a joint sacrifice in public service.

I urge my colleagues to ratify her nomination and vote in favor of her nomination.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.

Mr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.

Mr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.

Mr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon

such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.

Mr. President, it has been almost a year since President Biden nominated Dennis Hankins to be the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti. In that time, Haiti has gone from a tenuous political situation into a security and humanitarian catastrophe.

Vicious gangs, armed largely with weapons trafficked from the United States, have plunged the country into chaos. They have burned government buildings. They have attacked police stations. While the Prime Minister was out of the country to facilitate an international peacekeeping mission, gangs led a massive jailbreak, releasing nearly 4,000 prisoners. Mr. President, 15,000 Haitians have been forced to flee their homes. Almost half of the population is facing a food insecurity crisis. And this is within a very short distance of the United States of America. Thousands have been murdered, hundreds kidnapped. According to U.N. officials, gangs have used collective rapes to instill fear, punish, subjugate, and inflict pain.

We are on the verge of having a failed state roughly 800 miles from our shores.

Secretary Blinken was in Kingston this week to help broker a political agreement with other partners in the region--an agreement for a political path forward that includes the creation of a transitional Presidential council following the resignation of the Prime Minister.

I am pleased that we are finally voting on Ambassador Hankins' nomination so he can start doing the job he was nominated for, but it has taken us way too long to get to this point. I am pleased that we are voting on his nomination. It should have been done well before now.

I mentioned this week my meeting with General Richardson, our SOUTHCOM commander, as to how critical it is in our hemisphere and around the world to have confirmed Ambassadors to speak on behalf of America.

We want to have a strong voice on what is happening in Haiti, but how can we have that if we don't take advantage of having a confirmed Ambassador? I am glad we are correcting that today. This nomination has been held up for reasons that have nothing to do with Haiti and nothing to do with the qualifications or experience of the nominee.

U.S. leadership matters, especially in a country so close to our border. We need Senate-confirmed Ambassadors on the ground who can work with Haitian leaders and diplomats in the region to lay the groundwork for a transitional unity government.

We need someone who understands the depths of the humanitarian suffering, which, if not addressed, will lead to thousands of Haitians seeking refuge at our southern border.

Most importantly, we need someone who can help coordinate once the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission is in place, which will be critical to restoring security. We need that multinational security force in place, but we need our voice to make sure they can be successful.

In Haiti--in this region and throughout the world--we need to have confirmed Ambassadors. Ambassador Hankins has more than two decades of Foreign Service experience. He has served in some of the most complex, crisis-prone situations in the world, including in Haiti.

In 2015, he was confirmed as Ambassador to Guinea by unanimous consent--unanimous consent. He was previously confirmed. He has the experience and the vision to guide this process forward and advance U.S. national interests.

I want to call on my colleagues to support the administration's outstanding funding request for Haiti. Not

only do we need to get the Ambassador confirmed, but we need to have our contributions available so that the multinational force that Kenya is leading can be deployed and we can start to restore order in Haiti so that a transitional government has a possibility of restoring the order necessary to avoid the current crisis and be able to address the humanitarian needs and stability that the people of Haiti so badly need. But it starts with us confirming the Ambassador, and we have a chance to do that with this next vote.

I am pleased that we have this opportunity today, and I urge my colleagues to support this nomination.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, first, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I just want to bring to my colleagues' attention that we need to confirm our diplomats around the world.

Yesterday, I had a chance to meet with General Richardson, our SOUTHCOM Commander, and she told me about the challenges we are having in our own hemisphere because of nominees who have been approved by our committee who are here on the floor but have not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. So I really just want to underscore the point that, if we are going to be able to have our interests represented around the world, we need to carry out the responsibility of confirming nominees that have gone through the process.

In too many cases, individual Senators have placed holds that require us to deal with cloture, which takes a lot of time. It is our responsibility to act on these nominees, and it is in our national security interest to have a confirmed ambassador in each of these countries.

In many cases, these are career individuals who have given their lives--literally, their professional lives--in service to our country. They deserve to have us act timely on their nomination. I would urge our colleagues to do that.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.

Mr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain proposed arms sales as defined by that statute. Upon such notification, the Congress has 30 calendar days during which the sale may be reviewed. The provision stipulates that, in the Senate, the notification of proposed sales shall be sent to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In keeping with the committee's intention to see that relevant information is still available to the full Senate, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the notifications that have been received. If the cover letter references a classified annex, then such an annex is available to all Senators in the office of the Foreign Relations Committee, room SD-423.