Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 7032, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 124, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 794.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 11 a.m. on Wednesday, September 11; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that following the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Ritz nomination; further, that the cloture motions filed during yesterday's session ripen at 2:15 p.m.; that if cloture is invoked on the Lanthier nomination, all time be considered expired at 5 p.m.; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Wednesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, welcome back.

The Senate gavels back into session after a busy and productive August work period. I wish to extend a ``welcome back'' to all my colleagues. I hope everyone's time back home was well spent.

Last week, I traveled across Upstate New York and New York City listening to New Yorkers from all walks of life and holding events about lowering prescription drug costs, implementing the infrastructure law, and all the ways Democrats are delivering for the American people.

Madam President, now that we are back, our first order of business will be to swear in the newest Member of this body, George Helmy, selected to represent the people of New Jersey until they choose a new Senator this November.

New Jersey couldn't have a better caretaker for the next few months. Senator-designate Helmy's career has been wholly dedicated to service. He was a longtime Senate staffer for both the late Senator Frank Lautenberg and Senator Cory Booker and served as chief of staff to the Governor of New Jersey. George Helmy knows New Jersey like the back of his hand.

When he is sworn in later today, he will be escorted by none other than his former boss, Senator Cory Booker. It is a proud moment for them as well as for all of George's family.

Finally, Senator-designate Helmy's brief tenure will be historic. He will be the first-ever member of the Coptic Orthodox Church to serve in the Senate. The Coptic Church is one of the oldest institutions in all of Christianity, dating back to the first century, when the Apostle Mark evangelized in Egypt.

Today, there are at least half a million Coptic Americans living in the United States, with large communities in New Jersey and in my home State of New York. Today, one of them will join this great body.

I thank George for answering the call of service. We wish him nothing but success and are ready to assist him however necessary in the weeks and months to come.

Madam President, now on the CR, the Senate is back in session for what will be three very busy, fast-paced, and consequential few weeks.

This afternoon, we will hold our first vote on cloture on the nomination of Adam Abelson to be a district judge for the District of Maryland.

For the information of Senators, I have also filed cloture on the nomination of Jeannette Vargas to be a district judge for the Southern District of New York.

For the rest of the week and for the rest of the work period, we will be confirming more of President Biden's outstanding judicial nominees.

And now, as everyone knows, one of the most important things we must do this work period is avoid a government shutdown. Today is September 9. Funding for the Federal Government will expire in 21 days unless Republicans work with Democrats on a temporary extension.

As has been done time and time again, keeping the government open will require bipartisanship. Keeping the government open will mean no poison pills or reckless partisan posturing. And keeping the government open will mean tuning out the bully tactics of the hard right.

Sadly, our House Republican counterparts are not off to a promising start. Last week, House Republicans released, without even consulting the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate or the President, a 6- month CR that is transparently unserious and seemingly designed for scoring political points instead of avoiding a shutdown. In fact, it is so unserious that the White House has already issued a veto threat.

It is a shame that the House of Representatives is once again wasting time catering to the hard right instead of doing the hard work of responsible, bipartisan governance. Speaker Johnson's slapdash continuing resolution isn't a serious effort to fund our government. If House Republicans were serious, they would sit down and craft a bill in a bipartisan fashion--consulting with me, the House Democratic leader, and the White House--and they would craft a bill that, in a bipartisan fashion, would actually achieve our common goal of funding the government.

If House Republicans were serious, they would not kick the can down the road for half a year, jeopardizing our military readiness and troop pay and interrupting critical domestic investments. If House Republicans were serious, they would work across the aisle to craft a CR that does not allow a lapse of critical healthcare programs like community health centers. They would work with the Senate to make sure we extend vital programs that protect our border and our economy, like E-Verify and H-2B visas.

If House Republicans were serious, they would work with Democrats to avoid the farm bill expiration in December and prevent the horrible dairy cliff that would so hurt our farmers. If the funding provided by the farm bill expires before we act, thousands of dairy farmers could be very seriously

harmed and put in real jeopardy, and it would send costs straight up the roof for consumers on a whole lot of agricultural-based goods.

So the House Republicans' CR is simply unserious. It is pure partisan posturing.

Democrats will do everything we can to avoid a Republican- manufactured shutdown. We are ready to work on a bipartisan bill that will keep the government open. Any extraneous provisions that hinder that goal should be set aside.

Despite all this, Speaker Johnson knows deep down that he needs to work with Democrats to get anything done because that has been true this entire time. And it is a good sign, Madam President, that the Johnson CR finally accepts the bipartisan top-line spending agreement I reached with him months ago, as part of the deal to prevent a default. It is clear that any final agreement will maintain that funding level.

So let's stop wasting time and put together a bipartisan funding plan that fulfills our obligations to prevent a costly and unnecessary Republican government shutdown.

Madam President, now on the work period, everyone knows that an election is just around the corner, but Senators still have a responsibility to make progress wherever possible on bipartisan issues that will help the American people. There is much we can still accomplish if Republicans give us their cooperation and keep alive the bipartisan momentum that we had in July when we passed KOSA and COPPA.

There is more work to do on the NDAA, on rail safety, on lowering the cost of insulin and prescription drugs, on artificial intelligence, and on keeping healthcare costs low. We may not be able to get all these things done before the election, but I urge my colleagues to make the most of this work period so we can set ourselves up for success for the rest of the year.

Bipartisan compromise is hard--harder these days than it has been in the past--but we have seen time and time again in these last 2 years that it can be done. Bipartisanship has prevented pointless and painful government shutdowns. Bipartisanship saved the full faith and credit of the United States. Bipartisanship has rescued Ukraine from defeat on the battlefield. Bipartisanship led to the monumental passage of the Kids Online Safety legislation, and I strongly urge the House to take up KOSA and COPPA as soon as possible. Bipartisanship has kept our airports running safely and delivered disaster relief and humanitarian aid for innocent civilians in Gaza and around the world and more.

I know many Senators on both sides still want bipartisanship to continue as much as possible for as long as possible. We will have our fierce disagreements in the weeks to come, but that doesn't change or diminish this responsibility we all have to ensure that the American people are taken care of. So let's continue.

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

Madam President, I just want to say a word of congratulations to our new Senator. I spoke on the floor earlier. He is going to be a great addition, and it is another ceiling being broken. He is the first member of the Coptic Church to become a Senator in the United States of America, one of the oldest Christian denominations ever. So welcome.

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 780.