Floor Statements

Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 781.

Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Madam President, I ask consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, September 9, be waived.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 126, 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 understand there is a bill at the desk due for a second reading.

In order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceeding.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it

stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, September 10; that following the prayer and the 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 Abelson nomination postcloture; further, that all time be considered expired at 11:30 a.m. and that following the cloture vote on the Vargas nomination, the Senate recess until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings; that if cloture has been invoked on the Vargas nomination, all time be considered expired at 2:15 p.m.; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Tuesday'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 following the remarks of Senator Warnock.

Mr. President, this is the last day before our August work period and so I have a lot of topics to cover and I will go through all of them.

We are going to talk about the tax bill we are doing today. We are going to talk about the Supreme Court and immunity to the President. We are going to talk about AI and what has been accomplished there. And KOSA and COPPA, we are going to talk about that. And last but not least, I have to talk about and I will talk about the Veterans' Administration and our hospital, the Northport hospital, on Long Island.

Mr. President, today, the Senate has a chance to move forward on the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act.

Democrats are ready to vote yes to advance bipartisan legislation today. The question is, Will Senate Republicans join us to give Americans a tax break or will they stand in the way? The tax bill passed the House with an overwhelming vote of 357 to 70. It won majorities of both parties. It was led in the House by the Republican chair of Ways and Means, Congressman Smith, hardly a liberal. So we know this is a good and broadly bipartisan bill. For people who say that this is not bipartisan, go look at the House.

Everyone in Congress is on board except Senate Republicans. Unfortunately, it seems like Senate Republicans plan to vote no today. Even House Republicans managed to unite long enough to pass this bill.

With great respect to Senate Republicans, it is never a good sign to be more obstructionist than Republicans in the House.

Senate Republicans love to talk about how they are the party of family and business, so it is very odd to see them come out so aggressively against expanding the child tax credit and rewarding businesses with the R&D tax credit. But that seems to be what they are doing.

Instead of jumping at the opportunity to get this tax bill done, some Senate Republicans are organizing against tax relief. You heard that right. Senate Republicans are organizing against tax relief. Some of them were passing out leaflets at their lunch yesterday smearing the bill.

Here is one of the nonsensical arguments Senate Republicans made against this tax bill: Don't you dare pass it, they said, because, God forbid, it actually helps American families and then Democrats will get some credit.

Can you believe that? Does that sound like a pro-family party? I don't think so.

Instead of focusing on the election, Republicans maybe should focus more on the fact that this bill actually helps families. If the bill becomes law, half a million kids would come out of poverty. Sixteen million kids from low-income households would see benefits increase. Business owners that invest in R&D and buy new equipment would see more money coming back to them, leading to more jobs, good-paying jobs. And the housing crisis in America would ease--one of our biggest crises, housing costs--by expanding the low-income housing tax credit, something I deeply cared about and urged to be put in the bill. I am glad it is there. And, of course, communities devastated by natural disasters--we have seen so many of them across the country in the last few weeks--they get greater relief.

So thank you to all my colleagues who worked hard on this bill: Chairman Wyden for his leadership, everyone on the Finance Committee as well as Senators Brown and Casey and Bennet and Cantwell and Hassan and so many others.

The ball is now in Senate Republican court. Senate Republicans can either choose bipartisanship and get this done now or they can choose partisanship and leave families hanging out to dry.

Mr. President, I just want to note, this so often has become the MO of our Republicans in the House, Senate, and the Presidency. When we do something good and strong that Americans support in a bipartisan way-- that most Republicans support--they say don't pass it because it will benefit Democrats in the election.

Donald Trump has said it repeatedly on border. We have seen it recently on crypto. We have seen it on so many other issues. That is not the way to help the American people. That is not the way to govern.

Mr. President, on the Supreme Court and the immunity, their awful immunity provision for Presidents, including Trump, all of us in school were taught that there are no Kings in America. There are no Kings in America.

But 1 month ago, the MAGA Supreme Court effectively placed a crown over Donald Trump's head. They ruled that the President of the United States is, in essence, above the law; that the President is immune in sweeping ways from accountability for ``official acts.''

One month ago, I said I would work with my colleagues on legislation to reverse the damage of the Court's bewildering ruling on immunity. Today, I am pleased to announce Senate Democrats are taking the next step.

Today, along with 33 of my Democratic colleagues, I am introducing the No Kings Act. This legislation is as simple as the name it bears. It reaffirms that Presidents do not have immunity from violations of criminal law and removes the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to hear appeals related to Presidential immunity, which the Constitution explicitly empowers Congress to do.

The MAGA Supreme Court's decision on Presidential immunity was the very antithesis of the kind of accountability our Framers envisioned. It just goes to show you what a morass the Supreme Court is in right now. They are in a mess. They are in an ethical morass and in a substantive morass.

Ethically, the MAGA Supreme Court is suffering a huge crisis of confidence with the American people because Justices accept lavish gifts, vacations, and cars from hard-right wealthy people who are then paying different groups and lawyers to lobby for what they want. And then the Justices turn around and ram through scores of hard-right decisions.

The two have been, sometimes, all too close to one another in time. Substantively, the MAGA Supreme Court is taking the rights away from Americans at every opportunity--like a woman's right to choose and others--siding with the big special interests against the average person.

And, again, the MAGA Supreme Court is undermining our Constitution and throwing out centuries of precedent by anointing Donald Trump and future Presidents as Kings above the law. And make no mistake about it, we have a very strong argument that Congress, by statute, can undo what the Supreme Court does, that it does not require a constitutional amendment.

The bottom line is this: No democracy can hope to survive if it cannot ensure accountability. And if the Supreme Court can no longer be trusted to serve as its own check on ethics or on following precedent and helping the American people, Congress must use all its tools to restore trust and accountability to the highest Court in the land.

Mr. President, 2 days ago, the Senate overwhelmingly passed two of the most important updates in decades to Federal laws protecting our kids: the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the COPPA.

I repeat: It passed the Senate overwhelmingly. This was a good bipartisan thing; 91 votes were in its favor.

I then called on the House to take these bills up, to keep the momentum alive, to do right by the parents who worked so hard to get these bills done. But this morning, it has been reported that House Republicans will refuse to take these bills up.

I hope these reports are not accurate. Just 1 week ago, Speaker Johnson said he would like to get KOSA done. I hope that hasn't changed. Letting KOSA and COPPA collect dust in the House would be an awful mistake and a gut punch--a gut punch--to these brave, wonderful parents who have worked so hard to reach this point.

So let me repeat what I said earlier this week: When the House returns in the fall, KOSA and COPPA must be a priority. These parents and kids across America deserve better. I hope House Republicans change course swiftly and take KOSA and COPPA up.

Mr. President, now on AI, or artificial intelligence, it has been 2 months since the Bipartisan AI Working Group I formed with Senator Heinrich, Democrat, and Senators Young and Rounds, Republican, published our roadmap for

AI policy. I am happy to report that the Senate is making important progress on drafting AI legislation already.

Just yesterday, under the magnificent leadership of Chair Cantwell and Chair Peters, both the Commerce and Homeland Security Committees marked up and approved important bipartisan AI bills. These bills will help American workers to be AI ready, while helping innovation lead the way in new technologies.

Yesterday, Senator Klobuchar also brought two bipartisan bills to the floor to protect our elections from deepfakes in political advertising. Sadly, these bills were blocked, but I hope we can find a path forward.

And, last week, the Senate unanimously passed the DEFIANCE Act, a bill to combat the spread of sexually explicit AI-generated deepfakes, an awful thing that is inflicting so many Americans, particularly, young kids and young girls, in particular.

So in the last 2 weeks, there are at least five very good AI bills that have seen some movement in the Senate. All of them have bipartisan support. Together they represent a good mix of the two approaches. I have always said we need with AI two things: to promote safe innovation, on the one hand, but instill commonsense guardrails, on the other.

This is the recipe for strong AI legislation: safe innovation, strong innovation, balanced with sound guardrails. And I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for working together and look forward to more of this in the weeks to come.

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

Mr. President, before I speak on the tax bill, I come to the floor with really good news.

After years of brutal and wrongful detention in Russia at the hands of Putin's regime, Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza are on their way home.

It is great news, and I was proud to work and stand with Leader McConnell in a bipartisan show of unity. We spent many, many hours working hard, sending letters, making calls to get Evan's return. I commend President Biden for getting them all home.

For all other Americans held hostage or unjustly imprisoned around the world, today shines as a beacon of hope that America will never give up on you, and we will continue to do everything we can to bring you home. You are in our thoughts and minds, including those from New York who are still imprisoned unjustly by authoritarian regimes around the world.

Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024

Now, Mr. President, on the tax bill, today, the Senate has a chance to move forward on the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act.

Democrats are ready to advance bipartisan--bipartisan--tax relief today. The question is, will Senate Republicans join us to give Americans a tax break or will they stand in the way? Will Senate Republicans join us to give businesses a tax break; to give families with children a tax break; to give our housing market a tax break; or will they stand in the way?

This is bipartisan legislation if there ever was any. The bipartisan tax bill passed the House 357 to 70. It won majorities from both parties. It was written, along with Senator Wyden who did a great job, by the conservative Republican chair of the Ways and Means Committee-- hardly a liberal. So we know this is not only a good bill, it is a bipartisan bill. If the tax break was able to unite a group as divided as House Republicans, it should certainly not be blocked by Republicans in the Senate. It is good to talk about standing up for families and business but not if you turn around and then vote against them here in the Senate.

Today is a good opportunity for both sides to show we back up good talk with strong action. So, if you care about helping families, vote yes. If you care about taking a half a million kids out of poverty and giving relief to 16 million other families so that they have enough money to give their kids clothes and books and food, vote yes. If you care about promoting business and getting an R&D tax credit, something that has always had bipartisan support, passed so that business can invest in new machinery and equipment and hire new workers, vote yes; and if you care about solving the housing crisis whether it is rural-- where it has become a big problem--or urban or suburban, please vote yes.

I want to give many thanks to my colleagues: Chairman Wyden for his leadership, the whole Finance Committee, and, particularly, Senators Brown and Casey and Bennet as well as Cantwell and Hassan, who worked so long and hard on this bill.

I yield the floor.

Cloture Motion

Madam President, I enter a motion to reconsider.

Madam President, once again, let me just repeat quickly, I am just really saddened by the fact that our Republican colleagues have not voted for a bill that passed so overwhelmingly in the House, put together by a conservative Republican chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and that would do so much to help housing, help kids and families, and help businesses.

It is a shame that they put politics over helping the American people.