Floor Statements

Mr. President, on judge shopping, yesterday, I sent a letter to the Judicial Conference urging them to defend their new, commonsense policy reforms limiting the practice of judge shopping.

I also sent a letter to the chief judge of the Northern District of Texas, where judge shopping is running rampant, urging the district to apply the reforms of the Judicial Conference as quickly as possible.

The bottom line is this: Judge shopping jaundices the fairness of our entire legal system. When hard-right plaintiffs, often funded by hard- right groups that just hire the lawyers, when they can pick and choose which judge hears their case--which is what has happened, for instance, in the Northern District of Texas in Amarillo, where cascades of cases are being filed by rightwing groups across the country--when this happens, when hard-right plaintiffs can pick and choose which judge hears their case, it distorts the system and causes the American people to lose faith in our courts.

Judge shopping is precisely what led to the terrible case in the Northern District of Texas, where anti-choice extremists handpicked a MAGA judge--the only one sitting--to revoke FDA approval of mifepristone nationwide. This one judge, extreme right--known as extreme right before he became a judge and after--gets to choose for the whole country because of forum shopping.

It is awful. I applaud the Judicial Conference for taking the initiative to limit judge shopping. I urge the courts across the country to apply these new reforms.

And when my Republican colleagues say they support this, it shows they are not for fairness of a judicial system; they are for outcome determination ahead of time before even cases are argued.

Madam President, I move that the Senate concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment.

Cloture Motion

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

Madam President, I move to concur in the House amendment with an amendment No. 1790, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that further reading be dispensed with.

I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion to concur with the amendment.

Madam President, I have an amendment to amendment No. 1790, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that further reading be dispensed with.

Madam President, I move to refer the House message to the Committee on Appropriations with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment numbered 1792.

I ask that further reading be waived.

I ask for the yeas and nays on my motion.

Madam President, I have an amendment to the instructions, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that further reading be waived.

I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.

Madam President, I have an amendment to amendment No. 1793, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be waived.

I yield the floor.

I ask unanimous consent that, at 6:15 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Schydlower nomination and vote on the confirmation of the nomination without further intervening action or debate and with all the previous provisions remaining in effect.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the only motions and amendments in order to the House message to accompany H.R. 2882 be the following: Paul motion to refer, which is at the desk; motion to concur with Cruz No. 1804; motion to concur with Tuberville No. 1781; motion to concur with Lee No. 1722; motion to concur with Schmitt No. 1795; motion to concur with Johnson No. 1706; motion to concur with Lankford No. 1713; motion to concur with Lankford No. 1718; Blackburn motion to refer, which is at the desk; further, that the Senate vote in relation to the above motions and amendments in the order listed; that upon the disposition of the Blackburn motion to refer, Senator Budd be recognized to make a motion to table the motion to refer with amendment No. 1794, and if that motion is not agreed to, Senator Hagerty be recognized to make a motion to table amendment No. 1793, and that if that motion is not agreed to, Senator Budd be recognized to make a motion to table the motion to refer with amendment No. 1792; further, that if the tabling motions are not agreed to, the cloture motion with respect to the House message be withdrawn, the pending amendments and motions be withdrawn, and the Senate vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 2882, with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption of the motion to concur, without further intervening action or debate, and with 2 minutes for debate, equally divided, prior to each vote; further, that S. 4072, introduced earlier today, be placed on the calendar and, notwithstanding rule XXII, at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader but no later than Friday, April 19, 2024, the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. 4072, Crapo tailpipe emissions; that there be up to 2 hours for debate, equally divided, and upon the use or yielding back of time, the bill be considered read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill with 60 affirmative votes required for passage, without intervening action or debate, and if passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I am going to be brief because we want to move quickly on to votes.

It has been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government. It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn't easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it.

I want to thank the great leadership of Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins for making this agreement possible.

Again, it is good for the American people that we have reached a bipartisan agreement to complete the job of funding the government tonight.

I am going to put us into a short quorum call as we wait for the first person of the first amendment to arrive. He is on his way. I will ask everyone to stay in their seats so we can get this done very quickly. Some people have very important places to go, and we want to get her there.

Unanimous Consent Agreement

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that all of the votes after the first vote be 10 minutes.

Again, I would ask Members respectfully but with strength to sit in their chairs, please, so we can get this done.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to modify the previous order so that the Lee motion to concur be first in the order.

Mr. President, I object. Let me just say to my colleagues, accuracy is very important. We must make sure the vote count is accurate. But if we all sit in our seats and do 10-minute votes, we can get this done as quickly as possible.

Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, we are going to try to skip the recap. That will save a lot of time. But that means everyone has to be in his or her seat. Don't go to the front and answer. Just be in your seat and answer yes or no when called.

Mr. President, could everyone please stay in their seats until we complete this vote? That way, we can get it done most quickly. Thank you. This is the final passage.

Mr. President, it has been a long day, a long week, and a very long few months, but, tonight, we have funded the government with significant investments for parents and kids, small businesses and healthcare workers, military families and so much more. It is no small feat to get a package like this done in divided government. These past few months have shown yet again that when bipartisanship has room to work, we can get the job done.

A deep and sincere thank you to all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their good work. I thank Chair Murray, Vice Chair Collins, and all on Appropriations and their staffs. Thank you to my incredible staff too.

This was not easy, but our efforts have paid off with a strong funding bill that now goes to the President.

Remembering Patricia Collins

Finally, Mr. President, many of us have signed a condolence book to Senator Collins on the loss of her mother. It was even more difficult for her to get this bill done given the circumstances, but she showed her usual strength, courage, and tenacity.

So I would like to just ask for a couple of seconds of silence for Susan's mother, and I will present this book to her.

(Moment of silence.)

Vote on Motion to Concur

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 534.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 542.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 535.

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

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, March 23, be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 553 through 568 and all the nominations on the Secretary's desk in the Army, Marine Corps, and Navy; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.

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 immediate consideration of Calendar No. 334, S. 1258.

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.