Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

I understand there are two bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Madam President, I now ask for a second reading and I object to my own request, all en bloc.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 187, submitted earlier today.

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

Madam President, finally, I ask unanimous consent when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m., Tuesday, May 2; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, 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 Farbiarz nomination; further, that the cloture motions filed during Wednesday's session ripen at 11:30 a.m. and that notwithstanding rule XXII, following the cloture vote on the Farbiarz nomination, the Senate vote on cloture on the Kirsch nomination; that following the cloture vote on the Kirsch nomination, the Senate recess subject to the call of the Chair to allow for the weekly caucus meetings and taking of the official photograph of the 118th Congress; further, that when the Senate reconvenes, all postcloture time on the Farbiarz nomination be considered expired and the Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination; that at 5 p.m., if cloture has been invoked on the Kirsch nomination, the Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination, followed by a vote on cloture on the Merchant nomination; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

For the information of the Senate, there will be two rollcall votes at 11:30 a.m., one rollcall vote following the photograph, and two rollcall votes at 5 p.m.

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

First, Mr. President, I would like to speak about the upcoming vote on the Equal Rights Amendment.

As we all know, the story of American democracy has been a hard but inexorable march toward greater equality--equality regardless of race, equality regardless of social status, equality regardless of marital status, and equality regardless of sex. That march began at the founding of our country, when Abigail Adams reminded her husband to ``remember the ladies'' when drafting the Constitution, which fell, unfortunately, on deaf ears.

It was a march that drew great numbers during the convention at Seneca Falls, NY, in 1848, and found expression in the abolitionist movement. That march took a bold step 100 years ago, when Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman drafted the original iteration of the Equal Rights Amendment and came before Congress for the first time.

Let that great march toward equality take the next bold step today when the Senate votes to take up this bipartisan resolution on the ERA.

This resolution is as necessary as it is timely. America can never hope to be a land of freedom and opportunity so long as half its population is treated like second-class citizens.

So 100 years after the ERA first came to Congress, the work is not done. The fight has yet to be won. The march continues. And we have a chance to take this next step forward.

The resolution is simple. It removes the arbitrary deadline for State ratification of the ERA that was imposed in the 1970s.

Today, 38 States have ratified the ERA, as required by the Constitution.

But because two States acted only recently, after the deadline set by Congress, the ERA remains unratified.

Today's resolution says this deadline shall be in effect no more and, by doing so, recognizes that a sufficient number of States have now acted for the ERA to become the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

There is no good reason--none--for this Chamber, this Congress, and this Nation to bind itself to limitations set 50 years ago. The Constitution itself imposes no such barrier. By keeping this barrier in place--this 7-year barrier--all we are doing is needlessly obeying skewed rules set by politicians who are long gone and whose views ought not to rule the day any longer.

In 2023, we should move forward to ratify the ERA with all due haste because, if you look at the terrible things happening to women's rights in this country, it is clear we must act. To the horror of hundreds of millions of American people, women in America have far fewer rights today than they did even a year ago. The protections of Roe v. Wade are gone, thanks to the MAGA majority on the Supreme Court. Over a dozen States have near-total abortion bans and millions of people have to travel hundreds of miles just to access reproductive care. That is sickening.

That is why the Senate, today, should vote in favor of advancing this ERA resolution so we can bring our Nation one step closer to greater justice, greater equality, and a more perfect union.

Again, let that great march toward equality take the next bold step today.

I thank Senators Cardin and Murkowski, as our lead sponsors--it is a bipartisan bill--and all Members who have championed this resolution. I will proudly vote yes on this measure.

Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023

Mr. President, now on default, yesterday, House Republicans passed, through the narrowest possible margin, a bill that amounts to a little more than a hard-right ransom note to the American people.

Republicans' ``Default on America Act,'' DOA, cannot possibly be called a real ``plan'' for resolving the default crisis. The DOA reads more like a threat coming directly from the House Freedom Caucus: Either Republicans will force a default on the debt, or they will force steep cuts, highly unpopular with the American people, for law enforcement, veterans, families, teachers, and kids.

Let's be perfectly clear. The Republicans' ``Default on America Act'' does nothing to actually resolve the looming debt crisis, and it has no hope of ever becoming law. If anything, the House's actions have made the likelihood of default more likely. It locks the House into an unacceptable position and pulls us even further apart.

This shows the real solution is a clean, bipartisan plan to avoid default. It is the same one both parties have adopted many times before. That is the solution, not this ``Default on America Act'' that is going nowhere.

If Republicans want to sell this terrible agenda to the American people, they should make their case in talks about the budget and appropriations, where it belongs, not by using the full faith and credit of the United States as a hostage.

Let me say that again. The Republicans' ``Default on America Act'' does nothing to resolve the default crisis and, in fact, makes it only more likely. The ``Default on America Act,'' which the House just passed, is not a step forward but rather a costly step backward.

Speaker McCarthy has claimed for months he wants to negotiate on avoiding default, but, according to reports, he is saying the opposite behind closed doors.

Per at least one GOP House Member, Speaker McCarthy called this radical bill ``a floor, not a ceiling.'' That is what he told the hard- right Members whose votes he needed. The Speaker has reportedly promised his right flank that, moving forward, he will oppose any measure that doesn't have every single hard-right priority considered in this bill.

In other words, to say this bill is ``a floor, not a ceiling'' is a threat to make the GOP bill even more extreme and avoid any alternative.

If these reports are true--and Speaker McCarthy has made clear he has no intention of negotiating--the Speaker can't say his bill is ``a floor, not a ceiling'' and also claim he wants to negotiate. This is rather a hostage-taking tactic, and this ``Default on America Act'' is the ransom note forced on us by a hard-right, unrepresentative small group in the House of Representatives who have leverage because of the rules there.

The GOP should realize that the American people will object to steep cuts to education, law enforcement, veterans' care, and border security that the DOA bill proposes.

So for all the effort the GOP spent trying to pass their bill, unfortunately, we are not any further along to resolving the debt ceiling crisis, and, if anything, we have taken a costly step backward.

It all brings us back to the place where we have been since the very beginning. The only real solution to avoiding a catastrophic default is the same solution that both parties have adopted in the past: Come together for a clean plan to avoid default, with no ransom notes, no ``floors,'' and no brinksmanship.

Democrats will not allow this ``Default on America Act'' to become law.

SAFE Banking Act

Mr. President, finally on safe banking, yesterday, Senators from both sides of the aisle--I met with them repeatedly--reintroduced the SAFE Banking Act.

SAFE Banking would ensure cannabis businesses that operate in States with legal cannabis have equal access to critical banking infrastructure. Clearly, this bill has provisions particularly aimed at helping minority business owners who are at a critical disadvantage in the cannabis industry.

Right now, the norm for the cannabis businesses is to operate on all cash, and that is simply not fair. It exposes them to too many risks and stifles their opportunities to grow.

Congress should be in the business of promoting entrepreneurs, promoting job growth, not holding these things back.

I have worked very hard to make progress in SAFE Banking Plus, and the work will continue, but I have also made it clear that one of my top priorities to ensure SAFE Banking passes is that it contain critical criminal justice provisions--most importantly, expunging criminal records for certain low-level marijuana offenses.

We have a moral responsibility in Congress to undo the terrible damage caused by the War on Drugs. It almost always has affected people of color. So I am going to work very hard with my colleagues to make sure criminal justice provisions are a part of SAFE Banking when it reaches the floor.

I thank all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. We have met numerous times, and I think everyone is working in good faith, including Senators Merkley, Daines, Brown, Sullivan, and Paul--a bipartisan group if there ever was one.

I look forward to working with my colleagues--Democrat and Republican--to make progress on SAFE Banking Plus this Congress, and I hope this portends more bipartisan cooperation on future cannabis legislation.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider.

Mr. President, let me explain. I switched my vote to no, not because I am not strongly for ERA--I wanted to bring it to the floor--but it will allow us to go back and cast a vote again in the future. This issue is too important, so we are not giving up. So I am moving to reconsider so I can bring it back up at a later time.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, for months, the President has been clear that he will not allow the full faith and credit of the United States to be taken hostage. He has rejected brinksmanship, hostage-taking, and asked for what is the only way to solve this problem given where we are at right now, which is clean, clean, avoiding default--clean to avoid default.

To avoid default, Democrats have asked Speaker McCarthy and Republicans to present a credible plan, but last week Republicans instead released an extremist, hard-right agenda, written in a backroom, in secret, to win support from the Freedom Caucus. The GOP's ``Default on America Act,'' as we call it, does not bring us any closer to avoiding a first-ever default. In fact, it only brings us dangerously closer to defaulting.

The ``Default on America Act'' would mean fewer jobs, higher costs for the American people, and would leave policemen, first responders, Border Patrol, and our brave veterans all hanging out to dry.

For those who worry about gun violence and crime and keeping our communities safe, the ``Default on America Act'' will wipe out nearly 30,000 law enforcement while also gutting critical resources to secure the border. Donald Trump told House Republicans to defund law enforcement, and so the ``Default on America Act,'' on cue, does just that.

That is what the ``Default on America Act'' does. And not just that; it would eliminate over 142,000 new jobs, including 18,000 manufacturing jobs that have been created since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed.

If you are a parent struggling to pay for childcare, the ``Default on America Act'' will eliminate more than 105,000 childcare slots across the country, making it harder for parents to find work, finish their education, or even provide for their families.

If you know someone who struggled with addiction, this bill would also worsen the opioid epidemic by cutting critical HHS programs by over $10 billion in the next decade. That is the definition of cruelty.

If you want to go to college, the Republican package will slash Pell grants for all students by $1,000 and even eliminate Pell grants entirely for tens of thousands of Americans.

And for those who worry about gun violence and keeping our communities

safe, the ``Default on America Act'' will wipe out nearly 30,000 law enforcement positions while gutting critical resources to secure the border. Again, Donald Trump told House Republicans to defund law enforcement, and the ``Default on America Act,'' on cue, does just that.

Put plainly, the House Republicans are hell-bent on default one way or another--either a default on the debt or a default on everything else: on our future, our children, our promise to care for our kids and veterans and law enforcement and first responders. No matter what happens, Republicans are promising real pain for American families.

And what happened just a few hours ago in the wee hours of the morning? Plainly, Speaker McCarthy capitulated even further to the hard right. Again, if anything, this revised bill is even more extreme, more radical--a more radical version of the ``Default on America Act.'' It brings us no closer to avoiding a default on the national debt.

Let me be clear. Democrats cannot and will not allow the Republicans's ``DOA Act'' to ever become law. It is DOA, plain and simple. And if Republicans refuse to level with the public about the terrible things their ``Default on America Act'' will do to them, Democrats will do the work ourselves. We will let America know how bad this is because Republicans are intent on hiding it. They know how unpopular it would be.

In the meantime, Speaker McCarthy needs to recognize that all the energy he is putting into passing the ``Default on America Act'' will be wasted effort. The Speaker should drop the brinksmanship, drop the hostage-taking, come to the table with Democrats, and pass a clean bill to avoid default. Given where the Republican proposal is, that is the only way to go. Time is running out.

Mr. President, on the ERA, tomorrow, the Senate will have a chance to take the next major step on an effort a century in the making: ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment under the Constitution.

The story of American democracy has been an uneven but inexorable march toward greater equality for all people. America's foundation contains a simple premise: No matter who you are, where you come from, you too deserve equal treatment under the law.

The Senate will have a chance tomorrow to bring our country one step closer toward greater equity by voting on a bipartisan resolution regarding the Equal Rights Amendment. The measure is simple. It will recognize that 38 States have now legitimately ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, meeting the threshold required under the Constitution. It would remove an arbitrary deadline set decades ago that invalidated the ratification that occurred in a few States. The States did the work, just not in the required time that was imposed on them a very long time ago. I believe the Senate should now remove that obstacle.

And we must act now because the Equal Rights Amendment has never been more necessary than today. To the horror of hundreds of millions of people, women in America have fewer rights today than they did even a year ago. The protections of Roe v. Wade are gone thanks to the MAGA majority on the Supreme Court. Over a dozen States have near-total abortion bans, and tens of millions of people have to travel hundreds of miles just to access reproductive care. That is sickening.

We cannot claim that America is a nation of equal justice when half of its citizenry languishes on with fewer rights, less dignity, and limited recourse under the Constitution. That is why the Senate must vote in favor of advancing this ERA resolution tomorrow, so we can bring our Nation one step closer to greater justice, greater equality, and equal rights for all people, regardless of gender.

Thank you to Senators Cardin and Murkowski for championing this resolution. I look forward to voting in its favor tomorrow.

Mr. President, finally, the Senate will take the first procedural vote on legislation to care for our Nation's veterans, spearheaded by my good friend Senator Tester, head of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

The Elizabeth Dole Veterans Program Improvement Act of 2023 is the union of a number of important and impactful bills that will strengthen the VA, improve its caregiver program, expand home- and community-based services for vets, and ultimately bestow greater dignity on those who defended our Nation.

The bipartisan veterans bill is precisely the sort of legislation the Senate should be working on to build on our success on the PACT Act last year. This is bipartisan, far-reaching, and will make an enormous difference in the lives of our veterans across the country.

I want to thank Senator Tester, Senator Moran, and Members from both sides of the aisle for working on this important veterans package.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, first, to just inform folks, in our arcane processes in the Senate, I have to switch my vote from yes to no--even though I am a strong yes--in order to be able to reconsider this vote.

So I enter a motion to reconsider.

Mr. President, it is regrettable that this bill, which so much helps our veterans, went down. Our veterans need it. It was supported by all of our veterans groups. It had bipartisan, unanimous support in committee, and I hope that some of our Members on the other side of the aisle who didn't vote for it will reconsider.

Order of Procedure

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session; that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be discharged from further consideration of S.J. Res. 11; that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that at 4:20 p.m., the joint resolution be considered read the third time and the Senate vote on passage without any further intervening action or debate; and that, upon disposition of S.J. Res. 11, the Senate resume the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 4, the Equal Rights Amendment.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 121.

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. 122.