Floor Statements

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks by the Senator from Delaware.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, today, the Senate has a chance to live up to its highest ideals by taking up legislation that will protect the rights of all Americans, regardless of who they choose to marry.

In many ways, the story of America has been a difficult but inexorable march towards greater equality for all people. Throughout our history, sometimes we have taken very important steps forward; other times, unfortunately, we have taken steps backward. But today, the Senate is taking a truly bold step forward in the march towards greater justice, greater equality, by advancing the Respect for Marriage Act.

It is a simple, narrowly tailored, but exceedingly important piece of legislation that will do so much good for so many Americans. It will make our country a better, fairer place to live.

Passing this bill is as personal as it gets for many of us in this Chamber, myself included. My daughter and her wife, my daughter-in-law, are expecting a baby next spring. I want to do everything possible to make sure their rights are protected under Federal law. I want them and everyone in a loving relationship to live without the fear that their rights could one day be stripped away. There are many of us who are deeply invested in seeing this bill succeed.

Originally, it was our intention to take action on the Respect for Marriage Act back in September, fresh off the House's strong bipartisan vote for the summer. Remember, 47 House Republicans joined Democrats to pass this bill. But at the urging of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, I agreed to hold off on scheduling a vote in order to make sure we had enough support to move forward. My job at the end of the day will always be to prioritize getting things passed through this Chamber, and marriage equality is too important an issue to risk failure. So I made the choice to trust the Members who have worked so hard on this legislation and wait a little bit longer in order to give the bipartisan process a chance to play out. It is much better to pass this legislation and move equality forward than simply have a showboat, which would bring political reckoning, but no real change for the American people.

I want to thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle who have led the charge in getting this bill ready for the floor and, hopefully, soon onto the President's desk--including our two leaders on our side, Senators Baldwin and Sinema, who have done a fabulous job and have worked this bill so hard and so well and so consistently. I want to thank Senators Portman and Tillis, and Collins on the other side who are part of this bipartisan team. They managed this process stupendously and I am optimistic their efforts will prove successful later today.

To the rest of my colleagues and to all Americans who are watching what the Senate does, this is a great chance to do something very important for tens of millions of Americans. No one--no one--in a same- sex marriage should have to worry about whether or not their marriage will be invalidated in the future. They deserve peace of mind knowing their rights will always be protected under the law. With this bill, we can take a significant and much-needed step in that direction.

The majority of Americans support us in this endeavor. They are joined, not only by hundreds of major American companies who support this bill, but also religious organizations who affirm that the Respect for Marriage Act is a sound and a commonsense piece of legislation.

So if both parties can come together, today could be truly one of the highlights of the year for this body. This has been an incredibly productive year in Congress, full of many significant achievements, but I think that passing the Respect for Marriage Act would be one of the more significant accomplishments of the Senate to date.

Like so many other bills this year, it will be an unequivocal bipartisan win. So I urge my colleagues: Think about those who you know and love who are in a same-sex marriage, maybe it is your friends, maybe it is your family, maybe it is someone on your staff. I hope with them in your heart, you will support this bill.

There is every reason under the Sun to move forward and begin debating this important legislation for the sake of ensuring equal justice under law, for the sake of millions of married couples who want to live their lives without discrimination, and for the sake of every person out there, young and old alike who wonder if they, too, deserve to be treated with fairness and dignity and basic decency.

I strongly urge my colleagues to vote yes on moving forward with the Respect for Marriage Act later today.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, before the Senate finishes this evening, there is one more important piece of legislation we are passing today, which I want to tout: the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act.

I have to give great credit to Senator Feinstein, Senator Grassley, and Senator Schatz. They have championed this legislation and worked hard to see that it has gotten support of all the Senators. It would eliminate the redtape that hinders cannabis research, opening the door for new, innovative treatments derived from cannabis.

Now, if you are one of the millions of Americans who deal with conditions like Parkinson's or epilepsy or post-traumatic stress, or any number of other conditions, cannabis might hold promising new options for managing these diseases, but we need to do research first. And the Federal government, sadly, has been woefully behind the times on this front.

This bill will help fix that and, equally important, I hope that after passing this bill, the Senate can make progress on other cannabis legislation too. I am still holding productive talks with Democratic and Republican colleagues in the House and the Senate on moving additional bipartisan cannabis legislation in the lameduck, and we are going to try very, very hard to get it done. It is not easy, but we are making good progress. So I thank my colleagues for the excellent work on this bill and hope it portends more good cannabis legislation to come.

Mr. President, on a second matter, on rollcall No. 355, I voted yea. It was my intention to vote nay. Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to change my vote since it will not affect the outcome.

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

Mr. President, I have six requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 8454, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

I ask that the bill be considered read a third time.

I know of no further debate on the bill.

I ask unanimous consent that 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. 820.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 827 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I know of no further debate on the resolution.

I ask unanimous consent that preamble be agreed to, and the motions 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 immediate consideration of S. Res. 836, submitted earlier today.

Mr. 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Thursday, November 17; 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 upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 449, H.R. 8404, postcloture; further, that all time during adjournment, recess, morning business, and leader remarks count postcloture.

Mr. 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.

Mr. President, first, on Respect for Marriage, the 117th Congress will go down, I believe, as one of the most successful Congresses we have seen in decades. We are all so proud of that fact. Over the last 2 years, this Chamber has passed historic and bipartisan bills that have covered everything from infrastructure to gun safety, to CHIPS and Science, to veterans' aid, and more. Again, a common theme for many of these bills was bipartisanship. Very soon, the Senate can add to our accomplishments when we vote to proceed on the Respect for Marriage Act.

For the information of all Senators, we will hold our first procedural vote on this bill tomorrow, and after that, I hope both sides can work quickly together to move this bill through the Senate and on to the President's desk.

I firmly believe that passing bipartisan marriage protections would be one of the more significant accomplishments in what has already been a significantly productive Congress. It will do so much good for so many people who want nothing more than to live their lives without the fear of discrimination.

And make no mistake that passing the Respect for Marriage Act is as personal as it gets for many of us in this Chamber--myself included--so we want to get this done as soon as we can.

A mere decade ago, marriage discrimination was legal in many places across the country. And just a few months ago, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Justice Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion that Obergefell, which recognized the constitutional right to same-sex marriage, could similarly be overturned. I hope that never happens, but the Senate can eliminate the risk of LGBTQ Americans having their rights curtailed if we act now to codify marriage protections into law.

The Respect for Marriage Act is precisely the kind of bill that Democrats and Republicans can rally around together and which Americans across the country want to see us work on. It already passed the House earlier this year with significant--47--Republican votes, and I am optimistic we can achieve a similar result in this Chamber. Senators Baldwin, Sinema, and a number of my Republican colleagues, including Senators Collins and Portman and Tillis, have done excellent work building support for this bill, and I want to recognize all their efforts here on this floor.

I hope that, at minimum, 10 Republicans will be ready to throw their support behind this sound, commonsense bill. Millions of people will be better off if we are able to work together on this important and highly personal issue, and so I urge all of us to vote yes when the time comes to move forward tomorrow.

Now, Mr. President, on the midterm elections and MAGA Republicanism, over the past week, there has been a lot of discussion here in Washington and across the media about how the results of these midterms defied history and defied conventional wisdom.

I remember back in April and May: No way Democrats are going to keep the majority. They are going to lose a whole bunch of seats. People are asking what happened. Well, I think the answer, however, is rather simple. This year, Democrats ran strong candidates. We compiled an extremely strong legislative record, which the candidates could run on. And Republicans, on the other hand, ran with flawed candidates who spent more time talking about MAGA extremism than the things that truly mattered to the American people.

After the failures--Republican failures--in elections in 2018 and 2020 and now in 2022, I hope the message is sinking in. If Republicans continue to embrace MAGA radicalism, they are going to keep losing. So for their own sake, but more importantly for the sake of the country, I hope that very soon the GOP rejects the MAGA wing and makes a commitment to work with Democrats in the next Congress.

The worst thing Republicans can do right now is to double down on the MAGA platform and embrace gridlock. But, sadly, it seems that is the path that some on the other side still want to take.

In fact, Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who notoriously led the unsuccessful Republican Senate campaign efforts, recently suggested that one of the reasons Republicans lost on election day was because they actually worked too much with Democrats to pass bipartisan legislation; that they weren't MAGA enough. That defies all logic.

If Republicans want to follow Rick Scott's lead, make our day. Following Senator Scott is like following a blind man right over the cliff.

Remember, it was Senator Scott who released a platform calling for tax hikes on working and middle Americans, which our candidates reminded people of in the election over and over again. It was Senator Scott who threatened to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block, which, again, was one of the most powerful arguments for why Republicans were wrong for the country. And it was Senator Scott who embraced Trump and believed that the MAGA wing was the road to success; that denying the elections and spreading the Big Lie, encouraging the MAGA extreme wing was the right thing to do. The American people knew better.

American voters ran in the opposite direction and voted for Democrats, including many Republicans, who said: I may be a Reagan Republican, I may be a Bush Republican, but this Republican Party ain't one for me.

After three failed elections--three in a row--it should be obvious that embracing MAGA is a total loser for the Republican Party. If anyone thinks otherwise, just look at what happened last night in purple Arizona. Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for Governor, was declared the winner in her race against Kari Lake. Everyone thought Kari Lake would win because of her communication skills, but even she lost--proof positive that MAGA just doesn't work.

I earnestly hope that in the next couple of months, Republicans will realize it is better for the country--and even better for their party-- to focus instead on working with Democrats over the next 2 years to get things done for the American people.

Now, I know this is not going to happen overnight or in the next week or two. Our immediate focus, of course, is the lameduck, where there is a lot of work to be done. But when the dust settles come January and Republicans have, hopefully, resolved some of their own internal fights, we hope that at least some of them will realize that the scorched-earth MAGA policy is a failure not only for America but for them.

The usual pundits and skeptics and critics are saying: Oh, this won't happen. But look at the major bills we did this summer, five of them major bills, bipartisan, and before that, the BIF bill, the Postal bill, all done bipartisan--significant legislation. We Democrats are going to work hard to replicate that effort.

Americans are tired of the chaos. They are tired of the MAGA insanity. They are tired of the MAGA attack on the very roots of our democracy. They want leaders who will take their problems seriously. Most Americans know that Donald Trump is out for himself and only himself, even if it hurts democracy, even if it hurts the Republican Party. Republicans should learn that lesson or risk even more failure in the future.

Now, let me finish, Mr. President, on a truly bittersweet note.

Over the many years I have had the honor of serving in public service, I have learned that there are a handful of genuinely irrefutable truths, and one of them that certainly applied for me

my whole career is that no Senator can hope to succeed without the help of an amazing team of staffers who get you through the day, sometimes merely get you through the hour. Another truth I have learned is that there is never an easy way to say goodbye.

Today, both of those truths come together as I say goodbye to one of my most trusted staffers, my amazing communications director, Justin Goodman.

It is hard to remember the days before Justin was a part of my team. Like so many on my staff, he first joined the office as an intern back in the summer of 2009, where he quickly demonstrated his talent, his dedication, and his knack for communications, which was obviously totally an alien concept for me, shy as I might be.

A couple of years later, Justin returned to work at the DPCC as a full-time member of my staff, and I am sure even he had no idea what kind of roller coaster he was in for in the years to come.

Indeed, when he first joined my team as a full-time staffer, Congress was in the midst of a brutal government shutdown, and he had to wait 3 whole weeks before being able to come to the office or get paid. What a way to start. Well, that was his introduction to the Schumer operation. And every day since then has been an absolute joy--for me at least, maybe not always for him.

Over the years that Justin worked on my team, from his years leading the DPCC to working as my national press secretary, to serving as my communications director, he has become one of the people I lean on most to get through the day. To call him indispensable would be an understatement. One of the things I am going to miss is dialing 55 on my cell phone about 50 times a day.

To describe Justin as one of the most decent people I know doesn't even begin to touch it. So let the record show that Justin began his time on my team in the midst of a shutdown and now departs as we finish one of the most successful sessions in recent memory. It is a pretty great record, if you ask me.

So, Justin--I don't want to look at you because I will get a little weepy. So, Justin, thank you so much for your work over the many years. My best to you. My very best to your loved ones and your new little ones. And I don't think I need to tell you that you will always, always, always be part of the family here in ``Schumerland.''

I yield the floor.