Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, before I begin the substance of my remarks, today the people of Buffalo, NY, observe a somber remembrance: 6 months ago to the day that 10 New Yorkers were killed in a terrible shooting at the Tops Supermarket on Jefferson Avenue. A few moments ago, the city of Buffalo held a moment of silence to honor those killed and those wounded, and we joined with them in prayer and remembrance.

And today, because gun violence is still all too much with us, we hold in our hearts everyone at the University of Virginia where, last night, three students were tragically killed in a shooting on campus. Our condolences go out to the families of those lost, as well as to everyone in Charlottesville who is grieving today.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 449,

Madam President, let me say a few words about the cloture motion we will file.

In a few moments, I am going to set up the first procedural vote on legislation that will codify marriage equality into law. Members should expect the first vote on Wednesday.

The Respect for Marriage Act, which my colleagues Senators Baldwin, Sinema, Collins, and others have done a great job working on, is an extremely important and much needed bill. No American should ever, ever be discriminated against because of whom they love, and passing this bill would secure these much needed safeguards into Federal law.

I want to make clear that passing this bill is not a theoretical exercise, but it is as real as it gets. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Justice Thomas argued that other rights, like the right to marriage equality enshrined in Obergefell, could come next.

Now, the Senate had a chance to bring marriage protection to the floor for a vote back in September, but at the urging of colleagues from both sides of the aisle, I agreed to wait because we were given an assurance that enough votes would materialize after the election. Because my top priority is to get things done in a bipartisan way whenever we can, we determined that this legislation was too important to risk failure, so we waited to give bipartisanship a chance.

I hope, for the sake of tens of millions of Americans, that at least 10 Republicans will vote with us to protect marriage equality into law soon. The rights and dignity of millions of Americans depend on it.

Cloture Motion

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

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, November 14, be waived.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, in three criminal cases pending in Federal district court in the District of Columbia and arising out of the events of January 6, 2021, the prosecution has requested testimony from Senate witnesses.

In the ongoing trial of Stewart Rhodes, the alleged founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, and four codefendants, the prosecution has requested testimony from Virginia Brown, formerly a Senate Chamber assistant, operating under the authority of the then-Secretary for the Minority of the Senate and the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate. In that role, Ms. Brown was a witness to the charged events. Then-Secretary for the Minority Myrick and Senate Sergeant at Arms Gibson would like to cooperate with this request by providing relevant testimony in this trial from Ms. Brown.

In two other cases arising out of the events of January of 6, 2021, against Jeremy Groseclose and Melody Steele-Smith, in which trials are scheduled to begin on November 14, 2022, the prosecution has requested testimony from Daniel Schwager, formerly counsel to the Secretary of the Senate, concerning his knowledge and observations of the process and constitutional and legal basis for Congress' counting of the electoral college votes. The prosecution has also sought testimony, if necessary, from Nate Russell and Diego Torres, custodians of records in the Senate Recording Studio, which operates under the authority of the Senate Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper, to authenticate Senate Recording Studio video of that day. Senate Secretary Berry and Senate Sergeant at Arms Gibson would like to cooperate with these requests by providing relevant testimony in these trials from Messrs. Schwager, Russell, and Torres, respectively.

In keeping with the rules and practices of the Senate, these resolutions would authorize the production of relevant testimony from Ms. Brown in the Rhodes case, and from Messrs. Schwager, Russell, and Torres in the Groseclose and Steele-Smith cases, with representation by the Senate legal counsel.

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

Madam President, this morning, the thoughts of everyone in the Senate are with the people of Florida, who are in the midst of one of the worst storms ever to hit the State, as Hurricane Ian made landfall yesterday.

Ian made landfall as a category 4 hurricane, with wind speeds reaching 150 miles an hour and storm surges reaching reported heights of 18 feet. About 2 million people are now without power, and communities that dot the coastline are seeing 3 to 4 feet of flooding.

Thankfully, Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm this morning, but the damage has already been severe, and the road to recovery will be long.

I will continue to monitor the situation in Florida over the coming days, and the Senate stands ready to help Floridians with whatever they need to stay safe and rebuild their communities.

I want to thank all the first responders, National Guardsmen, and local officials, volunteers, and every single person who placed themselves in harm's way to keep their communities safe.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to the motion to reconsider the vote on the confirmation by which Executive Calendar No. 1043, the nomination of Arianna J. Freeman, of Pennsylvania, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, was not confirmed.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which Executive Calendar No. 1043 was not confirmed.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that for any nominations confirmed during today's session of the Senate, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session; that it be in order for Senator Braun to offer amendment No. 5765; that at 1:45 p.m., all motions and amendments other than the substitute be withdrawn; that no further amendments be in order to the bill; that substitute amendment No. 5745 be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time; and that the Senate vote on the passage of the bill, as amended, with 60 affirmative votes required for passage, without further intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, for the information of the Senate, there will be two rollcall votes at 1:45 p.m. The first vote will be on the passage of the continuing resolution to fund the government through December 16. The second vote will be on the confirmation of the Gomez nomination upon reconsideration.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, in a few moments we will vote on the continuing resolution to fund the government through mid-December.

This legislation avoids a very bad thing, shutting down the government, and does a lot of good things: money for the people of Ukraine, funding for communities reeling from natural disasters, aid to families with their heating bills--just to name a few. I am very thankful to all the Senators, particularly Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Shelby, who made this possible.

This is commonsense, bipartisan legislation, following many other bipartisan bills that we have done in this session, and I am glad that we came to a timely conclusion and didn't go right up to the brink and risk a shutdown. Millions and millions of people can breathe easy knowing that we have done this in a timely way and the money to continue the government will be there.

Of particular importance is the money to Ukraine. These people have struggled so valiantly. Make no mistake about it. American weaponry and help have helped them turn the tide of the war. We cannot stop now, and we are not going to.

The heat program is so important. Winter is coming upon us. The program is running out of money. While we probably will get more money in the omnibus in December, between now and Christmas, there are going to be a lot of cold days, and people are going to need that heat money.

The money for natural disasters--in my judgment, as a result of climate change, we have many more disasters, so we need more help, and this will go to many States and many parts of the country.

So I want to thank, again, Senator Leahy. I want to thank Senator Shelby. I want to thank the members of the Appropriations Committee. I want to thank all the staff--mine and others--who worked so long and hard to get this done.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, the CR is a great bipartisan bill that is going to help a whole lot of people, and we are keeping the government open with ample time.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 45, which was submitted earlier today and is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I move to proceed to the motion to reconsider the vote on confirmation by which Executive Calendar No. 670, the nomination of Lisa M. Gomez, of New Jersey, to be an Assistant Secretary of Labor, was not confirmed.

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote by which Executive Calendar No. 670 was not confirmed.