Floor Statements

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 772.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, May 18, be waived.

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Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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 that at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 461, Marsha Stephens Bloom Bernicat, to be Director General of the Foreign Service; that there be 10 minutes of debate, equally divided in the usual form, on the nomination; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate vote without intervening action or debate on the nomination, and the Senate resume legislative session.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 885, 541, 771, 926; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate resume legislative session.

Now, Madam President, we have just confirmed Bridget A. Brink, of Michigan, to become the Ambassador to Ukraine. This was very important. I am so glad we could finally do this by unanimous consent.

As we all know, the relationships between the United States and Ukraine are so vital, and to have no Ambassador really hinders our relationship in ways that nobody would want to see.

To have an Ambassador there at this crucial link, as the United States continues to help the Ukrainian people resist brutal and vicious attacks by Russia, is a wonderful thing, a good thing, and will help advance the cause of peace, security, and freedom.

So I am very glad that we did this, and I congratulate Bridget A. Brink. I have every confidence that she will be an outstanding Ambassador and help Ukraine overcome the attacks by Putin.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship be discharged from further consideration and that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 612.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 643, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the

motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, 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 misspoke. The Executive Calendar number is 541, not 451.

Mr. President, I have 10 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:

Madam President, at last, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it recess until 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 19; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date and the Senate resume consideration of Calendar No. 368, H.R. 7691, to provide aid to Ukraine; further, that the cloture motions filed during Tuesday's session of the Senate ripen at 11:30 a.m. and that if cloture is invoked on H.R. 7691, all postcloture time be expired, the pending amendments be withdrawn, the bill be considered read a third time, and the Senate vote on the passage of the bill without intervening action or debate; that upon disposition of H.R. 7691, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 344, S. 4008, Small Business COVID Relief Act; further, that notwithstanding rule XXII, at 1:45 p.m., the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 4008 and that if cloture is not invoked on the motion to proceed, the Senate immediately vote on cloture on the Davis nomination.

Madam President, Senators should expect two rollcall votes at 11:30 a.m. and two rollcall votes at 1:45 p.m.

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

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

Madam President, it has been a sorrowful, painful few days for the people of Buffalo, NY. Earlier today, I joined with President Biden, the First Lady, Governor Hochul, Senator Gillibrand, Buffalo's Mayor Brown, Attorney General Tish James, and other local officials to meet with families of those killed on Saturday, to visit the Tops supermarket where the shooting happened and to grieve with the community that has been ripped apart by unspeakable violence.

There is no single word to encapsulate what it was like to visit the Tops supermarket, to lay down flowers in honor of the dead, and to meet the families whose lives have been forever--forever--torn apart.

It was equal parts sorrow for the innocent victims we have lost. It was grief for the families who must carry on. Today, I met a young boy, only 3 years old, who lost his dad on Saturday because his dad was at the store buying his kid a birthday cake, just heartbreaking.

It was also with anger that somebody could act with such horrible evil. And yet, despite all that, it was hope. Hope that somehow, some way, this beloved community will find the will and the grace and the courage to cohere. I know, I know in my heart of hearts, that they will.

To the people in Buffalo I met today, I say this: All of New York and all of America stands with you in this hour of deep darkness. We love you; we hold you in our hearts; and we pray for each and every one of you. We will be with you in spirit at every prayer service and every march and in every moment of silence.

Today, we are all Buffalonians. I just don't know what could possess someone to bring violence to a place like the East Side. I just don't. But what we do know is that in each passing day, new and frightening details emerge about the lengths to which the shooter planned his attack. We know that the shooter chose Tops supermarket in order to target as many Black Americans as possible.

It is a supermarket I know well. I helped bring it to the East Side decades ago because they were a food desert and needed a supermarket, and I persuaded the owners of Tops to open one. And as the years grew, that supermarket became not just a supermarket but a community convening place. And when this awful man went to Tops to do his terrible shooting, it was like putting a dagger in the heart of the community because the supermarket had really been much more than a supermarket.

And we know through online posts that the terrorist--that is what he could be called--likely visited the Tops market months ago in a reconnaissance mission to map out the store, to observe the security guards, and even to find a parking spot. We know all that.

We know that had he gotten away, he intended to carry out more shootings at another store.

And one other thing we know, we know that his reprehensible views-- his racist, White supremacist views--belong to an extreme ideology of hate that is increasingly finding home in the American mainstream.

In Buffalo, the President was right to strongly condemn these views with the whole Nation watching. All elected officials--all elected officials--should do the same.

The ``great replacement'' or ``replacement theory'' used to be something that was found only in the darkest corners of deranged minds and in the deepest trenches of the internet. But today, sadly, indisputably, you don't need to go online anymore to find White ``replacement theory'' rhetoric. You can find it on cable TV from the comfort of your own couch.

And perhaps no network has had more impact in propagating and normalizing the rhetoric of ``replacement theory'' than FOX News.

To follow up from my remarks yesterday, this morning I sent a letter to Rupert Murdoch, to FOX News executives, and to Tucker Carlson, imploring the network and Mr. Carlson to cease their amplification of ``replacement theory'' on their network.

According to one study, Mr. Carlson has used rhetoric echoing ``replacement theory'' on at least 400 episodes of his show--400 episodes--which has an average nightly audience of 3 million people.

It is dangerous and un-American for one of the biggest news networks in the world to amplify conspiracy theories that are eerily similar to those cited by the Buffalo shooter.

And to those who think this is an exaggeration, to those who refuse to acknowledge that fringe White supremacist views are now increasingly out in the open, I would simply ask them: Where were you on the night that thousands of White supremacists marched openly on the streets of Charlottesville, bearing torches and chanting, ``You will not replace us''? That is what they said, ``You will not replace us.''

Where were you when thousands of insurrectionists stormed into the Halls of this Capitol, waving Confederate flags and donning sweatshirts about the Holocaust?

Where have you been during any Trump rally, where the Republican standard-bearer goes on and on about undocumented immigrants stealing the 2020 election--a message parroted by countless MAGA Republican candidates across the country.

And where were you when White supremacists shot up a Walmart in El Paso, a synagogue in Pittsburgh, spas in Atlanta and a Black church in Charleston--or at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY?

It would be the easiest thing in the world to denounce something as evil and vile and un-American as ``replacement theory.''

To its credit, this week, the Wall Street Journal editorial board acknowledged that ``politicians and media figures have an obligation to condemn . . . such conspiratorial notions as `white replacement theory.' ''

But while that is necessary, it is hardly sufficient, and too many MAGA Republicans refuse to do even just that.

And last night, Tucker Carlson did not do that either. He deflected and refused to acknowledge that a clear connection exists between the messages on his shows and some of the views championed by these mass shooters.

He dismissed the shooter's 180-page rant as the product of a ``diseased and disorganized mind,'' while omitting that the shooter's mind was diseased and warped precisely--precisely--by online conspiracy theories that are echoed regularly on his show.

The plain fact is that the shooter responsible for the violent murder of 10 innocent lives espoused the same false and racist conspiracy theories that Tucker Carlson has pushed to his audience 400 times and which far too many MAGA Republicans, including former President Trump, are happy to amplify.

Tucker Carlson and, indeed, all voices of influence in this country should come out and not just condemn racial violence, not just condemn racial theory but refuse to give these false and racist conspiracy theories a platform.

Let me say it again: Anchors like Tucker Carlson, and, in fact, all MAGA Republicans and all voices of influence across the political spectrum, should not just condemn racial violence, not just denounce White supremacist views like ``replacement theory'' but further refuse to give these false and racist conspiracy theories a platform whatsoever.

It is horrific to see that most on the hard right haven't done that to date.

Until we unite to stomp views like ``replacement theory'' out of existence, until we band together to call these vile conspiracy theories for what they are--White supremacist propaganda--we cannot find closure to the attacks like the one we saw this weekend in Buffalo, NY.

And communities across the country, especially communities of color, will continue to live in fear that at any moment they may be targeted by violence just because of who they are.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam President, I ask to dispense with further reading of the amendment.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Madam President, I ask to dispense with further reading of the amendment.

Madam President, I move to commit H.R. 7691 to the Committee on Appropriations, with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment.

Madam President, I ask to dispense with further reading.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Madam President, I ask to dispense with further reading of the amendment.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Madam President, I ask to dispense with further reading of the amendment.

I move to proceed to Calendar No. 344, S. 4008.

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