Floor Statements

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. 670.

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

Mr. President, finally, I ask unanimous consent that

the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, April 25, be waived.

Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk due for a second reading.

In order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceedings.

Now, Mr. President, the Senate gavels in this morning for a joyous, momentous, groundbreaking day. This morning, we will vote to end debate on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, and, later this afternoon, the Senate will fulfill its constitutional duty to finally confirm this remarkable and groundbreaking jurist.

The cloture vote is scheduled to take place at approximately 11 a.m., and we will aim to vote on final confirmation in the afternoon, the time depending on how many Members wish to speak.

Today is a culmination--a culmination for more than 6 weeks where this Chamber has examined and debated and questioned Judge Jackson on her record and her qualifications. Every step of the way the judge has proved herself exceptionally qualified, thoughtful, and prepared to serve on the Court. As I said, she encapsulates the three b's: brilliant, beloved, and belongs. She belongs on the Supreme Court. It is now up to us to finish the work that the President entrusted us to do.

So today is also a joyous celebration in another way. In the 233-year history of the Supreme Court, never, never has a Black woman held the title of Justice. Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the first, and I believe the first of more to come.

This milestone should have happened generations ago--generations ago--but we are always trodding on a path toward a more perfect Union. Nevertheless, America today is taking a giant step toward making our Union more perfect.

People sometimes talk about standing on the shoulder of giants. Well, Judge Jackson will go down in history as an American giant upon whose shoulders others will stand tall, and our democracy will be better off for it.

I will have more to say later this afternoon, prior to the final vote on the confirmation, but for now I want to thank Chairman Durbin of the Senate Judiciary Committee for beautifully executing the nomination, all the members of the Judiciary Committee for their thoughtful and respectful--all my Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee for their thoughtful and insightful examination of the judge's record, and I want to thank those Republican Senators who chose to take this process seriously.

So it is truly a joyous day; joyous for the Senate, joyous for the Court, joyous for America.

Let us finish the work today of confirming Judge Jackson, finally, to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mr. President, now, on the final day of the work period, the Senate is going to pass a much sought after piece of legislation: revoking Russia of permanent normal trade relations with the United States.

The legislation will go a long way to landing a painful, severe blow on Putin's economy. It will hinder his ability to keep funding his war machine, and adds Russia, as well as Belarus, to a list of nations, including North Korea, that are ineligible for free trade with the United States.

I want to thank my colleague from Idaho Senator Crapo for working so closely with me on into the night last night to make sure that this got done.

We will also vote separately on legislation regarding an oil ban, and I thank my colleagues who worked together to reach a compromise on this measure. We are moving forward today.

Putin must absolutely be held accountable for the detestable and despicable war crimes he is committing against Ukraine.

The images we have seen coming out of that country, most recently out of the town of Bucha, are pure, pure evil--hundreds of civilians murdered in cold blood; dozens of bodies of men, women, children, the elderly, the defenseless; people with hands tied behind their backs and left dead in the streets. Some of the bodies showed signs of torture.

According to a new report by Der Spiegel, German intelligence now believes that some of these murders were discussed by Russian troops over radio intercepts. And why were these people killed? Simply because they were Ukrainians. So many were children, civilians, young people, women. No nation whose military is committing war crimes deserves free- trade status with the United States.

Let me say that again. No nation whose military is committing war crimes deserves free-trade status with the United States.

No vile thug like Putin deserves to stand as an equal with the leaders of the free world. He is a menace and a pariah who has ensured that his place in history will be one of everlasting shame.

So today's votes approving PNTR revocation are significant. It is very important that the Senate pass this bill, and I want to thank Senator Crapo as well as Senators Manchin and Cardin and Wyden and Murkowski and Menendez and all others who worked in good faith with us together on these measures. We wouldn't have reached this outcome without their diligence and good faith.

Mr. President, finally, I want to close with a few thoughts on what the Senate has accomplished over the past 6 weeks.

There are two words that I believe perfectly summarize the work period we are about to conclude: productive and bipartisan.

In this work period alone, we passed a major postal reform bill over a decade in the making; we passed a bold and robust government funding package, which will help millions of Americans in thousands of different ways; we passed critical emergency aid for the people of Ukraine; we passed the Emmett Till anti-lynching bill after a century of waiting; and topping it all off, we will confirm the 116th Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, before I yield, I also want to applaud the administration's action in extending the pause on payments and interest of Federal student loans. The pandemic continues to impact families economically, and that is why extension is critical for so many borrowers.

And while the extension provides relief, I continue to urge the President to use his existing authority and cancel up to $50,000 in debt in order to provide immediate relief to millions of borrowers, boost our economic recovery, and help narrow the racial wealth gap in our country.

So it has been a very busy April; it has been a very busy March work period, and when we come back in May, it is going to be very busy again. We have a whole lot to do.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time on the Jackson nomination expire at 1:45 p.m. today.

For the information of the Senate, there will be a rollcall vote at 1:45 p.m. today on confirmation of the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Senators are encouraged to be seated prior to the start of the vote and are encouraged to cast their vote from their desks.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, this is a wonderful day, a joyous day, an inspiring day for the Senate, for the Supreme Court, and for the United States of America.

Today, we are here to vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson as the 116th Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Now, a few days ago, I spoke with a group of eighth graders from Cheektowaga, NY. Many of them were students of color. It was amazing. When I mentioned that this week we were confirming the judge, you could see them light up, the unmistakable look in their eyes. ``One day,'' each young lady thought to herself, ``I can do it too.''

You know, it has been a dark 2 years with COVID--people getting sick and dying, many of whom we knew, stores closing, and schools shutting their doors. But even in the darkest times, there are bright lights. Today is one of the brightest lights, and let us hope it is a metaphor, an indication of many more bright lights to come.

As I have said over and over again, there are three words that I think best fit Judge Jackson: brilliant, beloved, belongs.

Judge Jackson is, in every sense and by all measures, a brilliant jurist. She is, indeed, a brilliant person. By the judge's own telling, she first discovered her calling to the law not in a classroom or by reading a book or by talking to lawyers but by sitting at the kitchen table, next to her dad, filling out her coloring book while her dad pored through case law.

Years from now, other parents and other daughters will do the same, and it will be Justice Jackson's opinions that will lay open on the table. The judge's parents and her entire family should beam with pride that this day has come. At every step of her upbringing and career, Ketanji Brown Jackson ranked among the highest of achievers.

And, look, we should take a moment to note that Judge Jackson will be the first and only Justice with experience as a public defender. We are proud of that, and America is proud of that. It will enhance the Court's ability to preserve a basic truth in our country--that all deserve equal justice under the law, from the privileged to the impoverished. In an imperfect world, the judge conquered so many hurdles and today stands as one of the most experienced individuals ever nominated to the Supreme Court.

For this reason, the judge is also beloved by individuals and organizations across the political spectrum. I went through her record carefully, and never did I find one instance of a peer or a colleague or an associate saying one negative word about her. It was incredible. When we go through these records, you often find someone here or there who will bad-mouth the individual who knew them but not with Judge Jackson.

And, lest we forget, the judge is popular in the minds of the American people. A Gallup poll released after her hearings showed nearly 60 percent of the public supports her confirmation--10 points above the historical norm. There is no question here the country, by and large, wants the Senate to confirm Judge Jackson. Police chiefs want to confirm Judge Jackson. Conservative and moderate and liberal judges all want us to confirm Judge Jackson.

And I thank my colleagues in this Chamber who worked in good faith to make sure the Senate can finish its work today.

Finally, as I have said many times, the judge belongs on the Supreme Court. By that, I mean something very specific. In our Nation's history, 115 individuals have been confirmed by this body to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Of those, 108 have been White men; only 5 have been women; only 2 have been African American. But Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the first African-American woman ever to hold the title of ``Justice.''

Think about the impact that will have on our democracy. Untold millions of kids will open textbooks and see pictures of Justice Jackson among the highest ranks of our public figures. How many millions of kids in generations past could have benefited from such a role model? How many would-be Justices, lawyers, doctors, generals, businesspeople have been lost to history precisely because their history books had few, if any, role models that they could relate to?

We certainly have a long way to go on the road to true justice, but by confirming Judge Jackson today, we are taking a bold step forward toward reaching the full realization of our country's promise. We will make it far more likely that girls across America will feel precisely what Judge Jackson

felt herself when she was a kid: Nobody can stop me. I can do this too. I am brilliant too. I belong too.

For all of these reasons, increasing the diversity of the Court has been one of my highest priorities and one of the highest priorities of our Senate Democratic majority of whom I am so proud.

Justice Jackson is the most important example, but we have been working on this for over a year. Of the 58 Senate-confirmed Federal judges since we took the majority, three-quarters have been women, and two-thirds have been people of color. It is not just racial and gender diversity that matters. We have strived to lift up judges who bring diversity through their experience: more public defenders in our courts, more civil rights lawyers, more election lawyers.

When Americans of all walks of life come before the court, they should have confidence that those who don the robes have the ability to walk in their own shoes, to see and understand their side of the story, and then apply the law properly according to the facts.

One judge at a time--one judge at a time--this majority is expanding the possibility of who merits consideration to the Bench; and I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge my Republican colleagues who joined us on this occasion and over the year to achieve this goal.

In closing, I want to thank Chairman Durbin for beautifully executing this nomination process. It was equal parts fair, thorough, and expeditious--no easy feat in this modern Senate.

I want to thank all of my Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee. You were just fabulous--every one of you--in your respectful and insightful examination of the judge's record.

And I want to thank my Republican colleagues who chose to take this process seriously no matter which side you voted on.

The President sent us an impressive nominee. She merited robust and thoughtful and lively examination. I thank the Members who did precisely that.

In short, this is one of the great moments of American history. At the time of our Constitution's ratification, in most States, you had to be a White male, Protestant landowner to be considered part of American society. So, from the get-go, generations of Americans have sought to establish the United States as a full democracy. We fought a bloody civil war to end slavery. Women organized and reached for the ballot. The civil rights movement brought an end to the vicious segregation of the mid-20th century. And, today, we are taking a giant, bold, and important step on the well-trodden path to fulfilling our country's founding promise.

This is a great moment for Judge Jackson, but it is an even greater moment for America as we rise to a more perfect Union.

I thank my colleagues for their work.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, very happily, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 848.

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

Madam President, finally, I ask unanimous consent that

the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, April 7, be waived.

I yield the floor to my colleague and friend from the great State of Iowa.

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 808.