Floor Statements

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

We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of Executive Calendar No. 808, Lael Brainard, of the District of Columbia, to be Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a term of four years.

Charles E. Schumer, Mazie K. Hirono, Martin Heinrich, Tim

Kaine, Jack Reed, Jacky Rosen, Ben Ray Lujan,

Christopher A. Coons, Alex Padilla, Sheldon Whitehouse,

Sherrod Brown, Debbie Stabenow, Christopher Murphy,

Patrick J. Leahy, John W. Hickenlooper, Tammy Baldwin,

Angus S. King, Jr.

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 844.

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

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, first, I want to thank my friend and colleague, the senior Senator from Illinois, not only for his wonderful remarks here today but for his passion on this issue. He was one of the first to blow the whistle on these colleges.

When you hear about this, it just boils your blood--boils your blood. These kids did nothing wrong. It is one of the reasons we believe student debt should be forgiven. The Federal Government gave them the loans--that was required by law--but they were taken advantage of through no fault of their own.

I wonder if this Mr. Modany has been prosecuted for any of these things. He does not deserve to have, probably, the millions he has on the backs of all of these students.

But I thank the Senator from the bottom of my heart. This boils our blood, what they did to these kids. That is one of the reasons we believe that the White House ought to forgive up to $50,000 of student debt.

OK. Let's go to another subject.

Yesterday, Mr. President, was, truly, a sorry sight here on the Senate floor. Senate Republicans, down to the last Member, blocked critical funding for more vaccines, more testing, more lifesaving therapeutics that our country needs to protect against the dangers of future COVID variants.

The proposal we had before the Senate was exceedingly reasonable, carefully negotiated, and desperately needed, but Senate Republicans blocked a mere debate on COVID aid, knowing full well of the consequences for the American people. In knowing the consequences, Republicans said no to merely debating more money for booster shots and vaccinations and research into future treatments. In knowing the consequences, Republicans said no to merely debating more testing. In knowing the consequences, Republicans said no to merely debating no less than $5 billion for lifesaving therapeutics--an indispensable tool for those with COVID illnesses.

And why did Republicans say no?

Because they wanted to cripple COVID funding legislation with poison pills that they knew would derail this bill--would derail the bill. Let me say it again. Instead of joining Democrats to begin a simple debate on COVID legislation, Republicans wanted to kill this bill with unrelated poison pills.

This is potentially devastating for the American people. Vaccines, therapeutics, and testing were negotiated in good faith, and they should not--they should not--be held hostage to extraneous, unrelated issues. This is too important for the health of our country.

The administration, for months, has made clear that new COVID funding is a matter of the highest urgency. Some critical COVID response measures are already being scaled back due to dwindling funding. Their message that Congress had to act--the administration's message-- was unmistakable.

I hope Republicans will get serious about this. It should not be so difficult to do something so good and important for our country.

Let me say one other thing.

Our Republican colleagues think they may be gaining some temporary advantage, but God forbid a second variant hits and people ask: Why aren't the vaccines there? Why aren't the therapeutics there? The answer will be that the Senate Republicans, to a person, blocked the ability to move forward and get this legislation done because they wanted to play politics and inject extraneous issues into the debate.

But it is not going to deter us from getting this done. It is vital for keeping schools, churches, business, and other communities open if and when a future, more potent variant rears its ugly head. It is certainly better to act now than to pay the price 10 times down the line. We are going to keep working to make sure that Congress sends COVID funding to the President's desk.

Mr. President, on SCOTUS, the U.S. Senate, happily, wonderfully, is on the brink of completing one of the most important responsibilities entrusted to it under the Constitution: consenting to the President's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. As I said, happily and wonderfully, it will be the first African-American woman to ever serve on that august body.

Any time the Senate elevates someone to the highest pinnacles of the Federal judiciary, the impact literally lasts a lifetime and, often, far beyond that. The men and women who sit on the Supreme Court have the power to render judgment on any question they see fit that comes before them. The consequences of their decisions are seen and felt and reckoned with from here to the farthest corners of our country. So confirming a Supreme Court nominee is, in other words, a big deal to the Senate--one of the biggest deals, in fact. And, before the week is out, the Chamber is set to follow through, once again, on this august and awesome responsibility.

But, of course, even though this is one of the biggest deals for the Senate to do in any situation, it is even a bigger deal now. This time is different. The nominee, the 116th Justice, is different in some important ways than those who came before.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, like many before her, is brilliant, accomplished, and qualified to be on the Court, but never--never before--has the Supreme Court had a Black woman bear the title of Justice. She will be the first, and I have no doubt, in my mind, that she will pave the way for others in the future.

The exultation among so many who have waited for this moment--of young girls throughout America who may say, ``I can do this, too''; the untapped potential even for young people, particularly women of color, who are not interested in the law or in the Supreme Court but who say, ``I can go somewhere; I can do something; I can get there''--is going to be great for America.

There are many considerations that the Senate should ponder when we are faced with the question of confirming judges. Diversity and representation is certainly one of them. It is a key feature of a healthy and vibrant democracy. When Americans of all walks of life come before the court, of course they should have confidence that those who don the robes have the ability to walk in their own shoes--to see and understand their sides of the story.

That is why diversity of background and experience has been one of the most important priorities in the Senate as we have confirmed the President's judges, and over the last year, as has been noted, we have made incredible progress on that front.

Of the 58 Senate-confirmed judges, three-quarters have been women, and two-thirds have been people of color. To be clear, these judges are diverse not just through their backgrounds but in their experiences. More public defenders, more civil rights attorneys, more nonprofit lawyers have been added to the Federal bench.

After years of the previous administration's confirming judges who were disproportionately White, disproportionately male, disproportionately from big law firms, Senate Democrats are working to bring balance back to our judiciary. It will make our democracy healthier, fairer, and stronger.

As the country grows increasingly diverse in this century, Judge Jackson's confirmation will be a major step toward achieving that goal, and I so look forward to finishing the work to confirm this most qualified, most deserving, most historic nominee.

Mr. President, in a few moments, I will lock in our agreement on both PNTR as well as cloture on the SCOTUS nomination.

First, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 810, 852, and 862; 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 that the Senate resume legislative session.

Now, Mr. President, in a few moments, I will lock in an agreement on a number of important votes tomorrow.

First and foremost, we have reached an agreement for the Senate to conclude the confirmation process of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson tomorrow. We will hold a cloture vote tomorrow morning at approximately 11 a.m., and the final vote for her confirmation is on track to take place at around 1:45 tomorrow afternoon, depending on how many Members wish to speak.

It will be a joyous day--joyous for the Senate, joyous for the Supreme Court, joyous for America--but we still have a long way to go. America, tomorrow, will take a giant step to becoming a more perfect nation.

I will have more to say on this historic occasion tomorrow, but, for now, I wish to thank my Senate colleagues for working together to advance and finalize this historic nomination to the Supreme Court.

Second, I will also lock in an agreement to hold a series of votes on PNTR and the oil ban tomorrow.

After many rounds of negotiations with Republicans, we have reached an important and crucial breakthrough. This agreement clears the path to finally approve legislation that will strip Russia of permanent normal trade relations with the United States. It will also allow the Senate to take separate action on an oil ban proposal as we originally sought. These proposals both have the support of the White House, and it is a big, big deal that we are finally getting them done. I wish this could have happened sooner, but after weeks of talks with the other side, it is important that we have found a path forward to getting PNTR done on a bipartisan basis.

I want to sincerely thank Senator Crapo, who worked in good faith with us, together, and we wouldn't have reached an outcome--this outcome--without his diligence and good faith.

Mr. President, Putin absolutely must be held accountable for the detestable, detestable, despicable war crimes he is committing against Ukraine. The images we have seen coming out of that country, especially out of the town of Bucha, are just pure evil--it reminds us of the worst moments in human history--caused by the evil man, Putin: hundreds of civilians murdered in cold blood--men, women, children, the elderly, the defenseless; people with hands tied behind their backs and left dead on the streets; civilians shot in the back of the head--all for one reason: They are Ukrainians. It is one despicable reason.

This is genocide when you murder, wantonly, innocent civilians because of who they are. Whether it be their religion, their race, or their nationality, that is genocide, and Mr. Putin is guilty of it.

Formally revoking normal trade relations with Russia is precisely the right thing for the Senate to do because it will land another huge blow to Putin's economy. It is a key part of

any strategy for holding Putin accountable for his savage attacks on innocent civilians.

Again, I thank all of my colleagues for their good work and look forward to passing PNTR in the Senate tomorrow morning.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, at 10 a.m. tomorrow, April 7, the Senate resume legislative session and proceed to the en bloc consideration of H.R. 6968, the Russian oil ban, and H.R. 7108, the Russia PNTR, both of which are at the desk; that amendment No. 5021 to H.R. 6968 be considered and agreed to; that amendment No. 5020 to H.R. 7108 be considered and agreed to; and that those be the only amendments in order to either bill; that the bills, as amended, be considered read a third time en bloc; that the Senate vote on the passage of H.R. 7108, as amended, and H.R. 6968, as amended; and that with respect to both bills, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table without further intervening action or debate; further, that upon the disposition of H.R. 6968, the Senate resume executive session and vote on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 860, the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion with respect to the Jackson nomination be waived; that if any nominations are confirmed during Thursday'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.

I thank my friend, the Senator from Idaho.

Mr. President, as we move on, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration of S. 3522 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Cornyn substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to and that the bill, as amended, 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.

Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk that is 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 proceeding.