Floor Statements

Mr. President, the third criminal trial arising out of the events of January 6, 2021, is scheduled to begin on April 4, 2022, in Federal district court in the District of Columbia. One of the two defendants in this case pleaded guilty earlier this month. The remaining defendant, Thomas Robertson, is going to trial and is charged with six counts: obstructing the counting by Congress of the electoral ballots for President and Vice President; obstructing the grand jury investigation related to the events of January 6, 2021, and his Federal prosecution by altering and destroying one or more cell phones; impeding and interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted area within the U.S. Capitol and its grounds; and two counts of engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct.

The prosecution has requested trial testimony from Daniel Schwager, formerly counsel to the Secretary of the Senate, related to the obstruction count, including his knowledge and observations of the process and constitutional and legal bases for Congress's certification of the electoral college vote. The prosecution is also seeking testimony at trial, if necessary, from Nate Russell and Diego Torres, custodians of records in the Senate Recording Studio, which operates under the authority of the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate, to authenticate Senate video of the proceeding that day. Senate Secretary Berry and Senate Sergeant at Arms Gibson would like to cooperate with these requests by providing relevant testimony in this proceeding from Messrs. Schwager, Russell, and Torres, respectively.

In keeping with the rules and practices of the Senate, this resolution would authorize the production of relevant testimony from Messrs. Schwager, Russell, and Torres, with representation by the Senate Legal Counsel.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, so today is going to be a very busy day on the Senate floor, as we continue advancing even more of President Biden's well-qualified nominees.

Later this morning, we hold an especially important vote to proceed on the nomination of Alvaro Bedoya, tapped by President Biden to sit as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC right now is one of the best Agencies for protecting Americans from price gougers, manipulators, and those trying to rip off American consumers, or at least it would be if it had full membership. Instead, the FTC has remained deadlocked for just about the entirety of the Biden administration because of Republican obstruction, and the consequences for American consumers have cascaded one after the other.

We all know that prices have been going way up and hurting a lot of Americans. There are serious reasons to fear a lot is due to some gouging and manipulation. The FTC is about the best Agency to look for this. But as long as its membership is deadlocked, it cannot act.

This is especially urgent when it comes to energy prices. Americans are seeing higher prices at the pump, despite massive profits for oil companies. So we need a fully operational FTC to investigate and take action if warranted.

That is why moving forward on Mr. Bedoya is so urgently needed. And, frankly, the obstruction over Mr. Bedoya is truly unacceptable, given the FTC is so important for fighting potential price manipulations.

Republicans know this. Yet his nomination has been deadlocked not once but twice at the committee level. For all the howling our Republican friends are doing about rising costs, they are truly content with dragging their feet on public servants who could actually help solve the problem. So shame on those who are blocking that.

Without Mr. Bedoya, the FTC and members are left handicapped and incapable of moving forward. So today's motion to discharge is a matter of immense importance, and I hope all my colleagues who care about fighting inflation and price manipulation and collusion vote to proceed with Mr. Bedoya's nomination.

And on one other point I wanted to make, I read that stock buybacks by the oil companies have dramatically increased this year. Why is that money going into stock buybacks instead of into other much more productive uses? This is another thing the FTC could take a look at.

Now, as the day progresses, I also want my colleagues to realize the possibility of additional votes later today. On Monday, I filed cloture on five individuals to fill other important roles across the administration. Today, we will move on the first of these nominees, but we are working to move forward with the rest as soon as we can.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now vote on the motions to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar Nos. 718, 717, and 716; that the remaining votes tonight be 10-minute votes; that if cloture is invoked on any of these nominations, all post-cloture time be considered expired and the Senate vote on confirmation of the nominations at a time to be determined by the majority leader or his designee following consultation with the Republican leader.

Members, we have three more votes coming up. If we stay in our seats and stay close, we can get them done quickly. So, please, hang around.

Mr. President, now, yesterday, President Biden released the

second budget of his administration, a strong, forward-looking, and optimistic vision of our country's potential. It is a budget calling for greater investments in the things that make the biggest difference in the lives of middle-class families and in those working to get to the middle class: more support for our schools, increased funding for childcare and healthcare services, strong investments in clean energy and climate change mitigation, support for our farmers and small businesses, as well as relief for our strained supply chains.

The Republican leader asserted yesterday that the President's budget is ``fundamentally disconnected'' from what America needs right now. This begs the question: Just how does the Republican leader think the recovery of the past 12 months came to pass?

We have seen the greatest jobs recovery in history, the strongest economic surge in 40 years, and a steady return to normal after the worst health crisis of modern times. Does he think it happened by magic? Of course not. These were the results of the right leadership pursuing the right policies at the right moment in our country: robust investments in vaccines, aid for families trying to feed their kids through a crisis, help for businesses and local communities struggling to stay open.

And as our recovery continues under President Biden, Republicans seem to think the right answer is to shortchange the American people and cut off vital resources that help our country grow.

Republicans can't stand the thought of asking the ultrarich to pay their fair share, and as a result, efforts to strengthen the middle class, which would be paid for by taxes on those at the very top, are anathema to them. Keeping the wealthy wealthy is more important for Republicans than strengthening the middle class.

Republicans, indeed, seem to think it is ``fundamentally disconnected'' to increase investments in things like public education, Pell grants, title 1, which helps kids most at need. Republicans believe it is somehow wasteful or far left to dare help families afford childcare and pre-K, which never have been pricier than they are today.

And beholden as they are to corporate polluters, Republicans seem to think it is radical for the Federal Government to dedicate resources to a clean energy future: more renewables, more clean cars right here from America, and a more prosperous planet for our kids and our grandkids.

But, of course, Republicans think it is perfectly fine to try and rip away healthcare for millions of Americans and push trillion-dollar tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy, but helping the middle class with childcare and education and healthcare is a bridge too far for our Republican friends--sad.

For all these reasons, the contrast between President Biden's budget and the vision we are seeing coming from Republicans is stark and glaring. One budget, ours, is for the working and middle class; the other, the Republican budget, is an offering entirely for the ultrawealthy.

Mr. President, now on the Cook nomination, today the Senate will continue its work of advancing President Biden's well-qualified nominees. Last night, I filed cloture on five additional nominees, and this morning the Senate will vote on a motion to discharge Ms. Lisa Cook from the Banking Committee. As a reminder, a motion to discharge is necessary in this Congress whenever a nominee receives a deadlocked vote in committee, so the steps we are taking later today are exceedingly important, but, frankly, it is unfortunate that they are necessary at all.

Not very long ago, a nominee of Ms. Cook's qualifications would have sailed toward final confirmation with bipartisan support. She serves on the advisory board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and is a professor of Economics at Michigan State. Coming from humble beginnings in rural Georgia, where her family fought back against racial segregation, she would be the first Black woman ever to sit on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She is truly historic, in addition to being deeply qualified.

For as much as Republicans talk about inflation, it is bewildering and totally discrediting for them to reflexively oppose a qualified nominee like Ms. Cook, precisely tasked with helping the Fed hold down costs and maintain strong employment. Nevertheless, we will move forward with her nomination today with a motion to discharge. The bottom line is this: The Fed is not a political institution. Ms. Cook's position is not a political role. And for Republicans to obstruct her nomination purely for political purposes is deeply troubling and hurts our efforts to lower costs for American families.

Mr. President, and now on the competitiveness legislation, last night, with a strong bipartisan vote of 68 to 28, the Senate passed an amended version of the House jobs and competitiveness legislation. It was amended and passed, to be clear, with the same language the Senate approved last summer when we approved USICA, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.

This bill now heads to the House, and I am optimistic that the House will be able to act on a motion requesting a conference committee very soon. It remains our goal to initiate a conference committee by the end of this work period.

Once again, I want to thank all of my colleagues for their good-faith work on this bill. This is the culmination of years of work on both sides of the aisle. Senator Young and I began work on the Endless Frontier Act in 2019. There is more work to be done, but we, nevertheless, took an important step last night toward our goal of enacting this legislation into law.

And in doing so, I believe that this bill will go down as one of the most important steps Congress can take toward creating more jobs, fixing our supply chains, and refueling another generation of American ingenuity that will strengthen our economy for a long, long time.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 310,

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, March 29, be waived.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session.

Pursuant to S. Res. 27, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee being tied on the question of reporting, I move to discharge the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee from further consideration of Alvaro M. Bedoya, of Maryland, to be a Federal Trade Commissioner for the term of seven years from September 26, 2019.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions, which were submitted earlier today: S. Res. 561, S. Res. 562, S. Res. 563, and S. Res. 564.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles 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 ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 565, 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.