Floor Statements

Madam President, first, I want to compliment Senator Leahy, our Senate pro tempore, for his wonderful reading of George Washington's Address. This is a tradition in the Senate, and I am very glad we are continuing it.

Madam President, now, on world affairs, today I chose the colors of my suit and my tie in honor of the Ukrainian flag and in solidarity with the people of Ukraine during these hard times. I will have more to say about this later on in my speech.

Madam President, first, I was deeply saddened this morning to learn of the passing of my friend, and our dear colleague, Dick Blum, husband of over 40 years to our friend and colleague Senator Feinstein. Senator Feinstein is our Senate colleague, but Dick Blum was also a colleague because he was a friend and adviser to so many of us.

In his 86 years, Dick truly led a remarkable life. He was a force of nature, gifted with a winning smile and keen intellect that he applied to the benefit of California, America, and even international causes, including the American Himalayan Foundation, because he cared so much about those folks. Every now and then, he would call me with his frequently insightful--often brilliant--ideas. The only problem was his enthusiasm was so intense, it was sometimes hard to get him off the phone.

He was a strong and wonderful partner to Senator Feinstein, and he fought valiantly against illness in the final chapters of his life--a life so well lived.

Our thoughts are with our friend Senator Feinstein. She and he were so close. She was so dependent on him and he on her. And so our thoughts are with her during this time of mourning. We join her in both our grief and in remembering Dick's wonderful legacy.

I talked with Senator Feinstein this afternoon. And I told her that when my father passed away a few months ago, I felt a loss, but some of the pain--a little bit--was sad because I would feel I was so close to him, he is still with me. And I told her that is how I believed Dick will be with her. And she told me that gave her a little solace, so that made me feel OK.

Madam President, now, next, on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, on Friday, Joe Biden--President Biden--made history, wonderful history, by announcing his nominee to replace Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

As promised, President Biden named, for the first time in history-- the first time in history--a Black woman to sit on the High Court. As promised, his nominee is beyond qualified and brilliant. And as promised, the Senate will now begin the work of quickly confirming Judge Jackson to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Appointing individuals to the High Court, as we all know, is truly one of the awesome responsibilities of any President. And in choosing Judge Jackson, President Biden has hit a home run with an evenhanded and so gifted jurist.

More importantly, I congratulate Judge Jackson for this historic honor--one that reflects her skills, her accomplishments, and, above all, her dedication to our democracy. I have been doing a lot of reading on Judge Jackson over the last month, and I cannot recall any one of her colleagues, anyone from her private life, or anyone in the public sphere say anything negative about her. It is amazing. That is how fine a person she is and how fine a mind she has. Judge Jackson encapsulates the two b's: brilliant and beloved. That is a rare combination. And her nomination is a cause for immense celebration.

I will be meeting with Judge Jackson Wednesday when she comes to the Capitol for the first time. Meanwhile, I am working with Chairman Durbin to schedule confirmation hearings on Judge Jackson as soon as we can. Once the Judiciary Committee completes its consideration of Judge Jackson, I will move to have her nomination come immediately to the floor of the Senate so the Senate wastes no time fulfilling its constitutional duty. We are going to have a fair but speedy process where Members from both sides will get to ask their questions and explore the judge's record.

Of course, Judge Jackson is no stranger to the Senate. This will be the fourth time--the fourth time--she comes before this body. In each previous instance, Republicans and Democrats together voted in favor of her various nominations. We voted last year to confirm Judge Jackson to the influential DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and she received support from all 50 Democrats and 3 Republicans. And, of course, the first time she came before us as a district court judge, it was a voice vote, which meant no one objected to her getting on the Federal bench--no one in the Senate, anyway.

Judge Jackson's various nominations have won bipartisan support in the past, and her nomination now merits bipartisan support in the present. I hope both sides can work together in a fair and speedy way to make it happen.

I will have more to say on Judge Jackson's remarkable profile in the days and weeks ahead, but today, I want to congratulate her on her nomination. I thank President Biden for selecting her, and I look forward to meeting with her on Wednesday when she arrives at the Capitol.

Today is the fifth day since Russian President Vladimir Putin undermined decades--decades--of stability in Europe by launching an unprovoked, immoral, and terribly violent, vicious assault on Ukraine. This evening, the Senate will receive a classified update from the administration that Senator McConnell and I have requested, and we will be briefed on the situation on the ground and the steps that President Biden has taken to help the Ukrainian people.

In the coming weeks, the Senate will also work on a bipartisan basis and in lockstep with the Biden administration to build a robust assistance package for Ukraine. The administration has asked for a $6.4 billion package of humanitarian aid, of economic aid, and of the kind of military aid that will help the Ukrainians defend themselves, and we intend to work on a bipartisan basis to include it in the upcoming omnibus bill.

Already, the reports of civilian casualties in Ukraine are just tragic. At least 350 civilians have been killed according to the Ukrainian Government. But amidst the violence, one thing is clear: the Ukrainian people are giving Putin a tougher fight than he, in his monomaniacal overconfidence, bargained for.

There are two people in particular who deserve recognition in these early days: President Zelenskyy and President Biden. On the one hand, President Zelenskyy is facing the worst nightmare any head of state can face: a full assault on his country's sovereignty. But his bravery and defiance is inspiring. Many said he should leave the country. Putin thought he would run away. He said: Even though I may be their No. 1 target, I am staying. What courage. What strength. And it gave the Ukrainian people and all the people in the Western world courage and strength as well to unite and do everything we can, each in our own way, to help the Ukrainian people keep their independence, their freedom, and their sovereignty. President Zelenskyy is admired all around the globe and most by the Ukrainian people whom he stood so strong for.

President Biden also deserves credit--credit that is due him for successfully bringing democracies together against Putin with crushing sanctions and an outpouring of security assistance. Today, President Putin is more isolated than ever before while democracies have rallied together, and this is much to the credit of President Biden. He has done an amazing job.

Here in the United States, we stand unflinchingly with the people of Ukraine. Twenty-one years ago, in the aftermath of 9/11, Americans rallied together after our democracy was attacked here at home. Today, as democracy is under assault, we must come together in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. We should all be together supporting this country's efforts.

When I said the President did an amazing job, here is one thing I was referring to: No one thought that the Europeans would go along with removing parts of the SWIFT system from the Russian financial system; no one thought that we would sanction the Russian Central Bank--two of the most powerful weapons we have, but the Europeans were going to be reluctant. Because President Biden was strong, was patient, was persistent, and didn't let himself get pushed around by would-be critics, that is now happening. Over the next several months--even now, today, but even more so as time goes on--those are going to have severe effects on President Putin.

So he deserves a lot of credit, and I just hope we will all, all of us, come together, just as we did after 9/11 when freedom was under assault in our own country, and rally, united in supporting the President and what he is doing.

On the Women's Healthcare Protection Act, later today, the Senate is going to vote on a simple yet urgent question: Will this Chamber agree to begin debate on protecting a women's right to make her own healthcare choices?

Across the country, it is a dark, dark time for women's reproductive rights. Last year, we saw the most--the most--abortion restrictions passed by State legislatures in a single year. Some of them were almost vicious--the vigilantism of Texas's law. I call it vicious vigilantism. Many of these new laws are downright extreme, effectively extinguishing women's ability to even exercise their rights at all. The new, extreme restrictions fly largely in the face of public opinion. They also fly in the face of commonsense health practices. Frankly, they fly against common decency itself, and sadly it seems like the Supreme Court is close to drastically restricting this long-established right in the coming months.

So the Senate today is going to take action because abortion has never been more at risk in America. Indeed, this will be the first time the Senate takes a vote on a stand-alone bill to proactively codify Roe. Let me say that again. This will be the first time that the Senate takes a vote on a stand-alone bill to proactively codify Roe. Every American--every American--deserves to know where his or her Senator stands on an issue as important as the right to choose, and today's vote will do that.

From the moment that Roe was decided in 1973, the most extreme elements of the Republican Party have plotted its demise. The Federalist Society was founded with the intent of cultivating a generation of judges loyal to conservative causes.

Sadly, it seems like the Supreme Court is posed to severely limit abortion rights in the coming months. That is why this bill is essential.

Congress must codify into law what most Americans have long believed--that abortion is a fundamental right and that women's decisions over women's healthcare belong to women, not--not--to extremist rightwing legislatures.

We must vote in favor to hold a debate on this bill. I will proudly, strongly vote yes. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Finally, on postal, this week, the Senate is also going to keep working to pass long-overdue postal reform to strengthen mail deliveries, take care of our postal workers, and put the post office on a path to long-term stability.

I want to be clear that this bill has enough bipartisan support to ultimately become law. It is the product of weeks and months of good- faith negotiation by my colleagues, especially my friend Senator Peters. We could have passed postal reform at the end of the last work period were it not for the capricious obstruction from the Senator from Florida. Nevertheless, postal reform remains on the right track, and I expect we will be able to send it to the President's desk very soon.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, the vote before the Senate asks a simple question: As women's healthcare comes under assault in ways we have not seen in living memory, shall the Senate respond? The legislation we are

considering today, the Women's Health Protection Act, is the first time--the first time--the Senate has taken an affirmative vote on stand-alone legislation to enshrine the right to an abortion in law.

And it is needed now more than ever, as reproductive rights are on the chopping block in the legislatures, in the courts, and, most dreadfully perhaps, even in the Supreme Court. The right to choose is intensely personal, and, by and large, the American people support the protections enshrined in Roe. So Americans deserve to know where their Senators stand on this crucial issue. This vote--because we are in the majority--will, for the first time, accomplish that. The other side did not want to put this vote on the floor.

When the House passed abortion rights legislation last fall, I said the Senate would act, and now we are holding a vote. I want to thank Senators Blumenthal, Baldwin, and Murray for their leadership in pushing the Women's Health Protection Act. And it is with strong enthusiasm that I will vote yes.

I yield the floor.

Cloture Motion

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Presiding Officer of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort the President of the United States into the House Chamber for the joint session to be held at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, March 1; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 273, H.R. 3076, Postal Service Reform, postcloture; that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for votes be as follows--Lee, Cruz, and Braun--and that upon the disposition of the Braun amendment, the Senate vote on the passage of the bill, with all other provisions of the previous order remaining in effect.

Mr. President, I think the Members will like this announcement. I ask unanimous consent that the remaining votes be 10 minutes in duration each.

Mr. President, it has been a busy and productive work period in the Senate.

First, the good news is that we have kept the government open. It took some work, especially when the Senate rules lend themselves to delay and obstruction. Still, I thank Senators Leahy and Shelby, as well as Leader McConnell, for helping us get this done. To have allowed the government to close would have caused undue hardship for millions of blameless Americans.

We have gotten other things done, too, in this work period.

We passed forced arbitration reform, made progress to fix our post office, and confirmed more of the President's nominees.

Mr. President, next session, we are picking up right where we left off, to pass postal reform so we can send it to the President's desk.

I have also taken the first procedural step for the Senate to consider the Women's Health Protection Act. Across the country, the assault on women's healthcare has intensified to levels not seen in decades. So the Senate is going to vote, when we return on February 28, to take action.

Democrats will also continue focusing on lowering costs for everyday Americans, including by taking aim at the costs of insulin. It is just preposterous--beyond preposterous--that Americans with diabetes sometimes pay more than $600 just for a 40-day supply of insulin. So my colleague Senator Warnock has introduced legislation that will cap insulin costs to just $35 a month.

There is enormous interest in our caucus to pursue this proposal, so it will be a priority for Democrats in the weeks ahead. This has long been a bipartisan issue. As many as 20 States across the country, many with Republican legislatures and Governors, have passed State-level insulin caps. There is no reason this shouldn't be bipartisan in this body, and I invite my Republican colleagues to join us in this effort.

Mr. 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 for up to 10 minutes each.