Floor Statements

Next, on the CR, before the end of the week, the Senate must come to an agreement to pass a short-term extension of government funding in order to give appropriators more time to complete a yearlong omnibus. It is the most responsible thing we can do to support our appropriators as they continue their bipartisan work to finish an omnibus. No one--and certainly not my Republican colleagues--wants a Republican government shutdown; so I am hopeful that they will cooperate with us to pass this necessary CR, which every single Democrat wants to happen and will cooperate to make sure that it happens.

Once again, I thank Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Shelby for their leadership and for working in good faith to arrive at a yearlong spending agreement. I also commend my colleagues in the House, Chairman DeLauro and Ranking Member Granger, Democrat and Republican, for their work. A yearlong omnibus is a thousand times better than relying on CRs--continuing resolutions--to lurch from one short-term extension to the next. I remain optimistic that both sides will keep working together on drafting legislation to fund the government so it can fully serve the American people while keeping us safe here at home.

In the meantime, both sides should come to an agreement to make sure the CR--the continuing resolution, the short-term funding of the government--is passed by this Chamber to avoid even any hint of a government shutdown.

Mr. President, last night I filed cloture on additional Defense nominees, including Celeste Wallander, nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. If this were any other time, Ms. Wallander's nomination most certainly would have sailed through the Senate with unanimous consent, without the need for a rollcall vote.

At the committee level, her nomination was approved with strong support from both parties; and, frankly, she should have been approved unanimously the moment she was reported out of the Armed Services Committee. Many on both sides of the aisle recognize we need her at the Pentagon now. As one of our Nation's top experts on Russian affairs, her leadership is vital right now.

Sadly--sadly--one Republican, just one, has objected to Ms. Wallander's confirmation without offering any concrete justification. So we are going to take up floor time to advance her nomination the long way, just as we have done for many nominees who face unprecedented obstruction by a small group of Republicans. This is not the majority of the Republican Party or the majority of Republican Senators, but a small group using the Senate rules--many of which are arcane and outdated--to stand in the way and slow the whole process down, endangering our security.

Let's be clear. To intentionally delay the confirmation of a critical Pentagon position--an expert on Russia at a time when we need her in the position most--just to score political points is the definition of cynical and is actively making the American people less safe.

Sadly, Ms. Wallander is far from the only nominee being held up by these obstructionists on the right. The junior Senator from Arkansas has also placed blanket holds on a number of U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals, men and women whose job is literally to protect the public and prosecute criminals.

If my Republican colleagues are so concerned about public safety, why are they standing in the way of confirming some of the most important law enforcement officers in the Federal Government? It is ``Alice in Wonderland'' logic. It is delay for delay's sake, especially when new reasons keep coming up to justify these tactics. One reason is rebutted, and then another one comes up. It seems like some of these colleagues just want to obstruct to obstruct, oppose to oppose--bad for America, bad for Democrats, bad for Republicans.

Hijacking the rules of the Senate to place blanket holds on nominees has no legitimate justification. And when it comes to nominees tasked with advancing our national defense, our diplomacy, and our public safety, it only makes the American people less safe.

As long as these delay tactics continue, we will continue to hold votes on these nominees as necessary. If that means more late nights with a large number of votes in one sitting like we had to do over the last 2 weeks, then that is what we will do.

Mr. President, now on lowering costs, in President Biden's first year, the economy added an amazing 6.6 million new jobs, the most ever--ever--for a President's first year. This figure surpassed just about every forecast from a year ago. It is a reflection of how far our economy has come since the start of COVID and that the right leadership in office makes all the difference.

But we all know Americans still need more help, especially when it comes to lowering the cost of living. Democrats know what the American people know. The pandemic decimated our supply chains, our labor supply, and much more, causing prices to increase for everyday items. We never had a pandemic to this extent in 100 years, and obviously it interrupted the economy and its supply chains and labor supply.

For the past year, Democrats have been the party focused on finding solutions to lowering the cost of living for everyday Americans. As early as last summer, Democrats pushed to have the Senate approve legislation to relieve U.S. supply chains and increase domestic manufacturing, which, thankfully, was bipartisan and which the House passed recently as well. Soon the conference process for that bill will begin.

But this is just one example out of many. For the past few weeks, I have heard from my colleagues about a number of proposals they have been working on aimed squarely at helping Americans better afford the basics, from medications, to the cost of food, to the cost of cars, to more. Later today, Democrats will use our weekly caucus lunch to talk more about some of the ideas my colleagues are working on.

Lowering costs must--must--be a bipartisan effort. Americans in States, those blue and red and in between, need relief as soon as possible.

While many on the other side of the aisle have spent a lot of time giving floor speeches and presenting charts about rising costs, where are their actual proposals? We don't hear what they would do to solve the problem. Attacking the problem doesn't make it any better; proposing solutions, as Democrats are doing, does. Republicans should step up and say what their plan is to fight inflation, not just point fingers. That solves no problem.

Democrats will continue to propose legislation on cost cutting, and we are going to continue to focus on helping everyday Americans find relief. Some of my Democratic colleagues have already released their proposals publicly, and I am sure many of them would welcome Republican cooperation. Instead of sitting on the sidelines, Republicans should join Democrats in our efforts to help Americans reap the full benefits of our historic recovery.

Our goal: to have the wages that have increased stay up but lower the costs down so the average American has more money in his or her pocket.

We Democrats are committed to working in good faith to get things done in this Chamber. I hope our Republican colleagues will constructively join us instead of just pointing fingers.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 267,

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, February 15, be waived.

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

Mr. President, I have 7 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:

committee on armed services

The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations.

committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs

The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs

The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet in executive session during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, to vote on nominations.

committee on finance

The Committee on Finance is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

committee on health, education, labor, and pensions

The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

committee on small business and entrepreneurship

The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a business meeting.

select committee on intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a closed briefing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 438.

Mr. President, 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.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions introduced earlier today: S. Res. 515, S. Res. 516, S. Res. 517.

Mr. President, the first criminal trial arising out of the events of January 6, 2021, is scheduled to begin on February 28, 2022, in Federal district court in the District of Columbia. The Federal indictment charges the defendant with five felony counts for obstructing the counting by Congress of the electoral ballots for President and Vice President, transporting a firearm for unlawful use in furtherance of a civil disorder, using and carrying a firearm in a restricted area on the Capitol grounds, obstructing the Capitol Police during a civil disorder, and obstructing justice based on statements the defendant made to his children in reference to these matters.

The government 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' certification of the Electoral College vote.

The Secretary of the Senate would like to cooperate with this request by providing relevant testimony from Mr. Schwager at this trial. In keeping with the rules and practices of the Senate, this resolution would authorize the production of relevant testimony from Mr. Schwager, with representation by the Senate legal counsel.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following bills en bloc: Calendar No. 163, H.R. 2044; Calendar No. 164, H.R. 3419; Calendar No. 188, H.R. 3210; and Calendar No. 262, H.R. 960.

I ask unanimous consent that the bills, en bloc, be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. President, finally, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 16; 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 proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Wallander nomination; that at 11:30 a.m., the cloture motions filed during yesterday's session ripen and the Senate vote on the motions to invoke cloture on the Wallander and Honey nominations consecutively and in the order listed; further, that if cloture is invoked on either of the nominations, the confirmation votes occur at 3:30 p.m. in the order in which cloture was invoked; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Wednesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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

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

Madam President, now, at the beginning, before I speak on the business of the day, I would like to add that yesterday we were all overjoyed, just thrilled, to hear from our colleague, our dear friend, Senator Ben Ray Lujan.

Through his first public video message shared on social media, Ben Ray reiterated yesterday that his recovery is going well; that his office continues to work serving the people of New Mexico; and that he expects, praise God, to make a full recovery.

I have been able to get on the phone with him in recent days. He was chipper. He sounded like the same Ben Ray we have come to know and love, and I can report he is in very good spirits, raring to go.

From now until his return, all of us in the Senate miss him greatly. We are rooting for him. We cannot wait to see him walk through the doors of this Chamber once again to get back to work.

Business Before The Senate

Madam President, now on Senate business, on Postal, last week, as you know, the House passed, with overwhelming bipartisan support--I believe a majority from each party--the most important update to the U.S. Postal Service in decades.

The Postal bill is the definition of legislation that should sail through the Congress. Both sides support it. It had diligent work by both Democrats and Republicans, with major input from

both parties. Everyone knows we need it, and the American people so strongly support action to put our Postal Service on sustainable footing.

Our incredible postal workers give us their very best every single day they are on the job. They deserve no less in return.

So many people depend on the mail. You could be a veteran; the VA sends your prescriptions through the mail. About one-fifth of Social Security recipients, as I understand, don't have the internet and depend on the mail. Small businesses depend on the mail. Rural areas depend on the mail. Just about everybody does. People don't want snail mail.

It has been no fault of the workers at the post office that postal delivery is slow. They don't have the resources they need, and, in part, they don't have the resources they need because they have a crazy, antediluvian-type system of how they calculate pensions and healthcare.

We have to change all this. We have been waiting a long, long time. Later today, I am going to move to have the Senate approve a few technical fixes to the bill so we can move closer to final passage. The House made these fixes on their end through unanimous consent last week. Not a Democrat nor Republican in that whole body blocked it, and anyone could have. We want to do the same here in the Senate.

I hope my Republican colleagues will give consent to allow these necessary fixes to go through, just as it happened in the House. As I said, Members from both sides worked very, very hard to put this bill together. It commands strong, bipartisan support, and we should move forward with it as soon as we can. Bipartisan postal reform already has enough support to become law. I hope it happens quickly.

Let me just say this once again so people understand what is going on here. All we are asking for is to fix a small clerical error made by the House of Representatives when they sent their bill to the Senate. It has nothing to do with the substance of the bill. As I mentioned, this fix--this small, little, immaterial change that is technical-- received unanimous consent, every Democrat and every Republican, in the House. So let's have the same outcome here in the Senate tonight. Let's move forward on this proposal.

At the end of the day, it is about making sure the post office can fulfill its obligations to its workers and to the American people. We all know how many of us--millions of us--depend on the mail. We all know how we have been disappointed that mail service has slowed down. We all know that we should get together, Democrats and Republicans, to fix it.

The bipartisan reform bill will make sure Americans can continue relying on the post office the same way they have relied on it all their lives.

I hope that here in the Senate, we will keep working on this bill with the same bipartisan spirit we have seen for the past week.

Government Funding

Madam President, our other priority this week will be approving legislation to keep the government open until March 11 so we can give appropriators from both parties more time to draft the yearlong omnibus funding bill.

This is another place where we are making bipartisan progress. Led by Senators Leahy and Shelby and their counterparts in the House, Representatives DeLauro and Granger, we have come to good agreements on top-line numbers, and we can move forward--not with a CR, which simply just reenacts what was in place last year despite the need for changes, in many ways--but we can enact what we call an omnibus, which is what we should be doing.

We have had positive conversations, and Democrats are united to keep the government open so we can achieve this omnibus. We will continue working with the Republican leadership to move forward on a CR before the deadline later this week.

Supreme Court Nomination

Madam President, on SCOTUS, the Supreme Court of the United States, well, one of the most solemn responsibilities entrusted to the U.S. Senate is offering our advice and ultimately our consent on the President's appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is a responsibility that stands apart from just about all others. Those whom we approve sit on the Court, and they will render judgment and exert influence on the most consequential legal matters for years and potentially for decades. The impact of any one Supreme Court nominee is often felt long after the work of a single administration comes to an end.

Very soon, this will be precisely the task the Senate will be asked to take up once again when President Biden announces his choice to replace Associate Justice Breyer. I have no doubt President Biden will name someone who can not only bring Members of this body together but someone with a proven record for excellence and evenhandedness. When President Biden makes his announcement, I intend to have the Senate move quickly to take up and confirm his nominee.

The President has promised he will nominate a Black woman to serve as a Justice for the first time ever. This will not only be one of the most important moments in the history of our courts but of our entire country. Precious few have held the title of ``Justice'' in American history--only 115 to date--and none of them has been a Black woman. So the President's announcement is truly historic and potentially game- changing for the future of Supreme Court nominees.

Imagine the impact the President's pick will have on countless young people who look up to the Nation's courts and see men and women who better reflect our country's makeup. Imagine how that will inspire the next generation to pursue their own interests in public service and law and government. The judges and Justices of the future have their eyes on this body right now in the present.

If our democracy is to prosper in this century, we need people from all walks of life to see that they have a place at the table when it comes to public service. The President's promise is a big step in that direction.

The Democratic-led Senate has already played an important role in bringing balance and diversity to our courts with highly qualified nominees. It has been one of our highest priorities from the moment we entered the majority.

Under President Biden, the Senate has confirmed 46 judges to serve lifetime appointments to the Federal Bench. Indeed, this majority has confirmed the most judges in the first year following the President's inauguration since the time of John F. Kennedy. Three-quarters of these new judges have been women--three-quarters. Two-thirds have been people of color. More than a quarter of all of President Biden's appointees have been Black women, who are still too far underrepresented in our Federal Judiciary.

It is not just their demographic diversity that makes them remarkable, although that is unquestionably important; the new judges are also diverse because of their professional backgrounds. We have confirmed more Federal defenders in the President's first year than any President in modern history. We have confirmed more civil rights lawyers, election lawyers, more individuals with deep experience in public service.

I want to emphasize one other thing. These nominees are also extremely qualified. We are not sacrificing qualifications and excellence for diversity. President Biden's nominees are both more diverse and more qualified, in my judgment, than any President's in recent history.

So Senate Democrats are proud of this record, and we are going to keep going. Diversity in all of its forms matters. It is good for the justice system, and it is vital to the health of our democracy.

When the President announces his historic pick, the Senate will be ready to move quickly and fairly to confirm her to the Supreme Court.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that after Senator Scott speaks and blocks the proposal, that I speak, Senator Peters speaks, and then Senator Murray speaks on the Califf nomination and that then we move forward on the cloture vote.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate agree to the request of the House to return the papers with respect to H.R. 3076 and that when the Senate receives from the House the corrected engrossment of the bill, it be in the same procedural posture as it was at the time of the granting of this request.

Madam President, what we heard is why people really are frustrated and angered at the U.S. Senate. This is a broad, bipartisan bill months and months in the making, with large amounts of discussion, has the support of the Democratic chair of the committee, the Republican chair of the committee, was voted in the House with a majority of Democrats and a majority of Republicans, and would finally fix the post office.

I wonder if my colleague from Florida has ever heard his colleagues in Florida, his voters, talk about snail mail, about everything coming late--prescription drugs coming late, Social Security checks coming late, birthday cards arriving weeks after the birthday occurred. Finally, both parties come together in a bipartisan way in the House and Senate to pass this legislation, and the Senator from Florida is using a technical detail to hold us up.

It is the same bill that was on the floor Thursday, where we had agreement to move to vote on it tonight. But the House sent us a bill with a technical change. Five times in the past, this has happened; and each time, no Senator had the temerity to get up and block it on a technical issue. It just passed by UC, and we went and moved forward.

Our constituents want us to fix the post office. An overwhelming majority of Democrats and Republicans want us to fix the post office. All the postal workers are for this bill.

My colleague from Florida says he is defending postal workers. Ask the people who represent them. I dare say, it is the head of the letter carriers and the head of the postal workers and the head of the mail handlers who represent the postal workers more than the Senator from Florida; and they are overwhelmingly for the bill, as is the Postmaster--an appointee of President Trump.

So everyone tries to come together and get something done, and the arcane rules of the Senate allow one person to stand up--on a bill that has been out there and discussed repeatedly--at the last minute and raise objections. It is regrettable, and it is sad.

There is good news, though. Even though this will delay the bill, we will pass it. We will have to just go through this elaborate process-- the old-fashioned and often discredited rules of the Senate that the Senator from Florida is employing--we will have to use them, but we will pass this bill because America needs it. Rural people need it. Senior citizens need it. Veterans need it--80 percent of veterans' prescriptions are sent through the mail. Nobody should be standing in the way of this bill. It is a sad day that just one Member has.

I yield the floor to Senator Peters.

And I dare say, the Senator from Michigan speaks for the vast majority of Members in this Chamber and in the House of either party.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate lay before the body a message from the House with respect to H.R. 3076 and that the Senate vote on the request without further intervening action or debate.

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