Floor Statements

Mr. President, it is difficult to put into words what it is like to stand here on the floor of the U.S. Senate on this day of all days.

For 163 years, this space has been the home of the upper Chamber of the American Congress. What has taken place inside this room over the centuries has determined in very real ways the trajectory of our Nation. In this room, we carry on the mission handed down to us by the Framers to assure the voice of the people is heard and represented and acted upon.

But 1 year ago today, on January 6, 2021, mob violence descended upon this Chamber and upon this Capitol. Thousands of rioters, possessed by equal measures of rage, conspiracy, and spurred into action by the sitting President of the United States, attacked the U.S. Capitol in an armed, violent, and deadly effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power.

Its windows were smashed. Its offices were vandalized. And lawmakers and our staffs--everyday citizens who love their country and work here every day--feared for their lives. Nearly 140 police officers were injured, and at least 5 people lost their lives that day or in its aftermath.

The warnings of history are clear. When democracies are in danger, it often starts with a mob. That is what happened a year ago here in this building: a mob attack. And for mob violence to win the day, it doesn't need everyone to join in. It just needs a critical mass of people to stay out of the way, to ignore it, to underestimate it, to excuse it and even condone it.

The mob can start out as a small number, but if it is allowed to grow and leaders egg on the mob, encourage it, it can become poison. That is what Donald Trump is doing, as even his response to President Biden's speech today showed. And once that happens, the unthinkable could become real. Democracy erodes and could, God forbid--God forbid, horror of horrors--vanish.

The poisonous mob mentality lives on today in the threats against election workers, poll workers, even other public servants like school board members and health workers. This is what erodes a democracy. And Donald Trump today continues to spread his poisonous vile about the Big Lie.

To borrow from President Franklin Roosevelt, the violent insurrection of January 6 was a day that will live forever in infamy, a permanent stain in the story of the American democracy and the final bitter, unforgivable act of the worst President in modern times.

Today, on this first anniversary, Members from both the House and Senate and our staffs, the President, and the Vice President are here today at the Capitol, and one of our purposes is to share memories in commemoration of that day. At noon we will hold a moment of silence in honor of those who were lost because of the attack.

And to all my colleagues and to staff who struggle to get through today, you are not alone. You are not alone. We are here by your side. The Employee Assistance Program has resources available to all Senate staff who are processing what happened a year ago.

Let me share my personal experience on that day. As I have recounted many times since then, my personal experience that day was, in some ways, like

the opening sentence of Charles Dickens' ``A Tale of Two Cities'': the best of times, the worst of times.

First came the best of times. Twelve hours before the attack, at 4 a.m. in the morning, I learned--or several hours before the attack, at 4 a.m., I learned that our two Democratic Senators had won in Georgia and we would gain the majority.

At 4 a.m. it became clear. I tried to get some sleep, couldn't, got down in my car, drove to Washington, and got to the floor of this Chamber at 1 p.m., for the first time as the putative majority leader.

Within 45 minutes of sitting there and watching the beginning of counting the ballots, a police officer in a big flak jacket and a large rifle grabbed me firmly by the collar like this--I will never forget that grip--and said to me: ``Senator, we've got to get out of here. You're in danger.''

We walked out the Senate Chamber door, made a right turn, went through another door. This happened to be captured on the videotape above, and it was shown at the impeachment trial, although I didn't even know they had the tape until I saw it at the impeachment trial. But we go through the door. You don't see us for 20 seconds. And then we are running out of the door at full speed.

I was within 30 feet of these nasty, racist, bigoted insurrectionists. Had someone had a gun, had two of them blocked off the door, who knows what would have happened. I was told later that one of them reportedly said: ``There's the big Jew. Let's get him.''

Bigotry against one is bigotry against all. And I saw something that I had been told later never happened before--the Confederate flag flying in this dear Capitol. That is just one of many searing, grotesque images of that unimaginable, most un-American day.

There were good moments too. I remember when the leaders--Senator McConnell, myself, Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy--were sent off to the secret place. We convened after desperately trying to get the President on the phone to ask him to call the rioters off. We spoke to the Secretary of Defense and the Acting Attorney General, but to no avail. But then the four of us got together and said: We are going to come back. We are going to count those votes. We are not going to let the violent insurrectionists stop us. And count the votes we did until, I believe it was 3 a.m. the next morning. That was the moment, amidst a lot of bad moments.

So now we ask 1 year later, how shall our country move forward? What are we to say and think and do in response to a day when a sitting American President, rather than step down from office, unleashed his own supporters to attack the government through mob violence? How can we help those scarred by that day find solace, find healing? How can we make clear to the American people, to the world, and even to ourselves that our democracy is still whole?

First, we must begin by commemorating our emergency responders who have died, whether through complications from injuries or, sadly, through suicide in the days and months after the violence: Brian Sicknick of New Jersey; Howie Liebengood of Virginia; Billy Evans of Massachusetts; Jeffrey Smith of Illinois; and Gunther Hashida of Virginia. Today and every day, we remember them; we mourn their loss; we honor their limitless heroism in the face of the unthinkable.

Second, we also thank every single member of the Capitol Police, the DC Metro Police, and the National Guard, who kept us safe and prevented a violent riot from turning into something much worse. That afternoon, our Capitol Police were outnumbered, unprepared, and largely left on their own. Just watching on television the brutal beating of one of them by the mob, another being crushed between a door and a wall, just rips your heart apart. You relive that day, and you remember how the Capitol Police suffered but persisted and helped preserve our democracy. When they held the line, our democracy survived. So not only do we thank them but we commit to continue supporting them and fighting for them as they fought to defend this building.

Finally, the only way we will truly move forward from January 6 is by speaking truth to power--we cannot avoid it--the truth about what happened that day, about what led to the violence, and about what it means for our democracy moving forward.

I say this because too many--often depending on their allegiances-- seem desperate to sweep the memory of January 6 under the rug. Too many are working to rewrite the history of what happened, to downplay or excuse or even defend the mob, to excuse an insurrection of this very Capitol. Too many are hoping the American people will just look away and forget that day ever took place. After all, they say, Donald Trump is no longer President, right? That can't happen. We can't let that happen. We have an obligation not to let that happen because history shows us that when you ignore or paint over this kind of violent action, it will recur, often in worse form than it had originally. That is what history shows.

We didn't look away after the attack on Pearl Harbor. We didn't look away after the attacks on 9/11. They may have been from foreign powers, but we still--just because it was Americans who did this, we cannot look away after the attack of January 6. What we must do instead is stare the truth, however ugly, in the face: The attack of January 6 didn't come out of the blue. It was not an act of God. It was not something that came from foreign soil. It wasn't even just some mere protest that got out of hand. No, no, no, no, no. January 6 was an attempt to reverse, through violent means, the outcome of a free and fair election, an insurrection--call it what it is, what it was. It was fundamentally rooted in Donald Trump's Big Lie that the election of 2020 was illegitimate, in deep offense to the peaceful transfer of power--indeed, in deep offense to the very notion of truth itself.

Anyone who thinks that the origins of this insurrection are going away should just have listened a few moments ago when Donald Trump did it again--lying and lying and lying about the election, a clear reminder of the threat that he and his lie remain to our Nation.

Alarmingly--alarmingly--many of his supporters quickly embraced the lie in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Many of them truly believed and still believe that he won the election and the game was rigged--not a small number, large numbers of Americans; if you look at polls, tens of millions.

It didn't matter there was no proof to any of these claims. Donald Trump kept saying it and saying it and saying it again. And he called his supporters to rally here in Washington in a last-ditch effort to stay in power. We all know this. That is what happened. We can't forget it.

It was Donald Trump's Big Lie that soaked our political landscape in kerosene. It was Donald Trump's rally on The Mall that struck the match. Then came the fire. And pouring gasoline on that fire are many in one branch of our media who spread the Big Lie then and continue to spread the Big Lie even though they know it is false, and millions listen to these people and believe it.

Here, too, is another terrible truth: The disease of the Big Lie continues to this day. The attacks on our democracy are ongoing, if not by the force of baseball bats and pipe bombs, then certainly through a quieter and much more organized effort to subvert democracy from the bottom up.

Just as the Big Lie inspired the attack of January 6, the Big Lie continues like a disease across State legislatures throughout the country, where we are seeing the most restrictive voter suppression efforts since Jim Crow--since Jim Crow--in 21st-century America, turning the clock way back.

Let's be abundantly clear. These new anti-voter laws are on the books today only because their authors cited the Big Lie, cited the fictitious bugaboo of voter fraud and are trying to succeed where the insurrection failed.

Unless we confront the Big Lie, unless we all do our part to fortify and strengthen our democracy, the political violence of January 6 risks becoming not an aberration but, God forbid, the norm. And we have seen it, too, with the threats against election workers, teachers, school administrators, healthcare workers. We cannot put our heads in the sand. We cannot brush this over.

What does that mean for the Senate? I think we have to talk about the realities here today too. It means we must

pass legislation, effective legislation, to defend our democracy, to protect the right to vote. We must pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act so that our country's destiny is determined by the voice of the people and not by the violent whims of lies and even mob rule. We must also guard against the false hopes of solutions that don't deal with the problem, that try to cover it up or push it away because people don't want to deal with it.

Some say the answer lies in doing the bare minimum, like reforming the Electoral Count Act that my friend the Republican leader has floated in recent days. Let me take this opportunity to make clear that that plan, the McConnell plan--that is what it is--is unacceptably insufficient and even offensive. Scorekeeping matters little if the game is rigged.

As we know too well, State legislatures are working day and night to undermine our democratic process from the get-go by empowering partisans to potentially say which ballots count and which do not. What good is it to accurately count a result that is compromised from the start?

Senator McConnell's plan to reform the Electoral Count Act would do nothing more than codify the Vice President's ceremonial role in the counting of the electoral college votes, effectively guaranteeing that partisan State legislatures could overturn the elections without fear of recourse. Look at what it does. Look at what it does. It is a cynical idea. It is an idea to divert attention from the real issue because they don't want to confront the real issue.

This cannot be. This should not be about one party versus another. Voting rights have always been bipartisan--supported by Bush, H.W., and W., supported by Reagan--passing this Chamber with large votes from both sides of the aisle. That is what always used to happen until the Republican Party was taken over by Donald Trump.

So it is not about one party versus another. It can't be. It is about one terrible lie against democracy itself, the kind of lie that, if let stand both verbally and in action, erodes our democracy--erodes our democracy.

If a majority of people--there is already a substantial minority who don't believe our elections are legitimate, aided and egged on by Donald Trump and rightwing media. What if a majority of this country, because of these pernicious actions, starts believing it? A majority of Americans don't believe that elections are on the level? Just ask yourself what will happen. I can't predict the details, but I can predict that it will diminish the greatness of this country in small and even large ways.

So we cannot--this should not be a partisan issue. It is about falsehood versus truth. In the history of this country, we have always disagreed on ideology but never on facts until recently and in such an important area.

If lying about results of an election is acceptable, if instigating a mob against the government is considered permissible, if encouraging political violence becomes the norm, it will be open season on this grand democracy, this noble experiment, and everything will be up for grabs by whoever has the biggest clubs, the sharpest spears, the most effective lies.

I do not believe that is the ultimate destiny of our country. The mob may be strong, but the counter is stronger--the roots of democracy, the feelings of the American people. And the affection and love for this grand, noble experiment in democracy are stronger as long as we speak out, as long as we act.

The wellspring of democracy is deep, and even in the most difficult of times, Americans have rallied and risen to the occasion. Since the early days of our Republic, Americans launched mighty movements, fought a bloody civil war, and, yes, passed Federal election laws and voting rights laws to expand the promise of democracy until there were no more boundaries.

We are called on, importuned by the millions who have lost their lives, to defend this democracy, to defend it once again. I call on all Americans--Democrats, Republicans, Independents--to rise to the occasion and ensure that the mob, the violence, the lies do not win the day. Let the anniversary of January 6 forever serve as a reminder that the march to perfect our democracy is never over; that our democracy is a precious, sometimes fragile gift, purchased by those who struggled before us and that all of us now must do our part to keep the American vision going in the present and into the future.

Somehow, in ways I can't predict but I know are true, I am certain that God's mysterious hand will guide us, and truth and right will prevail.

I yield the floor.

Would my colleague yield for a minute?

OK. We are about to approach noon, where we will have a moment of silence, not only in memory of those who were lost and those who were injured, but in all of the workforce here on Capitol Hill, who worked through that day under dire circumstances--they did an amazing job--and in recognition of the great job they do for us every day.

So we thank not only the floor staff, but all of those who work here.

And with that, I think we will commence the moment of silence, and after we finish, I will call on Senator Klobuchar and then Senator Stabenow, who will resume. OK?

So if we might now at 12 noon--well, it is a little before. It is 2 minutes before.

Mr. President I ask we commence a minute of silence, a

moment of silence, for all of those who have helped us then and help us now, the staffs and everybody else.

Mr. President, earlier this morning, I had the opportunity to join my colleagues in the Senate Rules Committee for a hearing on the progress our Capitol has made to increase the security of this complex in the aftermath of January 6.

We heard testimony from U.S. Capitol Chief of Police Thomas Manger, who in his first 6 months has done an outstanding job to make this building safer and better prepared for the sorts of horrors that befell this hallowed space only 1 year ago this week.

That day, on January 6, 2021, the men and women of our Capitol Police stood on the frontlines of the unimaginable: a violent assault upon the U.S. Capitol instigated by former President Trump and carried out by a mob of radicals looking to halt the peaceful transfer of power. That day, our Capitol policemen were outnumbered and underequipped. Yet their bravery and quick thinking saved many lives and prevented a violent riot from becoming something even worse. Today, we honor all those who stepped up that day, especially those whom we have lost in the aftermath.

In the year since that attack, we have gotten a lot of things done in the Senate to strengthen our Capitol Police Force, to ensure from a security

standpoint that the violence of that day never happens again. Thanks to this work and to the new leadership of the Capitol Police, the U.S. Capitol today is undoubtedly considerably safer than it was a year ago.

But let's be clear. Let's be very clear. January 6 was not merely a senseless act of violence; it was an attempt to reverse through violent means the outcome of a free and a fair election. And make no mistake, the root cause of January 6 is still with us today. It lives on through the Big Lie pushed by Donald Trump that is undermining faith in our political system and making our country and our democracy less safe.

A year after January 6, the biggest threat to our Capitol, our Capitol Police, and our democracy today is the Big Lie perpetrated by Donald Trump. Without addressing the root causes of the event of January 6, the insurrection will not be an aberration; it could well become the norm.

Just like the Senate has the power to pass legislation supporting our Capitol Police Force, we have the same power and obligation to pass legislation to address these root causes that brought the Big Lie to life. That is what my Senate colleagues and I are focused on and are committed to doing. We must act.

More than any other point in recent history, threats of political violence are on the rise. Election administrators are facing harassment and even death threats for just carrying out their duties. These are people who are sort of like civil servants. They are simply in charge of making sure the vote is counted fairly and accurately. In many States like mine, they are bipartisan. In some States, they are nonpartisan. But they are simply doing a job to make sure that the vote is counted correctly. Yet there are death threats against them for doing just that. By one measure, nearly one-third of these election officials say they feel less safe on the job, and many are quitting in fear of their safety.

All of us have a role to play to protect our democratic system-- everyone from our Capitol Police to the voting public, to those of us entrusted to serve in elected office.

Mr. President, just as the Capitol Police have taken the experience of January 6 to institute reforms for the future, every Member of the U.S. Senate is called to do the same, to reckon with the lessons of that terrible day and take action to cure America of the disease of the Big Lie. That means passing legislation to protect our democracy from subversion and safeguard the right to vote, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.

Last year, Senate Democrats tried multiple times to get voting rights passed with bipartisan cooperation. Many of us--especially my colleague Senator Manchin--tried in good faith to bring the other side to the table. But every single time, Republicans mounted a partisan filibuster to stop this Chamber from even having a debate on these measures.

By now, Republicans have made it abundantly clear that bipartisanship is not an option when it comes to voting rights. That is against the grand tradition where the Voting Rights Act had gotten the support of President Reagan and President H. W. Bush and President Bush and got large bipartisan margins when it was renewed in the past. That is not true anymore. This is a new Republican Party under Donald Trump, and they are opposing any attempt--any attempt--to strengthen voting rights.

If this continues, the only option left for Democrats is to explore and propose reasonable fixes to restore the Senate so we can get these critical pieces of legislation passed into law. We will consider proposals to restore the Senate on or before January 17.

The Republican leader has wasted no opportunity to criticize any discussion--even a discussion--on how Members of this body can act to restore the Senate to its proper function. Mere moments ago, the Republican leader strangely suggested that to make this Chamber better debate, compromise, and pass legislation somehow equates to breaking the Senate. He criticized the idea that Democrats would go at it alone. But I would remind everyone that when Leader McConnell and Republicans were in the majority, they used their simple majority for almost every major initiative they wished to put in place: the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, passing a multitrillion-dollar tax break for the ultrarich, and installing three rightwing Supreme Court Justices. They were happy to change the rules if it meant getting their picks confirmed to the Court.

So let's stop the crocodile tears right here and right now. The asymmetry cannot hold. If Senate Republicans continue to abuse the filibuster to prevent this body from acting, the Senate must adapt. Just as Robert C. Byrd said, when circumstances change, the rules should change.

There is no better way to heal the damage of January 6 than to act so that our constitutional order is preserved for the future. We must do so by any means that we can, even if it means Democrats find alternative paths forward on our own. For the sake of the vision handed down to us by the Framers, Democrats are going to continue this work in the weeks to come.

I yield the floor.

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 executive session to consider Calendar No. 612.

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. 465.

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

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, January 5, be waived.

Mr. President, before I get into my remarks, I ask unanimous consent that the scheduled vote on the Sanchez nomination occur at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader.

Mr. President, for the information of Senators, we expect to have this vote later today. Obviously, the delay in getting here because of the snow has forced us to postpone it until later in the day.

Mr. President, first, let me wish you and all of my colleagues a happy and healthy new year. I hope everyone traveling across the country remains safe in the face of these recent winter storms.

This morning, let me begin with a few words on the loss of our dear friend, our beloved former leader, and one of the brightest stars to ever serve in the U.S. Senate, our former colleague Harry Reid of Searchlight, NV, as he would proudly refer to himself.

Harry Reid, in short, was one of the most incredible individuals I have ever met, the sort of person you come across only a handful of times in your life. He was tough as nails, a fighter to

his core, but also one of the most compassionate individuals you could imagine.

To lose Harry Reid is like losing track of the North Star. There are many in this Chamber who got to where they are because of him.

Next Wednesday, January 12, Harry will make his final return to the U.S. Capitol, where he will lie in state under the Rotunda. As we honor his life and legacy, I will have more to say in the coming days. But for now, I can only say that Harry was my leader, my mentor, and one of my dearest friends.

When you lose someone who is as close to us as Harry was, they are never truly gone. They will always stay with us. As we gavel in today, I take comfort knowing that Harry is with us in spirit, walking alongside us as we continue the work he dedicated himself to for so many years.

To Harry's family, to his wife Landra, to all the children and grandchildren, I offer my prayers and my condolences.

Now, Mr. President, the Senate gavels in on this icy January morning to mark the beginning of a new year, and there is much we must accomplish. At the start of 2020, few could have foreseen the awful trials our country has endured over the past 2 years.

But, against adversity, the American people responded. Last year, over 200 million Americans got vaccinated against COVID, 6 million jobs were added back to the economy, and Congress delivered on historic legislation that gave Americans a much needed lifeline to get through the worst of COVID.

In a 50-50 Senate, we passed the first stand-alone infrastructure bill in decades, passed historic funding for the sciences and tech innovation, and confirmed the most judicial nominees in a President's first year since Ronald Reagan.

Despite the immense challenges before us, we now begin 2022 better off compared to where we were 1 year ago. But, of course, there is much, much still left to do. So let us continue.

To begin this week, the Senate will vote to confirm Gabriel Sanchez as U.S. circuit court judge for the Ninth Circuit. A graduate of Yale, a Fulbright scholar, and a current associate justice of the California Court of Appeals, Justice Sanchez has presided in hundreds of cases and has the experience and expertise necessary to be an excellent addition to the Federal bench.

Off the floor, the negotiations will continue with Members of our caucus and with the White House on finding a path forward on Build Back Better. As I mentioned before Christmas, I intend to hold a vote in the Senate on BBB, and we will keep voting until we get a bill passed. The stakes are high for us to find common ground on this legislation. The climate crisis continues to worsen. Families and children continue dealing with the impacts of COVID, and too many Americans still struggle to pay the high cost of healthcare and prescription drugs. We will keep working until we get something done.

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

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 ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.