Floor Statements

Well, Mr. President, today is going to be a busy day on the floor of the Senate. Last week, I filed cloture on five of President Biden's nominees to serve as U.S. district judges, and today, we are going to begin working on these nominees.

Even as Senate Democrats proceed on our agenda to help working and middle-class families and tackle the climate crisis, we will not relent on speedily filling the vacancies in our Federal judiciary with qualified, mainstream, and diverse jurists.

Yesterday, we took a big step forward towards achieving that goal by confirming Myrna Perez to serve on the Second Circuit, one of the most important courts in the land, and the judges we will begin considering today continue that effort: more civil rights lawyers, more diverse candidates, more Federal defenders.

To date, the Senate has now confirmed 13 nominees to serve on our district courts, with 20 overall lifetime appointments to the Federal bench. Many of these individuals are knocking down longstanding barriers to the halls of justice: the first Native American judge, the first Muslim-American district judge. And among all of the President's nominees to date, over half--over half--are women. We are proud of that.

In a broader sense, President Biden's judicial nominees are also expanding and rewriting the rules of who merits consideration for the bench. Our Federal courts have long been presided over by former corporate lawyers and prosecutors and men. To be sure, many of these individuals have served admirably as judges, and I have been proud to support many of them over the years. But our Federal judges, more than ever--more than ever--are an essential component of our democracy, and they should better reflect the richness and diversity of our Nation-- not just demographic and cultural diversity, as important as that is, but professional diversity, too.

We need more judges who know what it is like to defend people who normally can't afford attorneys. We need more judges who have fought for those who have faced discrimination in the workplace or because of the color of their skin. We need more judges who understand the economic hardship that so many people have and when they are forced to sign documents and other things that will hurt them economically. And we need judges who have been in the fight against these efforts-- stronger than they have ever been, unfortunately--to undermine our democracy.

We need our Federal bench, in other words, to mirror our country as a whole. That is how we restore balance to the bench and strengthen people's trust in the Federal judiciary.

So, as a Democratic majority, we are going to keep working this week to make sure these nominees are confirmed by this Chamber. I hope both sides can work in good faith to move the process along quickly and in a bipartisan fashion.

Mr. President, now on Build Back Better, this week, Democrats are continuing to make important progress toward finalizing President Biden's Build Back Better plan, and we remain confident that a final deal is within reach.

When Democrats first set out to pass historic legislation to boost our economy and invest in everyday Americans, we knew that the task wouldn't be easy. The challenges that our country faces are manifold and they are severe--from the hardship of raising a family to securing a good-paying job, to affording something as basic as healthcare and the cost of prescription drugs.

Tackling these issues head-on was sure to be an immense challenge. Doing big things in Congress is always hard. But we didn't choose elected office just to pursue the easy things. We came here to do the hard things, the important things, the things that will impact Americans--working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, those struggling to get into the middle class and those struggling to stay there--that will impact those people for generations.

That is what these negotiations have been about: doing the hard work to deliver something big for the American people.

Nobody--nobody--is going to get everything they want, but we all know we need to keep our promise to the American people.

We need to tackle the climate crisis head-on, and the programs we are trying to enact will empower us to meet the President's emission goals.

We need to help working parents and give every child in America a chance to succeed in school and in life, and programs being discussed will help improve countless of lives.

And we need, I believe, to strengthen vital services, like Medicare-- relied on by millions of Americans--and to make healthcare more affordable. I believe this is so important, and we are working to get it done.

Democrats will continue fighting until we are able to pass this transformational legislation. The progress of last week illustrated how, if we stick together, work towards finding that legislative sweet spot, then we can succeed.

That is worth a few hard days. In fact, it is worth many hard days. We have some more work to do, but we remain committed to forging ahead until we reward the trust the American people have placed in us.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar No. 429, Jeffry Lane Flake, of Arizona, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Turkey; Calendar No. 430, Tom Udall, of New Mexico, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to New Zealand, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Independent State of Samoa; and Calendar No. 459, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, of Massachusetts, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Austria; 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 with no intervening action or debate; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

I yield to the Senator from Arizona for an additional nomination.

Madam President, for the information of the Senate, at

5:30 p.m., the Senate will vote today on the confirmation of the Cobb, Williams, and Giles nominations, in that order.

I yield the floor.

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 Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1899 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 1872 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Ernst substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 428, 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.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Wednesday, October 27; 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 Williams nomination; further, that at 11 a.m., the Senate vote on confirmation of the Nachmanoff and Nagala nominations, in the order listed, prior to the cloture vote on the Williams nomination; further, that at 2:15 p.m. the Senate vote on the motions to invoke cloture on the Olsen and Schroeder nominations, in the order listed; and that at 5:15 p.m. the Senate vote on motions to invoke cloture on the Dellinger and Prelogar nominations, in the order listed; further, notwithstanding rule XXII, that if cloture is invoked on any of the nominations during Wednesday's session, the confirmation votes be at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader; finally, if any nominations are confirmed during Wednesday's session, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

For the information of Senators, there will be three rollcall votes starting at 11, two rollcall votes at 2:15, and two rollcall votes at 5:15.

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.

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

Madam President, the Senate begins this week with votes to confirm two more highly qualified Biden nominees--one to serve in his administration and another to serve on the Federal bench.

First, we will vote to confirm Mr. Douglas Parker to serve as an Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA. A veteran of the Labor Department from the Obama administration, Mr. Parker will be the first Senate-confirmed OSHA head since the Obama Presidency.

He has a proven track record of protecting everyday Americans in the workplace--more important now than ever before--and I look forward to his confirmation later today.

The fact that the previous administration left OSHA empty for 4 years shows how little they cared about worker safety and protecting our workers, as many of them often do difficult jobs.

Second, the Senate will also proceed to the confirmation of a truly outstanding judicial nominee, Myrna Perez, to serve as circuit judge for the Second Circuit, which includes my home State of New York. It is a good day for the Second Circuit and for the entire Federal judiciary.

If confirmed, Myrna Perez would be a remarkable, remarkable addition to the bench. She would be the only Hispanic jurist to sit on the Second Circuit and the first since Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

And just as I was proud to support Justice Sotomayor's nomination--I even suggested her name for the Supreme Court to President Obama, a fact I am proud of--I am also, today, proud to champion Myrna's elevation to the bench.

Myrna's life was the embodiment of the American dream. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she grew up in San Antonio, TX, where her father was an Army veteran who worked as a consultant with Bexar County, while her mother worked in the post office.

As Myrna herself will tell you, growing up in a family of immigrants often meant breaking through linguistic, cultural, and racial barriers. And of all places, perhaps nowhere else did these barriers leave an important imprint on Myrna than when her aunt took her to the polls on election day. It was there where Myrna realized how an election system built from Byzantine rules shut out countless citizens from the political process. This experience instilled in Myrna a thirst for making our democracy work for all, and that has become her life's work.

After graduating from Yale, Harvard, and Columbia, Myrna eventually joined the Brennan Center for Justice, becoming the director of its Voting Rights and Elections Program. Over the course of her career, Myrna has become one of the Nation's top voting rights and elections lawyers, playing a key role in making sure Americans could vote safely in the 2020 election. She also has fought unlawful purges of voting rolls, spoken out against long wait times at polling locations in diverse neighborhoods, and has played major roles preparing six amicus briefs before the Supreme Court, including one for the Shelby case in 2013.

But Myrna's qualifications are not limited to her experience as a voting rights litigator. She is also a brilliant attorney with experience in fair housing law, disability rights, and employment discrimination. In the words of one former colleague, her skills as a lawyer are simply ``off the charts.''

The cupboards of the Federal judiciary have long been filled with attorneys who have taken the traditional route on their way to the bench--a big law firm, corporate experience, prosecutorial experience. Many of those jurists have done commendably on the bench, and I have been proud to support many of them over the years. But Myrna Perez represents something different, something wonderfully different: a sorely needed boost in both the personal and professional diversity of the Federal bench.

Especially now, we need more election lawyers in black robes. We need more Federal defenders in black robes. We need more immigrants and civil rights lawyers and diverse candidates assuming positions on the bench. We need, in other words, for our courts to reflect the rich mosaic that is the American people. With Myrna Perez's nomination, I am glad we are taking a step closer to that goal, and I hope she is confirmed later today.

Madam President, now, in addition to Myrna Perez's nomination, I have also filed cloture on five additional judicial nominations, which we will begin working on tomorrow. It is my hope that we can work to process these nominees through the Chamber quickly. They are all outstanding individuals with proven records of fidelity to the rule of law.

As we keep making progress on many pressing issues to help the American people, Senate Democrats will also continue working swiftly to fill judicial vacancies with qualified, mainstream jurists who, again, add to the bench's diversity, both demographic and occupational. All year long, that is precisely what we have done.

This year, the Senate has already confirmed the first Native American and Muslim Americans to the Federal bench, as well as multiple civil rights attorneys, public defenders, voting rights experts, and more. This is how we work to strengthen not only diversity in our judiciary but the public's trust that it truly represents all Americans.

Now on Build Back Better, we had a productive weekend as we continue to close in on a final agreement for President Biden's Build Back Better plan.

Yesterday morning, I traveled to Delaware to meet with the President and Senator Manchin about our agenda. It was a very good meeting. I thank the President for his leadership, and I also thank my colleagues in both Chambers for their shared commitment to getting this consequential and desperately needed legislation across the finish line.

No one ever said passing transformational legislation like this would be easy, but we are on track to get this done because it is so important and it is what the American people need and what they want. The progress of last week illustrated that if we stick together and work toward finding that legislative sweet spot, then we can get big things done for the American people.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, before I get into the procedural stuff, I just want to say what a great judge Myrna Perez will be, so I am so glad that she passed tonight. She is an amazing person, an amazing history: one of the leading voting rights lawyers in America and will be the second Latina on the Second Circuit, the first being Sonia Sotomayor.

So it is a very good, good vote.