Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 16, S. Res. 22.

I further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 23, S. Res. 36.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 24, S. Res. 37.

I further ask that the committee-reported amendment to the resolution be considered agreed to; that the resolution, as amended, be agreed to; that the committee-report amendment to the preamble be agreed to; that the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening or debate.

Mr. 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. 159, S. Res. 160, S. Res. 161, and S. Res. 162.

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, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 163, 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.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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 when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, April 19; 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 S. 937, the COVID hate crimes legislation; that at 5:30 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Monaco nomination and the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination; that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be considered expired and the vote on confirmation occur at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Republican leader, on Tuesday, April 20; finally, that following the cloture vote, the Senate resume legislative session.

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.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, we live in partisan times, but there are moments when we can break through the typical divisions and work together on matters of real urgency. The anti-Asian hate crimes legislation this week is such a matter. It is a very straightforward and relatively modest bill to address a pressing and important issue in the country. It would designate a point person at the Justice Department to identify hate crimes towards Asian Americans related to COVID-19--telling Federal law enforcement to make these hate crimes a top priority during the pandemic.

Just as important, it would send a strong message to two groups: to the Asian-American community that the country is paying attention to them and to all of America that this kind of bigotry cannot be tolerated.

I was gratified to hear the Republican leader yesterday say that the Senate Republican conference wanted to move forward on the bill.

This bill was never intended to be some kind of ``gotcha'' legislation. It is led by Senators Hirono and Duckworth, two outstanding Asian-American Senators who rightfully want to respond to the rising tide of anti-Asian violence over the past year. When they asked me to move the bill quickly, I thought that was exactly the right thing to do, and here it is on the floor.

The fact that Leader McConnell said yesterday he believes discrimination against Asian Americans is a real problem and wants to move forward and be constructive is a very good thing, and I salute him for it. The entire Senate ought to stand up against the recent surge of anti-Asian violence. We can take the first step later today by voting to proceed to the legislation.

As I said yesterday, my intention is to have a bipartisan amendment process, beginning with the amendment offered by Senators Moran and Blumenthal--one a Republican and one a Democrat. In consultation with the Republican leader, we can work out an agreement on other germane, non-"gotcha'' amendments to the bill if Senators have them. We should be able and should really try in earnest to reach a final resolution and pass the bill through the Senate very, very soon.

Mr. President, taking a step back for a moment, this is how the process should work in a closely divided Senate. If the Republican minority allows the Senate to move forward with a bill where we have shared priorities, the Democratic majority will work to set up a process for the Senate to consider germane amendments from both sides.

That is the essence of the organizing resolution we all agreed to earlier this year, and hopefully it is a process we can repeat. In fact, we will test that proposition on the very next piece of legislation. If we are able to finish the anti-Asian hate crimes bill in a timely manner, I will move next to consider a bipartisan water infrastructure bill.

The bill, the Drinking Water Infrastructure Act, was advanced by the Environment and Public Works Committee on a unanimous--unanimous--vote. It will authorize tens of billions of dollars to make sure American families, especially low-income families, have access to safe and clean drinking water. I salute Senator Carper, the chair of the committee, as well as Senator Capito, the ranking Republican on the committee, for coming together on such an important and necessary bill.

So, in addition to further nominations, it is my intention to move the bipartisan water infrastructure bill next week.

As the country turns the corner from COVID-19, our focus will soon shift to

how we can cement our economic recovery and create the jobs of the future. President Biden's Build Back Better agenda--a big, bold investment in infrastructure and jobs--is extremely important to that effort. It has wide support among Democrats and wide support among the American people. Many, many Republicans out there in the country support this bill and this concept. The water infrastructure bill is a small but important part of that overall effort.

We hope our Republican colleagues join us in advancing these proposals to repair and reimagine our Nation's infrastructure for a new century. Just like the anti-Asian hate crimes bill, if Republicans let us get on the bill, we can work out a process to have bipartisan debate and amendments, but if the Republican minority prevents the Senate from even debating some of these commonsense proposals, we will have to try to move forward without them

Mr. President, yesterday President Biden announced that American forces will come home from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. It has been 20 years since that fateful day when the Towers fell and the Pentagon was hit. We in New York live particularly hard with that. I still think of the people I knew who perished: a guy I played basketball with in high school; a businessman who helped me on the way up; a brave firefighter who used to go around the city urging people to donate blood together. But in that time since then, America's Armed Forces, thank God, have become extremely successful in deterring and rooting out terrorist networks around the globe.

President Obama authorized the mission that took out Osama bin Laden, the architect of the 9/11 attacks. Our intelligence agencies have assessed that al-Qaida and other terrorist groups do not pose an immediate threat to strike the United States from Afghanistan because of the brave work of our Armed Forces and intelligence organizations. So after sinking two decades of blood and treasure into wars in the Middle East, it is time to bring our troops home. America does not need to fight forever wars.

I applaud President Biden's decision. Unlike President Trump, President Biden and Secretary Austin have developed a careful and thought-out plan. This isn't President Trump waking up one morning and announcing a random new policy on Twitter while our generals scramble to catch up. This will be a careful and thought-out plan with a real timetable and a firm end date.

Whenever we talk about American troops in the Middle East, one of the concerns is missions creep and the enormous pressure to kick the can down the road and delay final decisions. We should and must stick to the date the President has proposed as the last day our troops will be there. I have been assured by the White House that the September 11 date will stick and that President Biden will not kick the can down the road.

I know many Senators have questions, so I am happy to let my colleagues know that the administration has agreed to brief all Senators on this important decision. The briefing will take place soon. It will be in the SCIF, and everyone's questions can be asked and answered. The President himself will address the Nation later today and explain the reasons for his decision.

In my view, President Biden's plan to bring American troops home from Afghanistan is a very wise one.

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, we are very pleased that the Senate just took an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote--92 to 6--to move forward with legislation to fight the surge of anti-Asian violence across our country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anti-Asian bigotry and violence is a very serious issue that has deep roots in our country's history. Regrettably, it has grown far worse over the last year. It is something that affects constituents in all of our States and has proud Asian-American citizens fearing for their safety. I have been told stories that make me ache: an older Asian gentleman afraid to go outside because he would be cursed at, berated, even spat upon. A young lady told me she would no longer take the subway to work because the stares at her were so angry and intense that it was just unnerving. Then it is worse with assaults and violence and even a death.

We need to do something, and I am so glad that our Republican colleagues have voted with us to proceed with this legislation. This was never intended as gotcha legislation. It was always intended as bipartisan legislation, and for the information of the Senate, we are making good progress on reaching a bipartisan agreement with sensible, germane, and constructive amendments coming from Republican colleagues--the Senator from Kansas, the Senator from Maine--that, I believe, make the bill even stronger. So we want to continue with this bipartisan process.

I intend the first amendment to the bill to be an amendment offered by Senators Moran and Blumenthal. We are working with the Republican leader to determine if and how many other amendments to the bill there will be so that we can consider them and vote on final passage without any gotcha or not germane amendments, but we are moving this bill forward because it does need to go forward with a sense of urgency.

The legislation will send a loud and clear message that racism and violence against Asian Americans have no place--no place--in American society. We should endeavor to finish our work as quickly as possible and without delay.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, over the past year, there has been a rising tide of violence and discrimination against Asian Americans, from shouted insults and racial slurs to outright physical assaults.

I have attended a whole bunch of rallies against Asian-American violence over the past few weeks. You would be heartsick--heartsick--to hear the stories shared, the fear in the voices of Asian-American citizens, and to listen to the way they change their daily lives to avoid the subway or stay indoors most of the day.

The surge in anti-Asian violence is revolting and, sadly, contains the echoes of dark chapters in our history when Asian Americans were subject to widespread bigotry and discrimination.

The poison of racism has always existed in America, but unfortunately, over the past 4 years, it seems to have found new life. There is no question that the former President fanned the flames of racial bias in our country and too often encouraged--let alone discouraged--the vicious slander that connected COVID-19 to the people of Asian descent.

Every day in America, in this 21st-century America, Asian Americans fear they might be insulted, assaulted, spat upon, or even worse. As Americans, we must stand up and do something about it. The foundation of our pluralistic society is that an attack on one group is an attack on all of us. So tomorrow the Senate will vote on whether to take up and debate Senator Hirono's anti-Asian hate crimes bill, sponsored by Representative Meng in the House. This bill is as unobjectionable as it could be. It would designate a point person at the Justice Department to identify hate crimes towards Asian Americans related to COVID-19, telling Federal law enforcement to make these hate crimes a top priority during the pandemic.

This isn't some kind of ``gotcha'' legislation. It is not some complex new program or appropriation. This is as straightforward as it gets. This is legislation our times demand.

Of course, we are open to strengthening the bill. I understand that there is an effort underway to add bipartisan legislation called the No Hate Act--sponsored by Senators Blumenthal and Moran, one Democrat and one Republican--as an amendment, and I fully support that effort.

The Blumenthal-Moran bill would provide resources to State and local law enforcement to improve hate crimes reporting, increase training, while also improving education to root out the bias that fuels these despicable, despicable acts. That makes perfect sense as a bipartisan amendment to Senator Hirono's legislation, and I believe that combating hate against the Asian-American community should be thoroughly, if not unanimously, bipartisan.

Congress can send a strong signal in one loud, clear voice that these kinds of hate crimes will not be tolerated. The way to do it is for 60 Senators to vote to proceed to the bill tomorrow. I sure hope it will be more than 60. Then it is my intention to make the first amendment to the bill the bipartisan No Hate Act, but in order to offer the

amendment, the Senate must vote to proceed with debate on the bill.

President Biden has called on Congress to swiftly pass Senator Hirono's legislation and get it to his desk for signature as soon as possible. There is no good reason the Senate can't complete the task this week.

Now on another matter, beyond Senator Hirono's legislation, the Senate is also focused this week on confirming an impressive slate of nominees to the Biden administration.

I am especially pleased that in a few hours, the Senate will vote to confirm Polly Trottenberg to serve as Deputy Secretary of Transportation. This is great news for New York and great news for the country.

Her credentials are beyond doubt. For the last 7 years, she has served as New York City's commissioner of transportation, managing a transportation system that helps tens of millions of people get to and from work, connects businesses to customers, and brings life to one of America's largest and most visited cities every single day.

Before that, Polly served in the Department of Transportation under President Obama, advising policymakers and working with stakeholders across the country on everything from high-speed rail to roads, highways, and bridges.

Of course, her nomination is especially meaningful to me. Polly served for nearly a decade as my legislative director and transportation adviser. She knows the needs of the country, and she knows the needs of New York. And a pet project so important to the New York Gateway will be well served in her capable hands. We will get this done.

Take it from me: Polly has smarts, she has savvy, and she has moxie. She knows how to work with people of all backgrounds to get things done for the American people. And there isn't a moment to lose. As we work to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and bring our economy fully back online, we must look ahead to tackle the challenges of our time, and on top of the list is finally getting serious about addressing our Nation's crumbling infrastructure--a topic that Ms. Trottenberg is very familiar with.

For New York, as I mentioned, this means continuing to move the ball forward on projects like Gateway, rebuilding the two rail tunnels under the Hudson--perhaps the most important transportation infrastructure priority in the entire Nation and something I have spoken to Ms. Trottenberg and Secretary Buttigieg and President Biden about regularly.

But our infrastructure woes extend to every city and every State in the country. Our roads, bridges, highways, airports, public transit, housing, and the electric grid are all in need of an overhaul. So, too, does our country need to invest in the infrastructure of the 21st century--broadband internet access, 5G, electric vehicles. America cannot compete in this century if our infrastructure is stuck in the last century.

That is why, in addition to confirming important nominees like Ms. Trottenberg, the Senate will continue to work with the Biden administration on a comprehensive infrastructure and jobs bill. If there is an issue that ought to unite Democrats and Republicans, it is putting people to work to update our Nation's infrastructure.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.