Floor Statements

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 understand there is a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading.

Mr. President, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceeding.

Mr. President, a week ago the Nation reeled in horror as a deranged gunman shot and killed eight people at three different locations across the Atlanta area. Six of them were Asian-American women.

Just 6 days later, another shooting. Ten people were shot and killed by a gunman who entered a grocery store in Boulder, CO. Some were customers, some were employees. One was as young as 20, and one was as old as 65.

One of the victims was merely walking through the parking lot after fixing the coffee machines at the nearby Starbucks, the son of Serbian refugees and the shining hope of his family.

One of the fallen was a local police officer, Eric Talley, an 11-year veteran of Boulder Police and a father of seven. You look at each of their faces--young, wise, older. You ache. Gone. You think of their families whom you don't know. They never will see them again, taken so cruelly and so quickly.

Today, flags around the Capitol will remain at half-staff in honor of the victims, and we all grieve with their families. We also grieve with the community of Boulder and the people of Colorado. And we grieve with the people of Georgia and all people across the United States whose lives have been

forever marred by the plague of gun violence.

COVID-19 is not the only epidemic claiming innocent lives in America. Last year alone, 20,000 Americans were killed by gun violence, the highest number in almost two decades. Most of these incidents never reached the headlines, but we cannot allow ourselves to become numb to their devastation. After one of the most difficult years in American history, we all want our lives and our country to return to normal. But not this normal--oh, no, not the normal that accepts everyday gun violence as a matter of course, an incidental risk to living in these United States of America. We cannot, we must not accept that as normal. We must not shrink from our moral obligation to act.

Two years ago, the Republican leader, then in the majority, promised that this Chamber would have a real debate on gun violence in this country. It never happened. Even the former President made some noises about supporting commonsense gun safety measures before quickly retreating, the result, once again, of bitter, reflexive opposition by the NRA to any progress and fear among so many Republicans of what the NRA might do to them if they spoke truth to power.

Well, now we don't have a Republican majority. We have a Democratic one. This time is going to be different. A Democratic majority in the Senate is going to act. I have committed to put legislation to expand background checks on the floor of the Senate. We will debate it. We will vote on it.

Just yesterday, my colleague Senator Durbin led the Judiciary Committee in hearing from scores of witnesses about proposals to reduce gun violence that the Senate might take up.

I have started the process to make legislation to combat hate crimes against Asian Americans, led by Senators Hirono and Representative Meng in the House, available for action on the floor.

I have been told by so many Asians in New York that they are afraid just to walk down the street, something they used to do easily. I have seen the pain and fear in their faces as I have attended the rallies in New York.

Make no mistake, under the Democratic majority the Senate will debate and address the epidemic of gun violence in this country

Mr. President, now on the Levine nomination, today, the Senate will confirm the nomination of Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania's top health official, to be the next Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The Biden administration has brought many historic firsts into its ranks, including the first openly gay Cabinet Secretary of any Agency. The confirmation of Rachel Levine represents another important milestone for the American LGBTQ community. She will be the first openly transgender official ever confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The arc of history is long, but it keeps bending in the direction of justice.

As transgender Americans suffer higher rates of abuse, homelessness, and depression than almost every other group, it is important to have national figures like Dr. Levine, who, by virtue of being in the public spotlight, will help break down barriers of ignorance and fear.

Pennsylvania's political leaders say Dr. Levine has forced people in their State to better understand the transgender community. One State legislator said:

She has robbed people of the false premise that they don't

know any trans people and therefore don't need to be

respectful of trans people.

The historic nature of her nomination should not be lost on anyone, but Dr. Levine thoroughly deserves to be confirmed on the strength of her qualifications.

Despite several attacks on her gender identity over the past year, Dr. Levine has stayed laser-focused on helping the State of Pennsylvania manage and respond to COVID. The quality of her public service is reflected in the fact that she was confirmed not once, not twice, but three times by the Republican-led State senate to serve first as physician general and then as health secretary.

The U.S. Senate should follow suit today and make Dr. Levine the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Mr. President, on one more issue, I was just over at the Rules Committee hearing. It is the first hearing I attended as majority leader because it was about S. 1, so important. And there, I showed--I showed my anger and frustration at what Republican legislatures are attempting to do throughout the country, take away people's right to vote, particularly people of color.

You know, it has been more than 160 years since the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments abolished slavery, but Jim Crow is still with us. When a State says you need a notary public to cast an absentee ballot, it is no different than asking African Americans to guess the number of jellybeans in the jar before they vote. It is certainly no different in intent to deprive them of their right, their constitutional right to vote.

And here we have Republican Senators making excuses for these vicious and often bigoted deprivations of the right to vote. They say that this is a State issue. No, Congress has passed numerous laws dealing with Federal voting rights, and, in fact, the Constitution explicitly says that the Congress has the ability and right to do it. And yet Republicans who lost the election, instead of doing what we should be doing in a democracy--when you lose, you are supposed to figure out why you lost and win over the voters you didn't, but they would just deprive the voters who voted against them of the right to vote. That is eerily reminiscent of what dictators like Erdogan in Turkey or Orban in Hungary would do.

Our Republican Party has sunk so low that they have a Republican leader who is over in the Rules Committee defending these actions by State legislatures.

I asked him and all the Republicans to give us a reason. Why did the Georgia Legislature only pick Sundays to say there should be no early voting on Sunday? We know why. It is because that is the day African Americans vote in the ``souls to the polls'' operation, where they go from church to vote. It is despicable.

Every time you think the country has moved a long way, you see steps taken backward. Let's make no mistake about it, the shadow of Donald Trump--his big lie, his incessant focus on doing anything that benefits him, no matter if it is the truth or not, if it is constitutional or not, if it is racist or not--has now fallen over this party, and they are not even standing up to protect the sacred right to vote.

Shame, shame, shame on all of them. Shame. How can you defend these actions throughout legislatures, which the Washington Post said would amount to tens of millions of people losing their right to vote?

Are we a democracy? Are we? The shadow of Donald Trump falls dark and large over this caucus when they act like that, and it happens far too often. We will not let this stand. We will not let this stand. S. 1 will pass this body.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for a second reading and, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. President, now, I understand that there is a joint resolution at the desk that is due for a second reading.

In order to place the joint resolution on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceedings.

Mr. President, now, this morning the Nation grieves with the people of Boulder, CO, the site of another horrific mass shooting last night. A depraved gunman opened fire inside a local supermarket, killing 10 people, including a police officer. Many more are injured.

Our hearts go out to the people of Boulder and the families of those Americans who have lost their lives so unexpectedly.

Our thanks again go out to the brave first responders.

People kiss someone goodbye for the morning and send somebody off to school and they are never seen again--never seen again. It is just awful. And it has been less than 8 weeks since eight people were killed in another series of shootings in Georgia. We cannot seem to finish grieving one tragedy before another takes place.

It is a reminder that we must confront a devastating truth in the United States: An unrelenting epidemic of gun violence steals innocent lives with alarming regularity. Even amidst the pandemic, gun violence has not receded. In fact, confoundedly, it has grown even worse, and 2020 was one of the deadliest years for gun violence in two decades--a reminder that most gun violence doesn't even make headlines but nonetheless causes immeasurable devastation to communities from one end of our country to the other.

So we have a lot of work to do. I have already committed to bringing universal background checks legislation to the floor of the Senate. There is a hearing today in the Senate Judiciary Committee under Chairman Durbin's leadership to examine several commonsense proposals to reduce gun violence.

Two summers ago, the Republican leader--then the majority leader-- promised there would be a debate in the Senate on gun violence, but it never happened. It never happened.

This Senate will be different. The Senate is going to debate and address

the epidemic of gun violence in this country.

Today, our hearts are with the people of Colorado and with everyone whose lives have been touched by gun violence.

Mr. President, now, as I mentioned, the shooting in Colorado comes only a week after another tragedy in the communities outside Atlanta, GA, where eight people were killed in a string of shootings, six of whom were women of Asian descent.

It is important to place the Atlanta area shootings in context. Over the past year, there has been a rising tide of violence against Asian Americans driven by fear, misinformation, and age-old prejudices against the Asian-American community, from shouted insults and racial slurs to outright assault.

A 61-year-old Filipino American was slashed in the face by a box cutter on the New York subway. An 84-year-old Thai American in San Francisco was shoved so violently it led to his death. And now this attack in Georgia.

Every day, Asian Americans walk down the streets looking over their shoulders, wondering if they will be assaulted or even worse--even worse.

The poison of racism has always existed in America, but over the past 4 years it seems to have found new life. There is no question that the former President Donald Trump, through word and deed, fanned the flames of racial bias in our country. It is not a coincidence that it is worse now than it has been before. Donald Trump fanned those flames--fanned those flames, often with glee.

With respect to the Asian-American community, specifically, the former President encouraged rhetoric that blamed the Chinese people for the coronavirus--an absolutely despicable notion that has led to all sorts of verbal and physical assaults on Asian Americans. You could see him with his chin strutted out when he called it the virus that he named it--you know what--the China virus. So despicable. And he did it with almost a joy.

Here in America, we all know that an attack against any one group is an attack against all of us. So it is up to all of us now to stand up and speak out in support of the Asian-American community in America.

Over the weekend, I joined several vigils to stand with Americans of all ages, races, and faiths to support the Asian-American community. There was a large turnout, and our Asian brothers and sisters were so relieved that so many of us from the elected community were there. We should all be doing that in every part of the country.

Here on the floor of the Senate this morning, I started the process to make two pieces of legislation available for action by the full Senate.

First is a bill led by my friend Senator Hirono of Hawaii, very similar to the same bill introduced by our New York Congress Member, Grace Meng, of Queens. This legislation by Senator Hirono will address COVID-related hate crimes against Asian Americans head-on. It would assign a point person at the Department of Justice to expedite the review of COVID-19-related hate crimes, provide support for State and local law enforcement agencies to respond to hate crimes, and work on solutions to the problem of racially discriminatory language that has been used to describe the pandemic.

Second is a bill led by my friend Senator Durbin to counter the threat of domestic terrorism and violent White supremacy. This is a bill that passed the House of Representatives last year on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis. As far as legislation goes, it is as much of a no-brainer as it comes.

Every one of us--every one of us--has an obligation to speak out against these hate crimes. One of the best antidotes--there are many-- but one of the best antidotes when hate occurs is to answer it forcefully, strongly, and repeatedly so that no one thinks it is acceptable, and those who perpetrate it are shunned and then, if they have broken the law, punished.

Every one of us must do this. We must speak out. Here in the Senate, we have more than a responsibility to just speak out; we must take action. I hope we will have universal support for these pieces of legislation that I mentioned.

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 ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 127, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 128, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 129, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, this is a great and historic day. A few weeks ago, I announced that LTG Karen Gibson would assume the responsibility as Senate Sergeant at Arms, becoming only the 42nd Sergeant at Arms in Senate history. I am very pleased this afternoon to make her appointment official, with her family watching on--her father David, her mother Rebecca, her sister Kathleen, her brother-in-law Daniel, her nephew Bennett, and her cousin Aaron.

Lieutenant General Gibson is taking on a really big job, and I know that her family could not be more proud of her.

The Senate Sergeant at Arms was established more than two centuries ago, when the U.S. Senate was still in its infancy. Back then, the primary duty of the Sergeant at Arms was essentially senatorial babysitting; recalcitrant Senators made finding a quorum a routine challenge. Today, the Sergeant at Arms is the Senate's chief administrative officer and chief law enforcement officer. They have enormous responsibility of keeping the trains running on time while, at the same time, keeping everyone, everyone in the Capitol safe.

Suffice it to say, Lieutenant General Gibson has a tall order, but I have every confidence that she will perform her duties at the same exemplary standards she set over the course of her three-decade military career.

As Senior Intelligence Officer in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Lieutenant General Gibson supported U.S. national security objectives in Iraq, Afghanistan, East Africa, Korea, the Pacific, and across the Middle East. Since January 6, she has been working with retired Army LTG Russel Honore on a comprehensive review of the Capitol's security.

So given her background and given what she has done recently, I know she is ready to hit the ground running. Lieutenant General Gibson is ready to go, and her responsibility to ensure a safe working environment for Senators, visitors, Capitol employees, staff, and reporters she will take with the utmost of gravity and competence.

Joining her in the Office of Sergeant at Arms will be Kelly Fado, as Deputy Sergeant, and Jennifer Hemingway, as chief of staff, two trusted members of the Senate family.

This is a historic day in a second way. This will be the first time in the history of the Senate that the leadership of the Sergeant at Arms will be comprised entirely of women--another crack in the glass ceiling. And I cannot think of a better team than the one we have put together.

Congratulations to all three of them on officially starting their new roles today. And I know, Madam President, you are proud of that as well.

It is really a good day.

Madam President, next, another aspect of why this is a good day.

Tonight, the Senate will confirm Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston to serve as Secretary of Labor. The son of Irish immigrants, Mayor Walsh followed his father's footsteps in construction and joined the Laborers' Union Local 223 at age 21, eventually serving as its president before being elected mayor of Boston.

During his testimony here in the Senate, Mayor Walsh said it was by joining a union that his parents were able to climb up into the middle class and give their son a shot at a better life.

We have something in common. My grandfather came to the United States and became very involved with the labor movement. One day when he was 14, it was raining. He was looking for shelter. It was pouring. He had almost nowhere to live. He walked into the labor temple, where he heard Eugene V. Debs and Will and Ariel Durant give the annual address at that temple established by the A.F. of L. to teach the immigrants about the union movement. So we have that in common. Our grandfathers are immigrants--one from Ireland, one from Eastern Europe, but both joined the labor movement, and it helped their family move up.

The Department of Labor is in desperate need of a leader with Mayor Walsh's perspective. For the past 4 years under President Trump and Secretary Scalia, unfortunately, sadly, the Labor Department has too often sided with corporate America, not the working people of America, which it was formed to help. Once the Senate confirms Mayor Walsh, American workers will finally have one of their own leading the Department of Labor, someone from working America who will fight for working America.

I am proud to say that once Mayor Walsh is confirmed tonight, the Senate will have confirmed all 15 of President Biden's Cabinet Secretaries.

Under extraordinary circumstances, unusual responsibilities, a later than usual runoff election, an evenly divided Chamber, an insurrection, an impeachment trial, and the passage of historic Federal relief, the Senate has still stayed on track and confirmed President Biden's Cabinet faster than both of the last two administrations. Let me say that again. With everything else going on, the Senate has confirmed President Biden's Cabinet faster than during both of the prior two administrations, one a Democrat and one a Republican. Every single member of President Biden's Cabinet has received a bipartisan vote in favor of confirmation. I anticipate that the vote in favor of Mayor Walsh will stay true to form, completing an unblemished record of bipartisan confirmations to the Cabinet.

It is a tribute to President Biden and his team that they have chosen such a fine Cabinet and a tribute to the Senators here that we have moved in such a quick fashion despite so many other responsibilities being placed on our shoulders in these early days of this Congress.

Few Cabinets in history have begun their tenures with such daunting tasks: a once-in-a-century pandemic, an economy in the doldrums, global challenges like climate change and democratic decline. Thankfully, this Senate has made sure President Biden's Cabinet is in place and on the job as quickly as possible. We will continue the personnel business this week by installing the Deputy Director at OMB, the Surgeon General, the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Deputy Secretaries at Energy and Treasury.