Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 320 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time.

I know of no further debate.

I ask that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 415 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 102, submitted earlier today.

It was a very good film, I must add.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to; that 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.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote that was set for 5:23 begins right now.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that with respect to the Regan nomination, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, first, let me explain to the public and the Senators what we are doing here. In the bipartisan agreement we faced under a 50-50 Senate, the rules say that if there were a tie vote, the majority leader has the ability to discharge the nomination from committee and then there be a vote on the floor.

In this case, the nomination of Xavier Becerra to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, there was a tie vote in the Finance Committee. And what I will be doing in a moment is invoking that rule so that there can be 4 hours of debate on the motion, equally divided, and we will debate whether Becerra should be approved. Obviously, he only needs approval with 50 or 51 votes if the Vice President comes to break the tie.

I will say a brief word here. It is confounding to me that Mr. Becerra, Xavier Becerra, did not get some votes from the other side of the aisle. He is an eminently qualified member. He was an outstanding Member of Congress. He was a very good Attorney General, and he has led the charge to keep people's healthcare. When he was Attorney General, he was involved in the lawsuits of those who wanted to repeal the ACA. And if that is the reason our Republican colleagues are objecting-- because he wants to keep and preserve the Affordable Care Act, which is very popular with the American people and very needed--I am surprised. It is yesterday's news.

I know in 2010 a lot of people came here, ``Repeal ACA,'' but as the public got to know the ACA, they saw how good it was. And there is not much groundswell out there, except among some, the hard right, to repeal it. So I am surprised. And then we heard: Well, he is not a doctor. I would remind my colleagues that the last nominee for HHS they supported was a drug company executive. Are our Republican friends saying they would rather have a drug company executive who was not a doctor either than somebody who has been a very careful, smart attorney who has been fighting for people to get better healthcare? I am surprised.

So I hope that we may get a few of our colleagues to join us tomorrow and vote for Mr. Becerra. I don't think it will serve the country well or the Republicans well to be so adamantly opposed to him. But let me now proceed.

Mr. President, pursuant to S. Res. 27, the Committee on Finance, being tied on the question of reporting, I move to discharge the Senate Finance Committee from further consideration of the nomination of Xavier Becerra, of California, to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, we expect a vote on the motion to discharge to occur at approximately 12 noon on Thursday, March 11, 2021.

Mr. 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:30 a.m., Thursday, March 11; that following the prayer and the 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 and resume consideration of the motion to discharge the nomination of Xavier Becerra from the Committee on Finance, with the time expiring at 12 noon; further, that upon disposition of the motion to discharge, the Senate resume consideration of the nomination of Debra Haaland to be Secretary of the Interior; finally, that the cloture motion on the Haaland nomination ripen at 1:30 p.m.

For the information of Senators, there will be two rollcall votes during Thursday's session of the Senate at 12:00 noon on the motion to discharge the Becerra nomination and at 1:30 p.m. on the motion to invoke cloture on the Haaland nomination.

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, following the remarks of Senator Sullivan.

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

Madam President, the Senate returns this week to the business of nominations. Today, the Senate will confirm Congresswoman Marcia Fudge to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, followed by confirmation votes later this week for Merrick Garland to serve as Attorney General and Michael Regan to serve as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Finally, the Senate will begin the confirmation process for Congresswoman Deb Haaland before the week is out. She would be the first Native American Cabinet member of any Agency and the first indigenous Secretary of the Interior--a profoundly important moment given the historically troubled relationship between the Federal Government and Tribal nations. Despite Republican obstruction, Representative Haaland will be confirmed by the Senate to be Secretary Haaland. I will file cloture on her nomination immediately after my remarks.

Madam President, I want them all to know how much I appreciate their work and how much the country does and what a great difference it has made in the trajectory of our wonderful Nation.

Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 31.

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to this motion be waived.

I yield the floor.