Floor Statements

Mr. President, I begin this morning with a very exciting announcement about critical leadership roles in the Senate Chamber. Three outstanding individuals are set to resume new responsibilities. LTG Karen Gibson will serve as the next Senate Sergeant at Arms, while Kelly Fado will serve as Deputy Sergeant at Arms, and Jennifer Hemingway will serve as Chief of Staff.

The Senate Sergeant at Arms was established 223 years ago as an outgrowth of the Office of the Senate Doorkeeper, back when one of the biggest problems was making sure the Senate had a quorum. Today, the Sergeant at Arms is the Senate's chief administrative officer and chief law enforcement officer, so very important at this time. These offices have the enormous responsibility of keeping the trains running on time, while at the same time keeping everyone in the Capitol safe. As we have seen in recent weeks, the security component of the role is immensely important.

LTG Karen Gibson is the perfect person for this job, the job of Sergeant at Arms. She has spent 33 years in Active Duty in the military, much of it in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as a senior intelligence officer, where she supported U.S. national security objectives in Iraq, Afghanistan, East Africa, Korea, the Pacific, and across the Middle East.

She is ready to hit the ground running because since January 6, she has been part of a weekslong review to identify actions that can be taken immediately--immediately--to improve the security of the Capitol and its Members. She is 100 percent committed to ensuring a safe and secure working environment for Senators, visitors, Capitol employees, Senate staff, press, and paying particular attention to staffers of color.

Lieutenant General Gibson has a big job ahead of her, but I have every confidence she will perform her duties at the same exemplary standard she set over the course of her heralded three-decade military career.

Kelly Fado and Jennifer Hemingway, meanwhile, are two of the most recognizable faces in the Capitol, Jennifer having recently filled in as the Acting Sergeant at Arms. Kelly has been part

of my team for many years, on the Rules Committee and in my leadership office. She has helped plan, coordinate, safeguard, and execute multiple Presidential inaugurations--and what a great job she has done in every one of them--and Capitol-wide ceremonies in general. She has been an indispensable resource to me and to my entire staff. I am very glad that Kelly is taking on this challenge.

One other note that I am very proud of--I think we all as Senators can be proud of--this will be the first time in the Senate's history that the Sergeant at Arms' leadership will be comprised entirely of women. I cannot think of a team better prepared than LTG Karen Gibson, Kelly Fado, and Jennifer Hemingway.

To all three of them: Congratulations on your new roles, and thank you for your many years of service to the Senate and to our country.

Mr. President, today, the Senate continues its steady progress in improving highly qualified nominees to serve in the executive branch. Last night, the Senate confirmed Dr. Miguel Cardona as the Secretary of Education, fulfilling President Biden's promise to elevate someone with public school experience. Gina Raimondo will soon become the former Governor of Rhode Island as she prepares to take on the top job at the Commerce Department. Pending the Senate's approval, Dr. Cecilia Rouse will soon become the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.

This morning, I want to pause for a moment to recognize the historic nature of the nominees whom President Biden has nominated and the Senate has confirmed in the first month of the Nation's administration.

So far, the Senate has promoted the first Black Secretary of Defense and the first woman to serve as Deputy Secretary of Defense.

After an unbroken streak of 77 male Secretaries in a row, all the way back to Alexander Hamilton, the Senate confirmed the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary.

By the end of the day, we will have confirmed the first Black woman to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, the first Latino and first immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security, the second Black woman to serve as U.N. Ambassador, the third Latino to serve as Education Secretary, and the first openly gay Secretary of any Cabinet Agency.

Cabinet Agencies, we all know, have an immense influence over the policy of the United States. It is critical for their leaders to have lived experiences that represent the broad spectrum of Americans those Agencies serve. Not only that, but the nominees I just mentioned are some of the most qualified public servants in America and are already hard at work at delivering results for the American people.

The Senate will continue to confirm more nominees as quickly as possible. The process can certainly move more quickly with the cooperation of our Republican colleagues, whose States and constituents benefit equally from having these qualified nominees in place.

Mr. President, on COVID-19, as early as tomorrow, the Senate will begin work on the American Rescue Plan. As the country faces a series of historic challenges, we must meet the moment with a historic response.

Millions of jobs and trillions of dollars have been taken out of our economy. Thousands of small businesses are holding on for dear life. Tens of millions of Americans are struggling with the rent, groceries, medicine, and utilities.

Only a week ago, the United States crossed the tragic milestone of half a million deaths from COVID-19, a stark reminder that the pandemic isn't done with us yet.

Over the past year, Congress has stepped up to the plate to pass important relief measures, but the job is not complete. The American Rescue Plan is designed to finish the job; to patch up the holes in our economy and lay a foundation for recovery; to keep struggling businesses, families, and workers afloat until brighter days appear on the horizon; to send our children back to school as quickly and safely as possible; and to defeat this evil disease once and for all.

That is what the American people sent us here to do. That is what our government is for--not to sit back and wait for problems to fix themselves, not to cross our fingers and hope the economy will recover on its own. Our job is to end, through action, the current state of the crisis and hasten the day when our country and all of our lives can return to normal.

The bottom line, if you look at the trajectory, every time we put in a relief bill--in March, the economy got better in June, and July. We put a relief bill in December, and now the numbers look a little better for January.

But the economy is not strong enough to sustain things on its own. We need strong relief to get the economy going so it can continue on an upward path on its own. That is what this bill is designed to do. I fear--most economists, Secretary Yellen, Chairman Powell--if we do too little or nothing, the economy could stay mired in recession for all too long a time, just as it did when we didn't do enough in 2009, and the economy stayed in recession for many years after the financial crisis.

Mr. President, on voting rights, in our American system, we talk a lot about ``perfecting our Union,'' a reference to the preamble of the Constitution, a document which effectively gave only White male landowners the right to vote in our fledgling democracy. Suffice it to say, there is a lot of perfecting to do.

As I think about my Democratic caucus--incidentally, it is probably so that less than half of them could actually vote in the elections of 1789 because I believe in many States you had to be White, male, Protestant, a property owner--not so many of those around here.

Over the course of 230 years, we passed scores of laws and amended the Constitution to reflect the flaws in our democracy and expand the franchise to all our citizens, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 14th, 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, 26th amendments--just to name a few.

Despite all this progress, there is now, in the 21st century, a concerted effort to roll back voting rights in State legislatures across the country, alarmingly making it harder--harder--for Americans to vote and particularly aimed at Americans of color--African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. And it is becoming a feature of one of America's major political parties.

Yesterday, I detailed a number of laws pushed by Republicans in State legislatures to limit the amount of time that Americans have to vote, to frustrate election administration in urban areas and around college campuses, to impose overly burdensome ID requirements, absurd witness and signature requirements for absentee ballots. Maybe the most pernicious of all, Republicans in Georgia have coalesced around a plan to end all early voting on Sundays, a day when Black churches organize voter drives, with no good reason--again, none.

The threat to voting rights in America is now very real. It must be opposed in every State house and Governor's mansion in this country.

And the threat extends all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Eight years ago, a conservative 5-to-4 majority on the Court gutted the Voting Rights Act by essentially rendering meaningless section 5 of the statute, a provision which prevented the implementation of undue voting restrictions in a State with a history of discrimination.

Chief Justice Roberts suggested that the era of widespread discrimination, which led to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, was over, and there was no longer a need for the critical portions of the statute. Well, within 24 hours after the ruling had been handed down, Texas announced it would implement a strict voter ID law, and soon thereafter, Mississippi and Alabama followed with laws that had previously been barred by the Justice Department.

Republican leaders in the State of North Carolina passed a suite of voter suppression laws that a Federal judge found targeted African- American voters ``with . . . surgical precision.'' Think about that. This was not a ruling from the Reconstruction Era or Jim Crow. It was only a few years ago.

At a time when an African-American man elected by the most diverse coalition in the history of American politics occupied the White House, Republicans in North Carolina passed voting laws so pernicious that even the Roberts Court--among the most conservative we have seen on this issue of voting rights--could not ignore the overwhelming stench of discrimination. That is what it was--a stench rooted in America's sordid history of voter suppression and discrimination against Black voters.

Well, today the Supreme Court will hear another case concerning the Voting Rights Act, this time about section 2, a section which Chief Justice Roberts referred to in the Shelby County ruling as a necessary failsafe to police discriminatory voting procedures nationwide

As one news outlet reported this morning, ``there is every possibility that the high court could make it more difficult, or practically impossible, to challenge voting restrictions in the future,'' warning that another ruling against the law could render the Voting Rights Act ``a dead letter.''

That is what is at stake in America right now. As State legislatures move to restrict voting rights from one end of the country to the other, the law we rely on to prevent outright discrimination at the ballot box is at risk of being ``a dead letter.'' This is one of the most appalling things I have seen in this country after 4 years of an appalling administration. This is just incredible. It burns my blood and should burn the blood of every fair-minded American--Republican, Democrat, Independent, liberal, conservative.

After centuries of expanding the right to vote, of struggling to get that right to vote, these pernicious, self-serving proposed laws cut back on the right to vote. Will the Supreme Court let that happen? It is so against what America is all about.

We cannot stand by and do nothing as these rights are diluted or stripped away. Congress must pursue a restoration of the Voting Rights Act, and by all accounts should be working in a bipartisan way to make it easier, safer, and more convenient for all Americans to vote. The judgment of history has never been kind to those who work against the full participation of their fellow citizens in our democratic experiment.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I understand that there are two bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

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, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I move to adjourn until 7:09 p.m. today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate be in a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I understand that there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading en bloc.

In order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceedings en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 12 noon on Wednesday, March 3; further, 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 the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

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, it is a proud day for the Senate, and I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 78, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 79, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, 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.