Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, February 1; 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 morning business be closed; further, that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Mayorkas nomination as provided under the previous order.

For the information of all Senators, the Senate will vote on confirmation of the Mayorkas nomination at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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, it has been 3 weeks since a mob of domestic terrorists stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to thwart our democratic system of government. In the weeks since, the underlying threat of violence to our government remains of great concern.

One of the most important responsibilities of the new administration--of any administration--is to protect our country and its citizens. The Senate must continue the process of confirming President Biden's Cabinet by installing Alejandro Mayorkas to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. In truth, we should have been able to confirm Mr. Mayorkas days ago. He is supremely well qualified for the job. He is the son of immigrants whose family escaped from the Holocaust, a prosecutor, a veteran of 7 years who led the Agency's response on Ebola, cyber security, border security, counterterrorism, and domestic terrorism.

Just 4 years ago, President Trump had his Secretary of Homeland Security installed on Inauguration Day. As four previous Secretaries of Homeland Security under Presidents of both parties wrote recently: After the attacks on the Capitol on January 6, it is more urgent than ever to have in place an experienced, capable, and Senate-confirmed leader. That person is Mayorkas.

That was four previous Homeland Secretaries from both parties.

Unfortunately, because of the objections of one Member, the Senate has not been allowed to vote on this nomination yet. It is the Senate's responsibility to make sure national security officials are on the job and keeping our country safe.

My friends on the other side don't have to agree with Mr. Mayorkas on the finer points of every policy, but surely we can all agree that he knows the Department, he understands the threats to our Nation's security, and he has what it takes to lead DHS. The Senate must confirm his nomination in very short order, and we will make sure that happens.

We must continue on to the rest of the President's Cabinet as well. The President's nominee for Secretary of Transportation was voted out of committee this morning on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, 21 to 3. With cooperation, the Senate can and should confirm Mr. Buttigieg soon, as well.

On climate, today President Biden is set to announce a slew of Executive actions on climate, including critical measures to increase the conservation of Federal lands, reduce oil and gas development, and

place environmental justice, green jobs, and, yes, science at the heart of our Nation's climate policy.

I think Americans are saying: Welcome back, science. We are glad you are playing a role in the decisions we make and not being ignored and trampled on like the previous administration did. Understanding that the United States cannot defeat a global threat on its own, the Biden administration has already wisely joined the Paris accords and will also propose convening an international climate summit this year, on Earth Day.

These Executive actions are a very strong opening push by the Biden administration to refocus our Nation's energy toward the threat of climate change. President Biden's commitment to deal with climate change is unquestioned. He is off to a fast start, and it couldn't come soon enough.

The Federal Government has a great deal of power to set the direction for our Nation's energy and environmental policy, but climate change represents an existential threat to our country and our planet. Every tool in the toolbox should be brought to bear. In my view, President Biden should consider the declaration of a national emergency on climate change.

Former President Trump, of course, issued an emergency declaration to divert funds toward an expensive and ineffective border wall when there was no emergency at all. Declaring one for climate change--an actual emergency--would be a giant step in the right direction, and it would allow President Biden to tap additional resources and pursue additional policies in the fight against climate change, even if Republicans in Congress remain intransigent and unable to recognize the severity of this crisis.

Japan, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and scores of regional and local governments have declared states of emergency on climate change. The United States would send a powerful signal to the world about our commitment to defeating climate change if we did so as well.

Mr. President, now on COVID, as I mentioned yesterday, the Senate will soon begin the process of considering legislation to help the country defeat COVID-19 and provide relief to those Americans who are still suffering great economic hardship.

There has been a lot of action in Washington recently. We inaugurated a new President, a new administration is getting off the ground, and an impeachment trial of the former President will commence in a few weeks. But COVID-19 hasn't gone anywhere, unfortunately. Americans are still losing their jobs. American businesses are still closing. Americans are still getting sick. Americans are still dying.

The needs in our country are still great, and the Congress must pursue a bold and robust course of action to defeat the disease and get our country back to normal. We must not--we must not--repeat the mistakes of 2008 and 2009, when Congress was too timid and constrained in its response to the global financial crisis.

The Congressional Budget Office has told us last fall that COVID-19, the pandemic, has taken more than $17 trillion out of our economy--$17 trillion out of the economy. The danger of undershooting our response to COVID-19 is far greater than overshooting it. So Congress must pursue a bold response to the prevailing crisis of our time.

Here in the Senate, we want that work to be bipartisan. Let me say that again. We want the next legislative response to COVID-19 to be bipartisan. We want to work with our Republican colleagues, if we can, to include their ideas and input if they will offer them. That is our preference. But if our Republican colleagues decide to oppose the necessary, robust COVID relief that is needed, we will have to move forward without them. It is not our preference, but dealing with this crisis in a bold and sufficient way is a necessity. The Senate is going to respond to the country's needs and deliver help to the American people fast.

Mr. President, now on impeachment, finally, I want to address the vote the Senate took yesterday on the point of order raised by the junior Senator from Kentucky. I regret to say, for 45 Republican Senators to vote for a spurious constitutional objection to the coming impeachment trial was deeply, deeply irresponsible.

The trial is still 2 weeks away. The constitutional objection has been completely debunked by more than 150 constitutional scholars representing the entire breadth of the political spectrum, including very prominent conservatives. But only five Republican Senators were willing to take a principled stand against this reckless and ill- advised effort by Members of this body who are eager to excuse President Trump's campaign to overturn the election and, apparently, to excuse his incitement of the mob that every one of us experienced in this Capitol.

I would simply say to all of my colleagues: Make no mistake. There will be a trial, and the evidence against the former President will be presented in living color for the Nation and every one of us to see once again. No one will be able to avert their gaze from what Mr. Trump said and did and the consequences of his actions. We will all watch what happened. We will listen to what happened, and then we will vote. We will pass judgment, as our solemn duty under the Constitution demands, and, in turn, we will all be judged on how we respond.

I am glad to see my colleague from Vermont here, as well as my colleague from Illinois.

I yield the floor

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 4.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture vote be waived.

Mr. President, as we move through the first full week of the Biden administration, the Senate will continue the important work of confirming President Biden's Cabinet.

Today, the Senate will hold a confirmation vote for Tony Blinken to be the next Secretary of State. Mr. Blinken is just the right person to rebuild and reassert America's national security prerogatives on the global stage and reestablish the first instrument of American power: diplomacy.

For 4 years, the failed diplomacy of the Trump administration weakened our alliances, strengthened and emboldened our adversaries, and tarnished America's reputation abroad. We must reaffirm our commitment to NATO and other critical alliances around the world. We must hold Russia accountable for its malicious interference in democracies. We must confront China's economic, political, and human rights abuses. And we must work with the family of nations to combat the existential threat of climate change.

Once confirmed, Mr. Blinken will also inherit a State Department workforce in desperate need of a leader who knows that everyone on the team plays a critical role in advancing America's interests abroad. Under President Trump, our Nation's diplomats and State Department civilians were relegated to the sidelines, and too many positions in the State Department were left vacant or relegated to irrelevance.

None of this will be easy, but I am confident that Mr. Blinken is exactly the right person for the job. I look forward to seeing this Chamber confirm his nomination later today.

After that, both parties must keep working together to confirm the rest of President Biden's outstanding Cabinet. We are off to a decent pace with the confirmations of the President's Secretaries of Defense, Treasury, and Director of National Intelligence. I appreciate the Republican leader's cooperation and hope it will continue because our country needs that.

That pace must continue this week with the confirmation of the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Transportation. After that, we need a Health and Human Services Secretary installed to oversee the public health response to COVID; an Education Secretary to facilitate the safe reopening of the schools, guided by the science; and a Secretary of HUD to help America's struggling families stay in their homes during this horrible economic crisis. The Senate is working at an encouraging pace, and we will not let up.

Mr. President, now on the organizing resolution, well, since the last time I addressed this Chamber, there has been notable progress in my discussions with the Republican leader about organizing the Senate. Last night, the Republican leader dropped his demand for additional provisions on the organizing resolution and will agree to the 2001 rules that last governed the 50-50 Senate--exactly what Democrats proposed from the start.

I am glad the Republican leader finally relented, and we can move forward now to organize the Senate, Senate committees, chairs, and ranking members, and the process for moving bills and nominees to the floor from committees with an evenly divided number of Members. I am glad we are finally able to get the Senate up and running. My only regret is that it took so long because we have a great deal we need to accomplish over the next several weeks and months.

Mr. President, now on COVID, in addition to the confirmation of critical Cabinet nominees, the Senate will soon move forward with legislation to address the twin crises facing our country: the public health crisis and the economic crisis.

In December, Congress took the important step of passing interim emergency relief to the country, but we left the job unfinished. I understand that recent opposition from the political right for more spending has increased in volume now that there is a Democrat in the White House, but the pandemic doesn't particularly care that there has been a change in the administration. The needs of our country are still great, and the urgency to act is clearer than ever.

The Congressional Budget Office told us last fall that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken more than $17 trillion out of our economy--$17 trillion. No doubt, Congress has passed substantial relief, but looking at the data, we are nowhere close to filling the COVID-sized hole in our economy. Expanded unemployment insurance will once again expire in March. State and local governments, which have already cut over a million jobs, are still reeling from budget deficits and have not received direct assistance. The amount of direct payments to the American people in the previous bill was regrettably much lower than many of us, including myself, wanted. We must continue supporting the rapid and massive distribution of the vaccine to finally crush this virus once and for all.

So the Senate is going to press forward on another COVID-relief bill. We want to work with our Republican colleagues to advance this legislation in a bipartisan way, and the work must move forward-- preferably, with our Republican colleagues, but without them if we must.

We are still in the midst of a once-in-a-century crisis that has reshaped our economy and altered nearly every aspect of American life. Americans are still getting sick. Americans are still dying. Americans are still losing their jobs. We must not suffer timidity or delay. There is great urgency to continue the work of COVID relief, and that is exactly what the Senate will do.

I yield the floor