Floor Statements

I move to proceed to Calendar No. 136, H.R. 4016.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume 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 have one request for a committee to meet during today's session of the Senate. It has the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committee is authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following resolutions which are at the desk: S. Res. 535 and S. Res. 536.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and 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 immediate consideration of Calendar No. 244, S. 2950.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported substitute amendment be agreed to; the bill, as amended, 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 understand that there are three bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

I now ask for a second reading, and I object to my own request, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I move to adjourn until 6:48 p.m. today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the morning hour be deemed expired.

I ask unanimous consent that the Journal of proceedings be approved to date.

I ask unanimous consent that the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day.

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 three bills at the desk due for a second reading en bloc.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 9; that following the

prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of Executive Calendar No. 571, Robert Chamberlin, and vote on confirmation at 11:45 a.m., and if cloture is invoked on the Crain nomination, the Senate recess until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly conference meetings, and the Senate vote on the confirmation of the Crain nomination at 2:15 p.m.; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Tuesday's session of the Senate, 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, for the information of my colleagues, Senators should expect two votes at 11:45 a.m., two votes at 2:15 p.m., and a further vote in the evening.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, I am very pleased to report that, as of yesterday, the Senate has confirmed a total of 314 of President Trump's civilian nominees, and earlier this week, I filed on another nominations package, which, when passed, will bring our total confirmations to more than 400. That far outstrips total confirmations by this point in President Biden's term and in President Trump's first term, as well, and it is particularly notable that we have managed to beat those first term numbers when you consider the obstacles the Democrats have put up.

I have talked more than once, here on the floor, about Democrats' unprecedented obstruction of the President's nominees this year. And I really do mean unprecedented. For decades upon decades, the Senate has expedited the consideration of large numbers of Presidential nominees, confirming them by unanimous consent or voice vote.

Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, for example, each had 98 percent of their civilian nominees confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote in the first term of their Presidencies--98 percent. George W. Bush and Barack Obama each had 90 percent.

Now, it is true that Democrats substantially eroded this tradition of bipartisanship during President Trump's first term. All of a sudden, positions that had traditionally gone by unanimous consent or voice vote were now requiring rollcall votes. But even so, both President Biden and President Trump in his first term had more than half of their nominees confirmed by voice vote.

And then there was this year. This year, not one single Presidential nominee has been confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote--not one. Democrats have dragged out the process on every single one of the President's nominations. The Democrat leader tried to justify the Democrats' historic blockade by claiming that the President's nominees have been ``historically bad.''

The only problem with that is the Democrats have supported a number of the President's nominees in committee and have even voted for some of them on the Senate floor. So either Members

of the Democrat party are supporting historically bad nominees or something else is going on here, and I think we know what that is. That something else that is going on here looks a lot like petty partisanship. Maybe you want to call it Trump derangement syndrome.

Democrats and their base still can't deal with the fact that President Trump won last November, and so they have held up every single one--every single one--of his nominations in revenge. But Republicans have not been daunted. We have just continued plowing ahead on nominations, helping us rack up a historic number of votes, this year, in the process.

And in September, we took steps to restore Senate precedent and codify in Senate rules what was once understood to be standard practice, and that is the Senate's acting expeditiously on largely noncontroversial Presidential nominees to allow a President to get his team in place. Now, both Democrat and Republican Presidents will be protected from some of the partisan excesses that we have seen from Democrats this year.

Mr. President, 2025 has been a long road, but I am very proud to be able to say, at the end of it, that we are well on our way to confirming more than 400 of the President's civilian nominees and that we have virtually cleared the nominations backlog by the end of his first year, in contrast to the situation, at this point, in President Trump's first term and President Biden's.

And when the Senate returns in January, I look forward to continuing to confirm additional members of the President's team so that he can continue to do the job to which he was elected by the American people.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.