Before the Senate adjourned for Memorial Day, I laid out seven more nominations for our consideration when we returned--four to fill important vacancies in the administration and three to the Federal bench. So this week, the Senate will…
Before the Senate adjourned for Memorial Day, I laid out seven more nominations for our consideration when we returned--four to fill important vacancies in the administration and three to the Federal bench. So this week, the Senate will continue our work to confirm more well-qualified nominees and finally let the American people's President have more of his team on the job.
Yesterday we began by voting to advance the nomination of Andrew Saul, of New York, to be Commissioner of Social Security. Mr. Saul is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and has spent decades building a successful career in business and in public administration. In addition to his experience in financial management, Mr. Saul has previously served as vice chairman of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and as Chairman of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, where he oversaw programs relied upon by literally millions of Americans.
It is no surprise that our colleagues on the Finance Committee voted unanimously to favorably report Mr. Saul's nomination to the full Senate. I hope Members will reach the same conclusion and support his confirmation.
Later, we will turn to the consideration of David Schenker, of New Jersey, to be Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; Heath Tarbert, of Maryland, to be Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Susan Combs, of Texas, to be Assistant Secretary of the Interior; and three nominees to preside in a district court and the Court of Federal Claims.
In each case, the President has put forward impressive and uncontroversial individuals who, I might add, in a previous era, would have been candidates for a voice vote. They are thoroughly qualified for public service. Their nominations should not have been delayed even this long.
In the case of Mr. Schenker, for example, our colleagues have forced the top Middle East job at the State Department to remain open for 1 year. This is the top job at the State Department for the Middle East, and they have kept it open for 1 year--a year that brought no shortage of crises in that region.
So I am glad we are continuing to get things back on track. I hope our colleagues will join me in voting to put each of these public servants to work for the American people.
100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment
Madam President, on another matter, today, June 4, 2019, marks a historic anniversary for the U.S. Senate. It was 100 years ago today that this body passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and sent it on to the States for ratification. It was 100 years ago today that this institution finally recognized that American women deserved the right to vote just the same as men.
Of course, this victory for equality and fairness had been a long time in the making. The very same text that would become the 19th Amendment was first introduced in the Senate more than 40 years before, back in 1878. It was 40 years between the first introduction and the final passage. It was introduced by Senator Aaron Sargent of California, who, with his wife, was a close friend of Susan B. Anthony's. When it finally received a vote nearly a decade later, there were twice as many votes against it as for it. By 1914, there had been progress. When it received another vote that year, it failed by only 11 votes. By February 1919, there was more progress, losing by just one vote. The old justifications were eroding. Our Nation's true principles and clear logic were chipping away at this old mistake.
Then, precisely one century ago today, the right thing to do became undeniable. Women's suffrage cleared the Senate floor. The rollcall vote was 56 to 25--2 more than two-thirds. Newspaper accounts tell us that several minutes of sustained applause and cheers filled the Gallery. Then the 39 words that would become the 19th Amendment were on their way to the States, on their way to concluding a 42-year journey and becoming enshrined in our Constitution.
Of course, this chapter of Senate history is just a tiny slice of the incredible uphill battle that the broader women's rights and suffrage movement waged in American politics and in culture. There were the pioneering thinkers of the Seneca Falls Convention, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, and their famous Declaration of Sentiments. There was the incredible, history-changing intellectual and strategic partnership between Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and the prolific writing, coalition-building, and grassroots activism it produced.
There were devoted organizers, such as Carrie Chapman Catt, Ida B. Wells, and Mary Church Terrell, and so many more--both the dynamic leaders whom history remembers and the millions more women and men who lent their support to the cause and who made quiet contributions of their own.
Some of them lived to see the fruits of their work become part of our Constitution, and many did not, but the progress we celebrate would not have been possible--it would have been literally unimaginable--without them.
So this milestone brought one chapter of hard work to an end, but it really started a new chapter in our history as American women became more and more integrated into our democracy. It was just 6 years after the 19th Amendment was ratified that my own State of Kentucky elected our first female Member of Congress, Katherine Langley, to the House of Representatives.
I could not be more glad that the Senate will spend today commemorating this historic milestone. This afternoon, I know a number of our colleagues plan to come to the floor to describe the history and significance of this day in much more depth. Later, we will vote on a resolution to officially mark the centennial of our predecessors' historic vote.
Several more Senators have been working on additional legislation to help our Nation mark the whole year of commemoration that begins this spring and will continue through the anniversary of final ratification.
I want to thank a number of our colleagues who helped lead the preparation for this. In particular, thanks to Senator Collins for her leadership in coordinating today and focusing the Senate's attention on this milestone. Thanks to Senator Murkowski, the lead sponsor for the resolution we will be voting on this afternoon. Thanks to our colleagues Senators Blackburn, Feinstein, Ernst, and others for their hard work.
I would also like to thank the members of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, led by Chairwoman Kay Coles James and former Senator Barbara Mikulski, the Vice Chair, and their staff, including executive director Rebecca Kleefisch and Anna Laymon.
Madam President, 100 years ago today, American women's right to vote was up for debate in this Chamber for the last time. As one Member of this body remarked on June 4, 1919, ``The advocates of the Susan B. Anthony amendment have won a great victory and are justly entitled to all the praise and honor which comes with the winning of a battle which has been fought for so long a time . . . the right of suffrage [for] those noble, patriotic, and splendid women of our country who have so long fought for this right and who so richly deserve [it].''
Today we reflect on our gratitude for that work, and we rejoice in that victory.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.