Floor Statements

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

I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 117.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions be waived.

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 ask unanimous consent that the Armed Services Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 160 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 144 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions 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. 185, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions 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 immediate consideration of S. Res. 186, submitted earlier today.

I further ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed

to, and the motions 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. 187, submitted earlier today.

I know of no further debate on the measure.

I ask unanimous consent 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 ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 693 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I further 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 with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m. Monday, May 6, 2019; 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, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Bianco nomination; finally, that notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the cloture motions filed during today's session of the Senate ripen at 5:30 p.m., Monday, May 6, 2019.

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, this week the Senate is continuing to make progress in consideration of the President's nominees. By the end of this week, three more executive branch and five court vacancies will have been filled with thoroughly qualified individuals.

Already, these uncontroversial nominees have earned overwhelming bipartisan support. Yesterday, more than two-thirds of the Senate voted to confirm William Cooper to serve as general counsel for the Department of Energy. Mr. Cooper's expertise and energy policy was evident to Chairman Murkowski and our colleagues in committee who voted by voice to report this nomination to the full Senate. Now we have put a sharp lawyer on the job at DOE.

Later in the day, we confirmed two more well-qualified executive branch nominees to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs by even wider margins. Each received bipartisan support in committee. So, again, I am glad to see a similar degree of swift, reasonable consideration here on the floor.

I might add that these are the kinds of nominees who, a few years ago, would have been approved on a voice vote. Today the Senate will turn to a slate of judicial nominees with their own impressive trail of credentials--things like prestigious clerkships and strong reviews from the American Bar Association. Most importantly, all have demonstrated their commitment to the rule of law.

Celebrating small wins for comity in the personnel business is, of course, only necessary in the wake of, literally, years of unprecedented partisan obstruction. But I will readily express my hope that in the coming days and weeks, we will continue to work toward clearing the Executive Calendar backlog and confirming more well- qualified nominees.

Mr. President, on another matter, while the Senate may be writing a new chapter of bipartisan productivity, the same cannot be said for the House under Democratic leadership. On this side of the Capitol, we have passed timely legislation to address real, urgent policy priorities. S. 1, for example, helps fight back against anti- Semitism and attends to several other pressing matters with respect to American foreign policy in the Middle East.

The Senate debated the bill and passed it by a wide bipartisan majority. We sent it over to the House, and now it is just sitting there, gathering dust. It is gathering dust because Democratic leadership is more interested in making flashy political points and picking fights with the President than in making meaningful bipartisan progress.

House Democrats are uninterested in our important foreign policy legislation. What has captured their energy and attention instead? This week they are giving prime billing to a scheme

that would snatch away the private health insurance plans that more than 180 million Americans rely on and jeopardize the Medicare coverage counted on by tens of millions more. That is what they are up to this week.

The House Rules Committee, and by extension the Democratic leadership, have officially granted a platform to this proposal, which could best be described as Medicare for None. That is not just some cute phrase. It is literally what the plan would usher in--an end to the Medicare Program as American seniors have known it for generations. Democrats want to take the program that seniors have paid into, which we ought to be shoring up and stabilizing, and, instead, pile every other American into it--one size fits all. That is what it is: End Medicare as we know it; reuse its name for a new sort of built-from- scratch, government-administered plan, and make sure the resulting Washington nightmare is the only game in town by outlawing choice and competition from the private sector. That is what they want to do.

To the 60 million seniors on Medicare, most of whom like things the way they are, Democrats say: Too bad. To the 180 million-plus other Americans who rely on private health coverage from their employers, many of whom like their own plans, our Democratic colleagues say: Too bad. All of these things that American families count on, I guess my Democratic colleagues want to wipe them all away in favor of this untested government takeover--completely untested.

In Congresses past, this kind of far-left proposal would have been unlikely to even receive a hearing. Democrats would have taken one look at this socialist steamroller and run away from it like the plague. Jeopardize current health coverage for nearly all Americans--one way or another--for the sake of leftwing ideology? Who would go for that?

Needless to say, times seem to have changed. Now, across the aisle, this level of radical intrusion is the proud rallying cry both here in Congress, and, of course, out on the Presidential campaign trail. One of the major ironies is that Medicare is not even safely on autopilot as things stand right now, let alone herding every other American into the system. As I have noted, the Administrator of CMS herself recently explained that ``the program's main trust fund for hospital services can only pay full benefits for seven more years.'' That is the Medicare we have now.

Instead of a serious plan to shore up Medicare or address costs for middle-class families, Democrats are focused on raising taxes massively, trading consumer choice for Washington control, and destabilizing the current system in the process.

Senate Republicans will stay focused on middle-class families' priorities. We will leave the destructive daydreams to our friends across the aisle.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.