Floor Statements

Mr. President, I move that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 11, Elisabeth DeVos to be Secretary of Education.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, for the last 8 years, the Obama administration has pushed through a number of harmful regulations that circumvent Congress, slow growth, shift power away from State and local governments toward Washington, and kill a lot of jobs. Even on the way out the door, the former administration's regulatory onslaught continued as they pushed through more midnight regulations. These nearly 40 major regulations, which were pushed through by the Obama administration since election day, would cost Americans a projected $157 billion, according to one report.

Fortunately, with a new President, we now have the opportunity to give the American people relief and our economy a boost. One of the most important tools we have is the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to provide relief from heavyhanded regulations that hold our country back.

The House just took an important step by sending us two pieces of legislation that will reassert congressional authority and make a real impact for the American people.

One of those resolutions will address a regulation that puts U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage to private and foreign companies. Passing this resolution will allow the SEC to go back to the drawing board so that we can promote transparency, which is something we all want, but to do so without giving giant foreign conglomerates a leg up over American workers. We will take it up soon.

The other resolution, which we will take up first, will address an eleventh-hour parting salvo in the Obama administration's war on coal families that could threaten one-third of America's coal-mining jobs. It is identical to the legislation I introduced this week and is a continuation of my efforts to push back against the former administration's attack on coal communities.

Appalachian coal miners, like those in my home State of Kentucky, need relief right now. That is why groups like the Kentucky Coal Association, the United Mine Workers Association, and 14 State attorneys general, among others, have all joined together in a call to overturn this regulation.

The Senate should approve this resolution without delay and send it to the President's desk. The sooner we do, the sooner we can begin undoing the job-killing policies associated with the stream buffer rule. This is not a partisan issue; this is about bringing relief to those who need it and protecting jobs across our country. I hope our friends across the aisle will support our Nation's coal miners and join me in advancing this resolution.

After we address these regulations, both the House and the Senate will continue working to advance several other CRA resolutions that can bring the American people relief.

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

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to H.J. Res. 38.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, yesterday the Senate voted to advance President Trump's nominee for Secretary of State. I look forward to confirming him and the rest of the President's slate of well-qualified nominees. We need them to get to work as soon as possible.

We will have more opportunities to advance nominees starting this afternoon, and later tonight, we expect the President to send us another nominee. The President said he will announce his choice for the Supreme Court shortly from a list of about 20 well-qualified Americans. It is a list he shared publicly months ago. As I said yesterday, each of those potential nominees has a distinguished background, whether on the appellate courts or trial courts, whether at the State level or the Federal level.

We look forward to the announcement of this nominee tonight, and we look forward to doing our job to fairly consider that nominee here in the Senate. Our friends across the aisle should treat this President's nominee in the same manner as previous nominees of newly elected Presidents. This is not the time for our friends to embark on another partisan crusade.

We have just been through a contentious election. It is time to bring our country together. It is disappointing

that we have already started hearing some of the same tired rhetoric from the left. This is before the President even announces the nominee--disappointing but not surprising. The left has been doing this for decades. It does not matter if the President is George H.W. Bush or Gerald Ford. It does not matter if the nominee is David Souter or John Paul Stevens. They will warn of impending doom. They will claim the end is nigh. They will run through the required list of attacks: extreme this, anti that, herald the apocalypse. And then, miraculously, the Sun will rise again in the East, and the world will still keep on turning. I hope we can skip past the left's hyperbole this time.

Unfortunately, we have heard our friend the Democratic leader talk about fighting the President's nominee tooth and nail. We have heard that others in his party are preparing to mount a filibuster of this nominee. Of course, we do not even know who it is yet. That is not productive. That is not what our country needs right now.

We understand that some on the left will never be pleased with any nominee this President--or any Republican President, for that matter-- puts forward. We know some will continue to refuse to accept the results of the election. But our Democratic colleagues should not follow the far left down that harmful path for our country.

We need to all remember that the Supreme Court seat does not belong to any President or any political party. I have been clear all along that the next President, regardless of party--regardless of party-- would name the next nominee for this seat. It is a decision I stood by even when it seemed likely we would have a Democrat in the White House. It is worth repeating, of course, that this standard is not uniquely mine or even Senate Republicans'. There is a reason this principle has been called not only the Biden rule but also the Schumer standard.

But, look, the election season is now over. We have a new President. We each have a responsibility to be serious and move from campaign mode to governing mode. It is my sincere hope that our friends across the aisle will join us in thoughtfully reviewing and considering the next Supreme Court Justice. It is the best way forward for the Senate, for the Court, and for our country.

Mr. President, I have nine unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. I ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to en bloc.

Mr. President, for too long, coal communities in States like Kentucky were unfairly targeted by the Obama administration as part of its War on Coal. We now have the opportunity to start providing relief to coal families, whose only crime was working to support their loved ones. Easing the pain of these regulations is a priority. I laid it out in a letter to President Trump earlier this year. That letter was a continuation of efforts I began several years ago to push back against the previous administration's assault on coal families. I am pleased the President has already begun taking steps to provide relief from several different regulations imposed by the former administration, regulations that for too long have stifled growth and held our country back.

Together, we can do more, including right here in Congress through the Congressional Review Act or CRA process. One of the first regulations we are working to address is the so-called stream buffer rule, a harmful regulation put into place by the Obama administration at the eleventh hour. One analysis estimates that it could threaten one-third of the Nation's coal-mining jobs--one-third. That is why so many across coal country have called for relief from this harmful attack.

We have heard individual voices against this regulation. We have heard union voices in opposition, like the United Mine Workers of America, and we have heard from groups like the Kentucky Coal Association, who recently wrote to me about its negative impact. Here is what they said:

The undeniable truth is that this rule will have a real

impact on the real world. It will cause real harm to real

people who support real families in real communities.

This regulation is an attack on coal families. It jeopardizes jobs and transfers power away from States and local governments. Today, I am introducing a bipartisan resolution to overturn it.

Congress will also continue acting to provide relief from other regulations that attack our economy and our constituents. In fact, the House will act on its own version of this Congressional Review Act resolution and several others this week. I urge our friends to do so quickly so we can pass them here in the Senate and start providing relief to our coal communities, to our national economy, and to our constituents.

Mr. President, the Senate will continue working to put into place President Trump's Cabinet, and tonight we will have a cloture vote on the nominee for Secretary of State. This nominee is well qualified. He has been a leader at one of America's largest employers, and he has the type of international work experience that will serve him well as our next Secretary of State. We are looking forward to advancing his nomination tonight.

Remember, it is in everybody's best interest to confirm each of the President's well-qualified nominees in a timely manner so they can begin the very important work before them on

matters of national security, the economy, health care, and so many others.

It is also in our Nation's best interests to confirm the next Supreme Court nominee, which the President has said he intends to announce tomorrow. Justice Antonin Scalia was a towering figure on the Supreme Court. His unfortunate passing was not only a great loss to our country, but it came, as we all know, as our country was already in the midst of a contentious Presidential election process. So in keeping with the Biden rule, which states that action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until the election campaign is over, I have stood firm on the principle that the American people should have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court Justice. I consistently maintained that the next President would fill this vacancy. I held to that view even when nearly everyone thought the President would be Hillary Clinton. Our friends on the left may lack the same consistency on this topic. The principle we have followed, after all, is not only known as the Biden rule but also the Schumer standard.

But there is one thing from which we can expect the left not to waiver: trying to paint whoever is actually nominated in apocalyptic terms. It does not matter whom this Republican President nominates. It does not matter whom any Republican President nominates really. The left has been rolling out the same tired playbook for decades.

When the Republican President was George Herbert Walker Bush, groups on the left said the record of his first Supreme Court nominee was ``disturbing'' and ``very troubling'' and that his opinions ``threaten to undo the advances made by women, minorities, dissenters and other disadvantaged groups.'' That is what the left said about President Bush 41's first nominee. Who was it? David Souter.

When the Republican President was Ronald Reagan, groups on the left also said that the record of one of his nominees was ``troubling.'' They even called him a ``sexist'' and said he ``would be a disaster for women'' if confirmed. The nominee in question? Anthony Kennedy.

When the Republican President was Gerald Ford, the left said that they had ``grave concern with his Supreme Court nominee'' and that the record of this nominee ``revealed an extraordinary lack of sensitivity to the problems women face.'' In fact, they said he was disqualified from being a member of the Supreme Court of the United States because of his consistent opposition to women's rights. Who was the nominee they were referring to? John Paul Stevens.

I am serious. That is what they said about John Paul Stevens, David Souter, and Anthony Kennedy.

So we can expect to hear a lot of end-times rhetoric from the left again today. In fact, we already have. The same groups on the left that always seem to say the sky is falling when a Republican President puts forward a Supreme Court nominee are saying it is falling again. Only this time, they are saying it before we even have a nominee. We don't even have a nominee yet.

President Trump has a list of about 20 Americans he is considering nominating to the Supreme Court. These men and women have different professional backgrounds, different life experiences. Some have distinguished themselves in State courts; others have distinguished themselves in Federal Court. Some are appellate court judges; others are trial court judges. Some passed the Senate without a single negative vote against their nomination; others passed the Senate without requiring a rollcall vote at all on their nomination.

The bipartisan support, the years of judicial experience, the impressive credentials--none of these appear to matter to some on the left. They say things like ``We are prepared to oppose every name on the list.'' That is right. Every single name on the list they have already announced opposition to. Even more troubling, some Senate Democrats are saying the same thing. My friend from New York said it was hard for him to imagine a nominee from President Trump whom Senate Democrats could support. We don't even have one yet.

I hope we can all skip past that and get down to our serious work. The election is now behind us. The President has been working to make his decision on a nominee. We expect him to announce that decision tomorrow. The Senate should respect the results of the election and treat this newly elected President's nominee in the same way the nominees of other newly elected Presidents have been treated; that is, with careful consideration followed by an up-or-down vote.

We had two nominations in the first term of President Clinton: Ginsburg and Breyer. Both got up-or-down votes. There was no filibuster. We had two nominations in the first term of President Obama: Sotomayor and Kagan. No filibuster. Up-or-down votes. First-term Presidents. We have every right to expect the same courtesy from today's minority when we receive this nomination tomorrow.

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

Mr. President, yesterday, leaders from both parties had an opportunity to meet with President Trump and Vice President Pence at the White House. We appreciate their time and look forward to more conversations with them in the days to come, including later today.

The President has invited the Democratic leader, the chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and me to the White House this afternoon to meet with him regarding the Supreme Court vacancy as part of his ongoing consultations with Members of the Senate. I appreciate the President soliciting our advice on this important matter.

Later this week, Republicans in both the Senate and House will have another opportunity to engage with the President as we gather for our issues conference in Philadelphia. I know we are all eager to continue the dialogue about moving our legislative agenda, including priorities like bringing relief from the consequences of ObamaCare, confirming the President's nominees, enacting tax reform, easing the regulatory burden on our economy, and other key issues.

We are also looking forward to hearing from another special guest, British Prime Minister Theresa May. Her visit will provide Members the chance to hear from the leader of one of our closest allies and partners. We appreciate her willingness to join us, and we welcome the opportunity to discuss the ways in which we can continue to strengthen our Nations' close relationship and pursue shared interests in the years ahead.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I move that the Senate proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 2, Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture motion be waived.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.