Floor Statements

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

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

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

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

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Ossoff), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, today the Senate will vote to confirm Stacey Neumann to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine.

Ms. Neumann earned her B.A. from James Madison University (2000) and her J.D. from Cornell Law School (2005). Following law school, she clerked for Judge John A. Dooley on the Vermont Supreme Court and Judge Peter W. Hall on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Ms. Neumann began her legal career with the Chittenden County Public Defender Office in Vermont. In 2009, she joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maine as a special assistant U.S. attorney and became an assistant U.S. attorney in 2010. At the U.S. Attorney's Office, she served as the Project Safe Childhood Coordinator. In this role, she was responsible for investigating and prosecuting crimes involving the possession, transportation, and production of child sexual abuse material.

Since 2013, Ms. Neumann has been a litigator with Murray Plumb & Murray, where she maintains a diverse practice that consists of criminal, civil, and administrative matters. She has focused her civil practice on representing employees in workplace discrimination cases while also serving as a member of the Criminal Justice Act panel, accepting appointed indigent clients.

Over the course of her legal career, Ms. Neumann has handled 15 trials or adjudicated matters that proceeded to verdict or judgment.

The American Bar Association unanimously rated Ms. Neumann as ``well qualified,'' and she has the support of her home State Senators, Ms. Collins and Mr. King.

Ms. Neumann's diverse experience as a litigator and commitment to service make her well-prepared to serve on the bench with distinction. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting her nomination.

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Ossoff), the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.

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

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

Madam President, I want to make sure that the record is clear and unequivocal. The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, met personally with Prime Minister Netanyahu. At that point, she said, with him and publicly, that our alliance with Israel is ``unwavering.'' That was her exact quote, despite what you might have heard to the contrary.

Then she went on to say she believed that Israel had the right to exist and the right to defend itself, but how it does it makes a difference. That is a significant statement because what she is suggesting is our alliance has to reflect our values as well as our commitment to Israel.

I don't believe that is a radical statement. I agree with that statement. And I believe that to suggest otherwise is to mischaracterize what the Vice President said. I think she speaks for America. I hope she does. She speaks for me when she says those words. I thought her meeting with Netanyahu was historic, important, timely, and repeated the basic principles that guide our two nations.

Madam President, on the second issue of the Supreme Court, the Republican leader of the Senate just characterized the Supreme Court as the ``crown jewel'' of American government. The ``crown jewel,'' those are the words that he used.

Let me ask you if you think this reflects a crown jewel: When one Justice on the Supreme Court receives $4 million in undisclosed gifts from billionaires, does that reflect the crown jewel of our Constitution and our government? I think not. No other Federal judge could get by with what Clarence Thomas did to receive millions of dollars' worth of travel and gifts and not report them publicly.

I don't accept that as routine. I think it is an aberration and reflects poorly on the Court and its integrity. It is time for change. President Biden is saying that today. I will study his detailed suggestion, but I certainly agree with him that the nine people serving on the U.S. Supreme Court should not be treated differently than any other Federal judges when it comes to transparency and accountability for their actions.

If the Court is going to have any credibility when it comes to its decisions, it must reflect that in its actions. Receiving and failing to report gifts of that magnitude is an embarrassment to the whole Nation. Republicans should get on board a bipartisan effort. We passed an ethics bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was authored by Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island. It is pending on the calendar. It should be called this year; the sooner the better.

An ethics code on the Supreme Court that applies the same standards, laws, and procedures to the highest Court in the land as we require of every other Agency in government, including every other court.

Madam President, in 2018, I had the chance to visit Caracas, Venezuela, before they held their last Presidential election. I will never forget walking into one of the private hospitals in Caracas and seeing the shelves empty of basic medicines and hearing the stories of deprivation and political repression that led so many millions to flee that country.

I told President Maduro that if he ran a sham election, which he had scheduled, he would find the country even more isolated and the Venezuelan people enduring even more suffering. Unfortunately, that is the path he pursued, and we have seen the heartbreaking consequences--a failed state near economic collapse, millions of refugees in the region, and greater reliance on Cuba and Russia to suppress the Venezuelan public.

But yesterday's Presidential election in Venezuela offered a chance for change. It has been a perilous process, with the regime disqualifying opposition candidates and arresting key opposition supporters.

Yet, on Sunday, millions turned out to vote for a change. These are some photographs from the election experience.

You see people waiting in line, some up to six hours, for the chance to vote. Despite independent exit polls showing a wide margin for opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, Maduro's regime has, once again, tried to claim a dubious victory absent ballot evidence.

Responsible nations in the region have understandably cast serious doubts on the regime's claims and called for a full and transparent counting of the ballots. I join in that request.

With evidence so far pointing to a decisive Gonzalez victory, he should be considered President-elect unless credible evidence is provided otherwise. The Maduro regime must not be allowed to steal an election or any more of the future from the Venezuelan people.

I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Senator from California (Mr. Padilla), the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.

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

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