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Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, in a few minutes, the Senate is going to vote on the confirmation of Judge Nancy Maldonado to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which the Acting President pro tempore and I know very well.

Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the Senate has confirmed 201 highly qualified, independent, evenhanded judges to the Federal bench. They represent the best of our legal system-- demographically and professionally diverse; they respect the rule of law; they adhere to precedent; and they answer only to the Constitution. We should add another to that list today--Judge Maldonado, an accomplished litigator and distinguished jurist, who will be a great asset to the Seventh Circuit.

She graduated from Harvard College and Columbia Law School. She clerked for U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo--a retired judge, my friend, and an esteemed jurist in the Northern District.

Following her clerkship, Judge Maldonado spent nearly 20 years at a firm specializing in employment, civil rights, and fraud matters. Throughout her career, she tried several cases to verdict, judgment, or final decision.

In addition, she was appointed by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office to serve as a special assistant, tasked with investigating fraud. From 2019 to 2022, she was appointed by the Illinois attorney general to serve as a consent decree monitor in two matters and as a special assistant AG to investigate consumer fraud. You can draw the conclusion from these appointments that she is trusted by her colleagues to be professional.

In 2022, the Senate confirmed Judge Maldonado on a bipartisan vote-- supported by the Acting President pro tempore and myself--to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Since her confirmation, she has presided over almost 1,000 cases--that is in a matter of just 2 years--plus has ruled on thousands of motions and has issued approximately 300 substantive decisions.

Notably, Judge Maldonado has never been reversed by a reviewing court in that period of time--nearly 1,000 cases. Despite what her critics have to say, her record is one of the best. It shows she carefully resolves cases in a way that ensures that litigants feel they have been treated fairly.

Once confirmed, Judge Maldonado will be the first Hispanic judge to ever serve on the Seventh Circuit. History will be made.

Judge Maldonado has my strong support and the support of my other home State Senator and good friend, the Acting President pro tempore, Senator Tammy Duckworth.

Judge Maldonado, incidentally, received a unanimous--unanimous-- ``well qualified'' rating from the American Bar Association based on her integrity, professional competence, and judicial temperament. She has broad support across the legal community, from law enforcement to labor unions representing millions of members.

I urge my Senate colleagues to join me in confirming this highly qualified nominee.

Madam President, on a separate, unrelated subject, 14 years ago, the late Senator Mike Enzi, a Republican from the State of Wyoming, joined me in honoring the Congressional Gold Medal to an amazing man, a pioneer in alleviating global poverty. The recipient was Bangladeshi Professor Muhammad Yunus--shown here in this photo--the founder of Grameen Bank.

I have been fortunate to visit Bangladesh several times and many times with Professor Yunus.

What he came up with as an idea of making small loans to the poorest people on Earth literally changed the world. He changed Bangladesh and the families there who were struggling to feed their children to the point where they could buy a sewing machine and finally make a living with a few dollars and with the promise that they would pay it back.

This idea of Grameen Bank--the people's bank--was Professor Yunus's idea. It revolutionized something called microlending, which hadn't been heard of before this time. It provided easy access to small loans to more than 7 million borrowers--95 percent of them were women or groups of women--and changed poverty reduction in the process. Such efforts eventually earned Professor Yunus the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Tragically, despite the achievements of this great professor, despite the recognition which he has had on an international basis, he has been harassed by the Bangladeshi Government almost nonstop. They pursued an inexplicable, petty vendetta against Professor Yunus, levying over 100--over 100--unsubstantiated criminal and civil charges. In fact, he will soon go on trial again--another trial--this time facing possible life in prison on a nonsense charge.

Last year, because of the frustration of his friends around the world over the way he has been treated by the local government in Bangladesh, 170 global leaders, including more than 100 Nobel laureates, wrote to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urging an end to these judicial proceedings and harassment. I have made similar calls and will do so again here on the floor today.

Quite simply, what is happening to Professor Muhammad Yunus is a travesty that will seriously harm our relationship with Bangladesh. It must stop immediately. Enough.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Chair execute the order of June 4, 2024, with respect to the Sullivan nomination and that the confirmation vote occur at 11:40 a.m.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune a year ago on May 3, 2023, be printed in the Record.

Madam President, I am a liberal arts lawyer. I am not a doctor, and I am not a researcher. So when I get into these fields, I want to say the words I use very carefully, not to misstate what is clearly the case.

But this was an amazing article, which is entitled ``Device uses microbubbles to open blood-brain barrier to treat glioblastoma in humans.''

It is the story of Northwestern Medicine scientist Adam Sonabend:

[R]eport results of the first in-human clinical trial using

a skull-implantable ultrasound device to open the blood-brain

barrier and repeatedly permeate large, critical regions of

the human brain.

To try to translate this into simple words, the blood-brain barrier is something I don't understand. When we take two beers and drink them, we can feel it, so the alcohol has permeated the blood-brain barrier. But in the ordinary course of events, it is, in fact, a barrier for chemicals to enter the brain.

Dr. Sonabend is finding a way to get beyond that barrier, and it is for the treatment of what is known as glioblastoma, brain cancer. We know that very well on a personal basis here in the U.S. Senate. We have lost John McCain to glioblastoma; Ted Kennedy to glioblastoma; one of our Democratic cloakroom staffers, Tim Mitchell, to glioblastoma; and Hunter Biden's brother, Beau Biden, died from glioblastoma.

Why? I am going to try to say this in simple words, and I hope I don't misstate it. Because when we discover the tumor, the first reaction is surgery to remove the tumor. And so you will see, with each of the people I have just mentioned, that experience take place. The tumor is removed, but unfortunately the chemotherapy that is common to stop cancerous tumors from emerging in the same area can't be used because of the blood-brain barrier. This barrier stops the application of the medicine. So the researchers are finding a way to get beyond that barrier to bring chemotherapy to the brain of those suffering from glioblastoma.

We lost the individuals that I mentioned earlier because the followup was so difficult because of this barrier. Now, that is as far as I can go in layman's terms explaining the situation, but the reason I raise that issue is because it is timely.

The reason it is timely is the doctor who is heading up this research at Northwestern University is a Mexican immigrant to the United States. He has been here almost 10 years. He has a team of nine other doctors. They are all doing this research--critical NIH research--at Northwestern, and I am proud of the fact that they are doing it and doing it successfully.

The point I want to make is, the discussion of immigration here in the United States often is a discussion about fear and hate; that immigrants are somehow a threat to this country. Donald Trump has gone so far as to say they poison the blood of America.

Now, those sorts of bigoted, hateful statements have been used throughout history to condemn immigrants who--we have to be honest with ourselves: Go to your favorite hospital, wherever it may be. Take a look at the roster of physicians and surgeons that are going to treat you and your family--and you pray to God they are successful--and notice how many names that appear to be immigrants of this country. They probably are. And we should be proud of the fact that this Nation of immigrants invites people to bring their talents to the United States and to succeed.

Dr. Sonabend, coming to the United States from Mexico, is certainly welcome. I want him to stay and be successful--and his team as well. We need his immigrant talent as others will throughout our Nation's history. They are going to make a difference in the lives of a lot of individuals.

So when President Biden decides that he is going to open up immigration in the United States and give people an opportunity to live in this country and be part of its future, I say, as long as they go through a background check and we know that they are making a positive contribution, paying their taxes, and following the law, they are welcome here in the United States.

I say this with some prejudice. My mother was an immigrant to this country. Her son is a Senator from the State of Illinois. And that, I think, is an indication of what can happen to the sons and daughters of immigrants, given a chance. That is what America is all about.

Madam President, it has been more than 20 years since I decided to introduce a bill called the DREAM Act. This bipartisan legislation provides a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. These young people who are known now as Dreamers grew up in the United States, went to school with our kids, pledged allegiance to the only flag that they have ever known. And poll after poll shows a vast majority of Americans believe they deserve a chance.

They didn't make their family's decision to come here; their family made the decision, and they grew up here. We support, on a bipartisan basis, giving Dreamers an opportunity to become American citizens. I am sorry that they were not expressly included in the President's proposal, but in one aspect they were.

Time after time, the DREAM Act has earned bipartisan support in Congress, only to ultimately be blocked by Republicans. Without congressional action, every day, Dreamers live in fear of their lives being uprooted by deportation.

Now, Dr. Sonabend is not a Dreamer. I don't make the mistake of equating that situation. But he is an immigrant. And the point I am trying to make is, immigrants can make valuable contributions to our lives.

When I started off on the DREAM Act, I introduced the bill, and there was a battle between me and Orrin Hatch. Madam President, you didn't get a chance to serve with him, but he was a Republican from Utah and proud of it, and he believed the DREAM Act was his first idea. I thought it was mine. But the majority at the time was Republican, and I said to Senator Hatch: You be the lead. It will be a Hatch-Durbin bill.

Well, over time, he decided that he didn't like the idea any further and dropped his sponsorship of the legislation, but I continued pressing forward with it.

Lucky for me, there was a former Republican Senator from Indiana named Richard Lugar, an extraordinarily good man. I asked him to appeal to President Barack Obama because they were personal friends, to use the President's Executive authority to help Dreamers.

Twelve years ago, President Obama answered this bipartisan call from Senator Lugar and myself, establishing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, better known as DACA. DACA is a form of the DREAM Act that has protected more than 830,000 young people from deportation. Many have gone on to serve our Nation as doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, and first responders.

President Biden faces a dilemma similar to President Obama's. He has tried to work with Congress to fix the

broken immigration system--and it is broken--but Republicans have repeatedly thwarted his efforts.

Most of us believed that we had an opportunity for a breakthrough, a bipartisan effort, with Senator James Lankford on the Republican side leading the way, as well as two Democratic Senators, Murphy and Sinema, to make this a bipartisan effort. They had a bipartisan border security bill that was coming before Congress.

At the very last minute, when this measure was about to be considered, Donald Trump stepped in and said: Stop. I don't want any Republicans in the Senate to support a bipartisan effort to solve the border crisis. Stop what you are doing right now. I would rather have the issue to debate in November than to have you try to solve it and give Biden any credit for it.

Former President Trump said at the end of his statement: You can blame me. Well, I am blaming him that he stopped a bipartisan effort to solve the border crisis. When the bill came to the floor, the vast majority of Republicans opposed it at his request. The fact is, he said: ``Blame it on me.'' I do. The former President has made it clear he does not want a solution to our immigration challenges before the November election; he wants a campaign issue.

He has demonized immigrants, saying--and this is one of the most despicable quotes I can think of--that they are ``poisoning the blood of our country.'' He has promised to round up and deport every undocumented immigrant in our country, including Dreamers.

In light of this Republican obstructionism, President Biden has no choice but to use his authority as President to improve our broken immigration system. That is why 3 months ago I led a group of 19 Senate Democrats asking President Biden to protect immigrants with deep roots in our country, including Dreamers and the spouses of U.S. citizens. This week, President Biden responded, taking action to protect immigrants who have been here for decades, paying taxes, and contributing to all of our communities.

The President is helping Americans with noncitizen spouses keep their families together by allowing them to apply for lawful permanent residence--a status they are already eligible for--without leaving the country. He is also allowing Dreamers and other immigrants who have earned a degree from an American college and have received a job offer from a U.S. employer related to their field to more quickly receive work visas.

I commend President Biden for taking these steps, but ultimately only Congress can fix the immigration system in America.

To my Republican colleagues who may criticize the President, instead, I urge them to work with Democrats to pass immigration reform legislation.

I just want to conclude this part of my opening statement by saying that this issue means so much to me. It was over 20 years ago that I introduced the DREAM Act, as I mentioned earlier. I have come to know these young people, and I have come to try to help them over and over again.

We have had some success on the floor, where we would pass a measure, and the House would not take it up. But despite that frustration, they continue to soldier on every single day, despite fear of deportation, to do their best to be part of America. Given that chance, they have proven themselves over and over again.

I often think, when you consider the hundreds of thousands of individuals who have been helped by the DREAM Act, by DACA, and other provisions, how few cases there have been where they have disappointed us publicly. The law of averages says there is bound to be somebody who is going to break your heart out there, who calls themselves a Dreamer and does something you don't like at all, but by and large, they are an amazing group of people who never ever give up.

Now they have asked, for example, for some help for their parents, and President Biden suggested he is going to give them that help. Some of the parents now are going to have an opportunity to live in America with their families without fear of deportation. That, to me, is what this country should be all about.

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin), the Senator from Massachussetts (Mr. Markey), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I was necessarily absent for rollcall vote No. 198, motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Katherine E. Oler to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Had I been present for the vote, I would have voted yea.

I was necessarily absent for rollcall vote No. 199, confirmation of the nomination of Katherine E. Oler to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Had I been present for the vote, I would have voted yea.

I was necessarily absent for rollcall vote No. 200, on the motion to concur in the House amendments to S. 870, Fire Grants and Safety Act. Had I been present for the vote, I would have voted yea.

I announce that the Senator from California (Ms. Butler), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) are necessarily absent.

I want to thank Senator Murray for her leadership on this issue. I thank my colleague Senator Tammy Duckworth.

I first met Tammy Duckworth about 12 years ago. She was my guest at a State of the Union Address. She was a patient at Walter Reed Hospital. She was recovering from the wounds which she incurred in a combat helicopter, fighting for the United States of America.

What happened to her is unimaginable. A terrorist shot a rocket- propelled grenade into the cockpit of her helicopter, and it landed in her lap. She lost her left leg as a result of it and went through at least a year, maybe more, at Walter Reed Hospital, patching her up, saving her arm, thank goodness, and giving her the kind of guidance she needed to lead a life.

When I met her, I knew she was an extraordinary person, an extraordinary American. I didn't know how extraordinary until I called her one day and said: Would you consider running for office? In a moment of weakness, she says, with medication, she answered yes.

I watched her elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and to the U.S. Senate. She has become more than just a colleague. She is a friend I dearly love. I believe we are lucky to have her in the Nation and in the U.S. Senate.

She made a phone call to me about 8 years ago. I remember it so well. I was driving on Interstate 55 up to Bloomington for a meeting, and it was Tammy that gave me some news.

I said: What is up, Tammy?

She said: I am going to have a baby.

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I couldn't believe it. After all she had been through--losing a leg, going through a year or more at Walter Reed Hospital--she and her husband Brian finally had a dream come true. Through in vitro fertilization, she was going to have a baby girl. It was a miracle. I couldn't believe it. Yet it did happen.

We had to change the rules of the Senate so Tammy Duckworth, the first woman Senator to have a child while serving in the Senate, could bring her baby on the floor of the Senate. We have a special rule for that. But it meant so much for her to let her little girl have that experience that we changed the rules.

The reason I tell you that story is it could be repeated over and over thousands and thousands of times. In vitro fertilization is the ticket for military servicemembers and veterans like Tammy Duckworth to have the joy of a child. In fact, she has had a second child through IVF. And with that joy, she showed that she cannot only be a great Senator and a great wife, but a terrific mother too.

What is at stake here is privacy and freedom--privacy and freedom--as to whether we as Americans are going to respect one another in making these fundamental human decisions. There are politicians in this Chamber as well as in legislatures across the country who want to make that decision for your family. Don't let them take that away from you.

That is why this vote is so critically important. What we are guaranteeing is the privacy and freedom of individuals and families who want to choose IVF to start or expand their families. That is just common sense.

If you are pro-choice, protect the choice to use IVF to expand your family. If you are pro-life, protect the life that comes out of that process. It becomes such a critical part of your own life.

I listened to Senator Hickenlooper. I met Jack. He is worth all the effort and pain they went through. People like Senator Hickenlooper and his wife Robin should have that opportunity, and we should protect it. Let's make sure we do.

Vote yes on this proposal.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from California (Ms. Butler), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) are necessarily absent.

Madam President, on a picturesque college campus in Milwaukee, WI, the excited whispers of students would make you think a celebrity had just walked by. And, in a way, a celebrity had just walked by--because in the eyes of the Marquette University community, beloved University President Michael Lovell was a figure to admire, learn from, and emulate. He embodied cura personalis--Marquette's guiding principle--meaning ``care for the whole person.''

There is something especially painful about the death of those taken from us too soon. And so it is with a heavy heart that I grieve the loss of Dr. Michael Lovell--celebrated president of Marquette University, distinguished engineer, educator, and scholar. President Lovell passed away last week after a 3-year long battle with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. His time with us was cut short, but during his 57 years of life, he had a tremendous impact on students, the Milwaukee community, and all those lucky enough to call him a loved one.

For the past decade, Dr. Lovell served as the president of Marquette University. Though a man of faith, he was the first president who was a layman, rather than a member of the Catholic clergy. In this role, President Lovell became a fixture of the Marquette community, showing a fierce devotion to the university and the city he called home.

Prior to serving as Marquette's president, Dr. Lovell served as the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and, before that, as the dean of its engineering college. An engineer by trade, President Lovell held not one, not two, but three mechanical engineering degrees, including a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. And he was recognized nationally and globally for his exceptional talents. Throughout the course of his career, he received awards from the National Science Foundation, was a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and National Academy of Inventors, and earned U.S. and global patents.

During his tenure as Marquette's president, Dr. Lovell helped create the Near West Side Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to the economic development, safety, and community identity of Milwaukee's seven near west side neighborhoods. Under his leadership, Marquette grew to new heights. Dr. Lovell was instrumental in the construction of a new athletics center, new residence hall, new green spaces, new academic buildings, and countless other projects across Marquette's campus. His stewardship shaped the university, and every student that passes through those new halls will benefit from his dedication to making Marquette a world-class institution.

But more impressive than what he accomplished was the relationships he built. Marquette was dear to him. In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2022, he reflected on why he continued to work as he battled cancer. His response was simple: ``When you don't know how much time you have left, you want your days to be impactful and you want to do things that you love.'' And, boy, did President Lovell love that community. He lived by that guiding principle of cura personalis. He showed up for his students--fostering not only their academic potential, but their growth as future leaders who engaged with their communities. Students fondly recall running alongside him for the annual Briggs and Al's Run or him handing out hot cookies and ice cream in the dining halls. And of course, he made regular appearances on the jumbotron at Marquette basketball games.

Dr. Lovell made a habit of meeting with and listening to students. He often sat down with small groups of them for lunch to hear about their classes or to discuss the probability of the basketball team making it through March Madness and into the Final Four. And as Milwaukee reckoned with its own history of racial injustice in 2020, Dr. Lovell held townhalls and met directly with students of color to better understand their experiences on campus. Because of those listening sessions and student advocacy, President Lovell partnered with the Black student council to establish new scholarships for students of color, improve the diversity of counselors on campus, and strengthen the core curriculum to require additional education on racial injustice.

And this commitment to the well-being of students reached beyond campus. In the wake of the horrific January 6 insurrection, Dr. Lovell heard that a 2018 Marquette alumnus was among the U.S. Capitol Police officers protecting lawmakers that day. He personally reached out to that former student, offering gratitude for his service and the full support of the university. It was a small gesture, but one that demonstrated just how much Dr.

Lovell cared for Marquette's students, past and present.

Marquette University may not be in Illinois, but it is significant to me. My son is a proud Marquette graduate, as are many of my incredible staff members in Washington, DC, and across Illinois. And it was President Lovell's innovative and empathetic leadership that helped make Marquette so special for so many. In the words of Milwaukee Bucks Head Coach Doc Rivers, who played for Marquette in the 1980s, President Lovell was a ``gentle giant.'' I join my staff, my son, and the whole Marquette community in mourning the loss of President Lovell.

While Dr. Lovell's legacy will live on in all the lives he touched, it does not make this loss any easier. He was deeply kind, an exceptional listener, and unyieldingly optimistic in the face of a formidable diagnosis. President Lovell lived the last years of his life to the fullest. And, in part, it was his deep religious convictions that allowed him to remain strong during such trying health challenges. I admire his faith and resilience.

Loretta and I join his wife Amy and his four children--Marissa, Matt, Anna, and Kevin--in grieving this tremendous loss. We send our love to all of you. Though he has passed, Dr. Lovell's embodiment of cura personalis carries on--and we are all better for it.