Floor Statements

I announce that the Senator from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), and the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Smith) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Wisconsin, (Ms. Baldwin), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), and the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Smith) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), and the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Smith) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) is necessarily absent.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the cloture motion with respect to the Lund nomination be withdrawn, and notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 25, the year 2024.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that we move immediately to the vote that has been scheduled for 2:15.

Madam President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Judge Jacquelyn D. Austin to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Born in Sumter, SC, Judge Austin earned her B.S. from the University of South Carolina School of Engineering and her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law. After law school, Judge Austin completed a clerkship for Judge Matthew J. Perry on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. She then entered private practice as a patent attorney for the Hardaway Law Firm, where she was responsible for drafting and prosecuting patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Judge Austin also worked in business litigation at Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice, PLLC, where she handled matters ranging from intellectual property litigation to Fair Housing Act claims.

In 2011, Judge Austin was appointed to an 8-year term as a federal magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. She was reappointed to the position in 2019. Throughout her time on the bench, Judge Austin has issued thousands of reports and recommendations. She also presides over the district's drug court program, which identifies criminal defendants whose presence in the criminal justice system is primarily a function of drug abuse rather than independently motivated criminal behavior.

The American Bar Association unanimously rated Judge Austin as ``well qualified,'' and she has the strong support of Senators Graham and Scott.

Judge Austin's dedication to service, knowledge of the District of South Carolina, and judicial experience make her an outstanding nominee. I will vote in favor of her confirmation and encourage my colleagues to do the same.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.

Madam President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Judge Cristal C. Brisco to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

Born in Granger, IN, Judge Brisco earned her B.A., cum laude, from Valparaiso University in 2002 and her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2006. After graduating from law school, Judge Brisco worked as an associate in the litigation and labor and employment department at Barnes & Thornburg, LLP from 2006 to 2013.

Following her work in private practice, she was appointed to serve as the corporation counsel for the city of South Bend, IN, by then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg. From 2017 to 2018, Judge Brisco served as the general counsel of the Corporation of Saint Mary's College. After that, Judge Brisco served as a magistrate judge on the St. Joseph Circuit Court-- Mishawaka Division, from 2018 to 2021. In July 2021, Judge Brisco was appointed by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb to serve as a judge on the St. Joseph Superior Court. Then, in February 2022, Judge Brisco was appointed by the Indiana Supreme Court to concurrent service on the Indiana Commercial Court. During her time on the bench, she has issued approximately 1,818 written decisions.

The American Bar Association unanimously rated Judge Brisco as ``well qualified'' to serve as a district judge on the Northern District of Indiana. She has the support of her home State Senators, Mr. Young and Mr. Braun.

With deep ties to the Hoosier State, Judge Brisco's experience as a superior court judge and former civil litigator have prepared her to serve honorably on the Federal bench in Indiana.

I am proud to support her nomination, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Madam President, during this week when we remember the staggering number of loved ones we have lost to gun violence, I want to acknowledge a spiritual and community leader who is working to end the terrible cycle of gun violence in Chicago.

Pastor Chris Harris is pastor of Bright Star Church in Chicago's storied Bronzeville neighborhood and senior pastor of St. James Church in the City's historic Roseland-West Pullman community. He is a leader of creative vision, compassion, and action. And when it comes to ending gun violence, Pastor Harris has no time for hand-wringing or finger- pointing or political scapegoating.

One of his frequent admonitions is: ``Say nothing about violence and trauma until you do something about violence and trauma.'' As one of the most passionate and charismatic leaders in our community, both his words and his actions have helped to turn lives around. Fifteen years ago, Pastor Harris founded a nonprofit organization called Bright Star Community Outreach.

Its purpose is not simply to help heal victims of gun violence, but to prevent gun violence by treating its deep and often complex causes, including poverty, lack of opportunity, despair, and trauma. Bright Star Community Outreach does this by offering a myriad of services, from afterschool programs to job counseling, financial literacy classes, and workshops on homebuying and

entrepreneurship. As Pastor Harris often says, ``The best violence prevention program is access to good schools and good jobs,'' the kinds of jobs you can raise a family on.

Bright Star also offers counseling and other forms of support to help heal from the trauma that is often at the root--not only of gun violence but also addiction and so many other deadly ills. And he has been at the forefront of this field, being involved in Federal grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Over the years, Bright Star Community Outreach has grown from Pastor Harris and a few volunteers to now 115 employees. They are working directly with Chicago Public School students to understand their needs and experiences. I have visited their programs many times, and I am always inspired by the work they do.

And when I set out to introduce legislation to address the role that trauma plays in fueling our cycle of violence, Pastor Harris was one of my first calls. His guidance helped shape the legislation I have worked on for nearly a decade, parts of which have become law and are funding school mental health efforts in Chicago.

Recently, Pastor Harris decided to step back as executive director. He will remain CEO of BSCO, and he will have a bit more time to focus more on his many other duties. The new executive director of Bright Star Community Outreach is LaKreisha Kindred. She is a lifelong Chicagoan with a background in the financial industry--and a member of the famed Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. I wish her well. And I want to say to my friend Pastor Chris Harris, thank you for your unflagging efforts to save lives and bring new hope to the city of Chicago.

Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to honor the sixth annual National Gun Violence Survivors Week.

This week, we recognize the unbelievable toll of gun violence in America, and we offer our support to the survivors who are left behind.

No State or city is safe from the epidemic of gun violence. Just yesterday, in Joliet, IL, less than an hour outside of Chicago, seven lives were taken within minutes by a shooter with a gun.

Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans said:

I've been a police officer for 29 years, and this is the

worst crime scene I've ever been associated with.

In Highland Park, IL, a shooter with an assault rifle fired 83 rounds in less than 60 seconds at a Fourth of July parade in 2022, killing seven innocent people and wounding dozens before law enforcement could finally even identify where he was. So much for the theory of a good person with a gun stopping a bad person with a gun. When it comes to assault rifles, that is not even in the realm of possibility.

Katie Gillman is one of many of my constituents who was there in Highland Park. She was with her husband and two daughters to see the Fourth of July parade when the shooter opened fire on the crowd. She and her children ran for their lives. Katie still lives in fear that what happened that day could happen again and that she may not be able to protect her kids this time.

She recently wrote to me and said:

For close to a year, I have had a deep-seated fear that my

children won't make it through the school day due to gun

violence. And each week in the news, there is proof of these

fears.

The unfortunate reality is that Americans are forced to worry about whether their kids will be safe from gun violence at school, at the movies, at concerts, and at church--virtually everywhere.

Since 2020, the United States has suffered more than 600 mass shootings each year--almost 2 a day. There is no place in America that has been spared. And guns are now the No. 1 cause of death for American kids and teenagers. Think of that. In the entire world, it is in America that the No. 1 cause of death of kids and teenagers is guns. It is not auto accidents, not cancer--guns.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an editorial opinion, published this morning in the Sun-Times, entitled ``Illinois' ban on assault weapons is working,'' be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, it reflects the fact that Illinois decided to change its law a little over a year ago. We decided to finally come to grips with the assault weapons scourge that hit Highland Park and continues to threaten America.

This is an article that was written by the CEO of Gun Violence Prevention PAC, Kathleen Sances. In it, she makes note of the fact that the new law in Illinois is being measured as to whether it has been successful on its 1-year anniversary.

The analysis and data from the Gun Violence Archive shows 10 percent fewer mass shootings in Illinois between 2022 and 2023. She writes:

Gun dealers haven't sold assault weapons in Illinois in the

past 12 months, and there isn't any evidence of violations by

dealers.

Gun dealers are complying with the ban, and that's evidenced by their complaints about the loss of sales, collectively costing dealers millions of dollars, and saving an untold number of lives. In fact, when assault weapons or high-capacity magazines are used in shootings, 155 percent more people are shot, and 47 percent more people are killed.

That simple, commonsense effort to put an end to gun violence is working in Illinois, thank goodness, but we must do more.

We cannot lose hope. Instead, we should focus on what we can do to address the gun violence crisis. In cities like Chicago, dealing with the drumbeat of gun violence has turned public health professionals into battlefield experts. I heard from doctors in Chicago who were sick of treating gunshot victims on the operating table, 50 percent of whom, if they survive, would leave the hospital and return as gunshot victims again.

They wanted to prevent this gruesome injury scenario from happening in the first place and then repeating. So, in 2018, I brought together the CEOs of the 10 largest hospitals serving in Chicago to talk about how we could help. We formed a group known as the Chicago HEAL Initiative, which has emerged as a national example of how hospitals can collaborate and reach outside their walls to prevent gun violence. Most importantly, they aren't just stitching up physical injuries; they are addressing the emotional scars of their patients.

We must do more for survivors. That means providing resources like the HEAL Initiative to help those who have experienced trauma and preventing weapons of war from causing bloodshed in the first place.

It is time for us to build on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and come together to create real change. Congress must pass commonsense legislation to help keep America's children and communities safe.

Mr. President, I would like to turn briefly to another urgent topic. We must restore order at our southern border and enforce our immigration laws in a fair and humane way. That is why the Senate has been engaged in bipartisan talks on a path forward for weeks.

The Republican Governor of Texas takes a much different view. He has implemented cruel--even deadly--and ineffective immigration policies that sow chaos, risk lives, and prevent Federal border officials from doing their jobs.

Last week, a woman and two children tragically died in the Rio Grande River while Mexican authorities rescued other migrants in distress. The U.S. Border Patrol could not reach these migrants in need because the Texas National Guard actively blocked access to the Rio Grande River. This is just the latest tragedy resulting from Governor Abbott's policies.

As part of its so-called Operation Lone Star, Texas has strung razor wire along the border which has seriously injured migrants, and it has dropped migrant children off at truck stops in Illinois in subzero temperatures. We warned him. The Governor of Illinois warned Governor Abbott of Texas that if you haphazardly drop these migrants off in Chicago at this time of year, terrible things can occur. A few weeks ago, a little boy died. God knows who others were in danger because of the Governor of Texas and his strategy.

Texas passed a new law that makes it a State crime to cross the border without inspection and recently began arresting immigrants who crossed the border, placing them into State custody. Governor Abbott defends these policies, even though there is zero evidence they deter migrants from crossing the border.

We must discourage migrants from risking their lives by approaching the United States between ports of entry, but we cannot stand by while Governor Abbott increases the likelihood of injury or death. Despite their desperation to reach safety, most migrants wish to enter the United States lawfully. Many wait months at our border for appointments to make asylum claims.

In defending his policies, the Governor of Texas recently bragged:

[T]he only thing that we're not doing is we're not shooting

people who come across the border, because of course the

Biden Administration would charge us with murder.

This is a direct quote from Governor Abbott.

His actions are not only dangerous and cruel, they are unconstitutional. Under our Constitution, States do not have the right to pass their own laws preempting Federal laws on immigration.

Just yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Federal Government, allowing Border Patrol agents to cut through or remove razor wire that the Governor of Texas installed on the border.

As former Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his opinion in Arizona v. United States, which found parts of Arizona's anti-immigration law unconstitutional:

[T]he history of the United States is in part made of the

stories, talents, and lasting contributions of those who

crossed oceans and deserts to come here.

With that sentiment in mind, Congress must do its job and pass immigration laws that honor our history as a nation of immigrants and provide the critical resources necessary to address the challenges at our border.

I guess I pretty well know, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of immigration--legal immigration--to this country, I believe immigration is a critical element of who we are and what we will become. It is part of our past, and it should be part of our future.

My mother was an immigrant to this country, and I have never forgotten it. I am lucky to be standing here today as a U.S. Senator, because her parents had the courage to come to a country where they didn't speak the language in the hopes of a better life for her and her children. One of her children is now standing in the U.S. Senate.

I believe that is part of America's history, but there are certain elements which we must acknowledge. No. 1, the United States cannot absorb all of the people who want to come to this country at this moment. We have to have an orderly process that makes sense not only for the migrants but that also makes sense for America, first and foremost. We have to be cognizant and sensitive to our Nation's safety and security. That is No. 1. We should never knowingly allow anyone to come to this country who would cause us harm.

Secondly, we have to make sure that those who come will add to America, and I believe most will. If given a chance, they will become part of our economy, even starting at the lowest levels and working their way up. It is the story of immigration in America.

In addition to that, we need to work with other countries to regulate the flow of refugees. The refugee crisis in the world today is the worst it has ever been, and we are seeing it evidenced in the fact that those who present themselves at our southern border are often from places like China and Asia and Africa, and they find their way to the Mexican border with the United States in the hopes of a future. We need an orderly process.

We also need to make sure that we have the legal authorization of people to come to this country to work. I can't tell you how many people in Illinois have come to me and said: We are desperate for workers. Americans won't fill these jobs, and we need people who will. All the way up from farming to industry, that is the story, and that is the reality.

What we need to do is come to an agreement that is sensible here, a bipartisan agreement, and do it quickly. The numbers approaching our border are so overwhelming, we have no choice but to do that.

I want to work on a bipartisan basis with those in good faith and good will who will recognize that immigration is not only our history but our future, but it must be in an orderly fashion. That is what I am looking for, and I think America is as well.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kelly) is necessarily absent.