Floor Statements

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I came to the floor a few minutes after Senator Thune, the Republican leader, spoke, and I missed part of his statement, but I think I heard most of it. I listened carefully to the statement by the Senator from Wyoming.

Let me say at the outset that I consider them both to be friends. We disagree on many things politically, but over the years, I have come to work with both of them and look forward to doing that again someday.

I was disappointed in both of their statements because of what was not said. How can you talk about the government shutdown without ever mentioning healthcare costs to American families? How can you do that? I mean, it is a situation where we understand, I hope, that the Democrats are not in this position for any reason other than to stop the dramatic increase in healthcare premiums that American families will face unless we do something and do it now.

In State after State, the notices are going out that the cost of health insurance for working families in America is going to go up dramatically--in some cases, more than 100 percent. That is going to be hurtful to many. They will have to look for different health insurance plans that they can afford, which means more money out of pocket, or they are going to drop their health insurance coverage altogether.

How can the Republican leader stand before us and even refuse to acknowledge that that is the issue that drives this government shutdown?

The Republicans are insisting on their approach to the budget because they don't want to see American families protected when it comes to these

health insurance increases. And the increases are already being announced. Ten States so far have announced them.

October 27 is the magic date, if you will, for the announcement in my State of Illinois. I know what is going to happen. I am going to hear from hundreds, if not thousands, of families across my State that increasing the cost for families is creating a hardship they never anticipated.

We believe on the Democratic side that this is the time to act, now, to move together to stop these increases from taking place because these increases were part of the big beautiful Republican budget--the Trump budget, voted for by every Republican Senator and no Democratic Senators; the Trump budget, which, of course, he signed into law. That is what is leading to these increases, because the Affordable Care Act insurance plans are no longer going to enjoy a subsidy, a tax credit, to help families pay the premiums, and that is why the cost is going to go up so dramatically.

We can change it. We can do it, but we have to do it quickly. We ought to move on it this week.

I wish the House of Representatives were in session. They haven't shown up for 2 weeks. Speaker Johnson happens to believe that being AWOL is the right thing for his Republican Members. I don't think it is the right thing for America.

Democrats and Republicans should be in this Capitol negotiating, sitting at a table together, and the first item on the agenda has to be healthcare costs for American families.

All this talk about a dangerous game and radical-left policies and management--it is not a radical-left idea that a working family ought to have affordable health insurance; it is basic in America.

As flawed as our health system is in this country and as great as it is in many respects, if people cannot afford to have coverage for their family, then hardship follows.

That is the real reason.

They say: Well, what about the cost? Remember, this is an administration that wants to give $20 billion to Argentina. Twenty billion dollars this President is planning to give. I am worried more about 20 million Americans who will lose their health insurance if we don't do something and do it quickly.

The American people get it. This issue has gone from the beltway to the backyards of America. People know that this is coming, and they are worried about it, and they should be. They want us to do something, and they want it done now.

We are making the fight on this continuing resolution because it is timely, and we need bipartisan support to pass it. So let's do something positive in a bipartisan way, and dealing with the cost of health insurance is my approach that I would suggest.

Illinois

Mr. President, let me take this to another issue that is near and dear to my heart, and that is what is happening in my home State of Illinois. We all know the popular quote:

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first

time.

Or, in President Trump's case, if a person shows you who they are a million times over, believe them.

President Trump has shown us his unlawful and inhumane priorities over and over again, city after city. He continues to deploy militarized immigration agents and National Guard troops to more American cities purely for political theater. He wants America to talk about the Texas National Guard in Illinois, not about healthcare costs facing American families.

But it is not going to work.

Unfortunately, the men and women of the Texas National Guard who are in the State of Illinois, as of yesterday, have been sent off on a political assignment, political theater. Instead of working to find a bipartisan way to reopen the government, lower the cost of healthcare, President Trump is focused on scoring points against his perceived enemies.

Just yesterday, 200 or 300 members of the Texas National Guard joined Federal law enforcement officers in Chicago, along with President Trump's loyal FBI Director Kash Patel. The truth is that the arrival of the Texas National Guard and the FBI Director will not make Chicago safer; it will only escalate the unnecessary and dangerous situation this President himself has created.

I still can't get the image out of my mind from 2 weeks ago, when the ICE officials, in full combat gear, carrying long rifles, were marching down Michigan Avenue. It was a hateful effort that was used to provoke people into strong emotional feelings. This administration's unlawful use of military resources to police American cities makes our country less safe, and it is a mistake that will be remembered in the history books.

I pray that the court system will respond accordingly as they did in the case of Oregon and Illinois when the hearing tomorrow is brought before the Federal judge. Deploying the Texas National Guard without the consent of Illinois elected officials is, in my estimation, unnecessary and unlawful.

The Posse Comitatus Act expressly forbids the use of our Nation's military for civilian law enforcement unless expressly authorized by statute or the Constitution.

National Guard personnel do not deserve to be used by the President's political pawns. Let me say and make it clear: As much as I regret the decision by the Texas Governor to send his National Guard troops into Illinois and as much as I want them to leave immediately, I do not make those statements at the expense of the individuals who are in the Guard and volunteered to serve their State and Nation. The same thing is true with the federalized Illinois National Guard. They are doing what they were ordered to do according to the military standards.

But the bottom line is, we all know they are not fighting crime. If the Trump administration truly wants to help Chicago--and I don't believe they do--and Illinois, it won't defy our elected leaders; it will work with us. It will restore millions of dollars the Trump administration suspended in crime prevention and public safety grants. Instead, this administration has chosen to use America's military to create chaos and sow fear in our cities.

We all agree on the importance of reducing crime and making our communities safer. The President claims his aggressive immigration raids and threats to deploy troops are to help get violent criminals off the streets.

I have come to the floor 2 straight days, and this is the third, to condemn what happened last week in the city of Chicago on Tuesday. A South Shore apartment building was raided in the middle of the night. Doors were crashed down, families were rousted out of their bedrooms, many of them brought out to the street and questioned as to whether they were in America legally. Some were American citizens. We don't know how many. We certainly don't know if there were any criminals found as a result of that. No report.

But we do know this: What happened on that street on that night was not the way America does business and shouldn't be. It was to terrorize these families, with no warrant for their arrest and no suspicion that they committed crimes, simply because they looked Hispanic and maybe looked like foreigners--I am not sure. This action was taken against them.

These attacks are part of Stephen Miller's personal agenda for mass deportation at any cost. They pulled FBI, DEA, and ATF agents from their assignments, important assignments, to stop narcotics and other things to carry out the President's immigration agenda. They stopped working on fighting crimes like terrorism, gun violence, human trafficking, and drug smuggling to land a helicopter near a building in Chicago and to bring 30 families out into the street in the middle of the night.

I have fought for humane reforms to our immigration system and evidence-based ways to reduce crimes in our cities. If the President is serious about fixing our immigration system or lowering crime in our communities, I will join in on that effort. But sending in militarized Federal immigration agents and National Guard troops to our communities is not the way to do it. These actions have accomplished what I believe is the President's true intention: sowing fear in the hearts of our communities, especially our immigrant communities, and consolidating the President's power in Washington.

The actions taken by this administration undermine the very fabric of America, a nation that was founded on the belief that all people should be free from tyranny. I remember a time when every Member of Congress would have risen in outrage if an administration attempted to use the military unlawfully against cities and communities and States that they represent. Unfortunately, this time has passed. There is nothing but silence from the other side of the aisle. Congressional Republicans are content to stand aside in abject servility to this President as he tramples the Constitution.

But Americans should not stay silent. People across Illinois are peacefully making their voices heard and letting this administration know the attacks on our city will not go unchallenged.

As a Senator from Illinois, I will do everything in my power to hold this administration accountable for their unlawful actions. They may think this is a diversion of attention from the basic issue of controlling healthcare costs and helping working American families afford their health insurance. I think it is much more. It is a threat to our Republic and our Constitution, and I hope that others will join me in condemning this activity.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, today, for the first time since her confirmation earlier this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer for her tenure in the Office of the Attorney General for this calendar year.

From the outset, the Attorney General was not, apparently, happy to be there. She ducked many questions, and I think she believed we wouldn't notice. We did.

In her opening statement, the Attorney General said that ``playing politics with law enforcement powers,'' as she claims previous administrations have, ``will go down as a historic betrayal of public trust'' and that ``this is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people's faith in our law enforcement system.''

That is interesting coming from an Attorney General who, over the course of 8 very long months, has presided over exactly such a betrayal of public trust. The Attorney General has systematically weaponized the Department of Justice, turning it into a shield to protect President Trump and his allies and a sword to attack his opponents. She has made clear that her loyalties lie first and foremost with the President, not with the Constitution. In doing so, she effectively shut down justice at the Department of Justice, even before the party controlling the White House, Senate, and the House of Representatives shut down the government.

Last week, on the Senate floor and in the wake of the Federal indictment against former FBI Director James Comey that was ordered by President Trump expressly, I warned of the dangers posed by weaponizing the Justice Department in a political fashion.

A President, enabled by people like this Attorney General, who can warp the Department of Justice and FBI into a personal police force to target his enemies, can turn it against ordinary Americans too. Unfortunately, the city of Chicago, which I am proud to represent, is feeling that today.

In an especially egregious instance in the city's South Shore neighborhood last Tuesday night, hundreds of armed Federal agents rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters and swarmed an apartment building in the South Shore area. This made-for-movies entrance was into a building, which apparently the ICE agents knew little about the occupants.

ICE rampaged through the building, breaking down doors, rousting people

out of bed, rounding up the residents without cause, detaining many with zip ties, including women and children. When one of the ICE agents was confronted with the children, he said, ``F---- them kids.''

Detaining not just immigrants but U.S. citizens for hours on end, with no justification, isn't fighting crime; it is cruel, and it is un- American.

Attorney General Bondi's Justice Department has defended this dubious legal basis for Federal deployments to Illinois and diverted Department of Justice personnel and their components to assist with these efforts. So, today, many of us pushed her for answers.

I asked her if anyone at the White House consulted her about the National Guard deployments to Chicago and other cities. She refused to answer that she even had a conversation with the White House about their justification for sending hundreds of National Guard troops into the city of Chicago.

I asked what secret the Attorney General was trying to hide from the American people who deserve to know the legitimate legal rationale for deploying American military to our cities. She responded by attempting to blame Democrats for the Republican shutdown and attacking me for not ``loving Chicago as much as [I] hate President Trump.'' That was a quote.

I have been a member of the Judiciary Committee for 20 years-plus. Never have I encountered a witness from any other administration of either political party responding to legitimate questions with personal attacks. She had a personal attack crafted for each one of the Senators and thought she was getting the best of us. But that kind of unserious response is what we have come to expect from Trump administration officials whose priority is loyalty, not the rule of law.

If DOJ is serious about reducing crimes, then they would work in conjunction with State and local leaders to implement evidence-based policies that do drive down violence. The fact is, this administration actually cares more about spreading fear into the hearts of our communities and catering to the vengeful whims of President Trump and Stephen Miller. It is political theater with an immense human pricetag.

I also asked the Attorney General about the Epstein client list. She wouldn't touch it. She said in February, publicly, that the client list was ``sitting on her desk.'' Well, it is October, and the American people are still waiting for answers on this. She refused today to provide any information about this list, and we know why.

A few months ago, a credible whistleblower told my office that FBI agents were instructed to flag any mention of President Trump from the files of Mr. Epstein. If true, that is not law enforcement; that is political protection. So I pressed her again today for more information to be made public. She refused.

Mr. President, what we saw in today's hearing was an Attorney General unwilling and maybe unable to defend what is happening in her Department. Whether it is the Epstein files, Chicago immigration raids, sweetheart deals for Trump allies, or the mass purging of career law enforcement, her silence tells a story.

Saying ``I'm not going to discuss this with you'' may have worked today, but one day, she will need to answer for her conduct in this role, and she will need to defend her record--one that saw the dismantling of the Department of Justice for political purposes on her watch.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, on Friday, in the midst of a Republican- led government shutdown, President Trump revealed his priorities. It isn't to protect the healthcare, the health insurance of millions of Americans who are about to lose their insurance or see premiums skyrocket. No, that is not it.

The President's priority is to deploy militarized immigration agents and National Guard troops to more American cities. Why? Purely for political theater and to advance his extreme agenda.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday last week, while this government barreled toward a shutdown, President Donald Trump launched a military law enforcement assault on the city of Chicago. In the city's Southside neighborhood, hundreds--hundreds--of Federal agents, many hiding their faces with masks, rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters, darted out of disguised moving trucks, armed with military-grade weapons, to descend on a targeted apartment building in the city of Chicago. They swarmed through the building, knocking down doors, tearing up homes.

It appears these agents knew nothing in advance about the residents whose homes they were destroying. In fact, in the dead of night, Federal agents reportedly started checking on the residents as they brought them out of the building, residents that included American citizens and children. They checked on them to see if maybe they had an outstanding warrant for their arrest or were undocumented.

Picture this, if you will: You are with your family in an apartment building, a helicopter lands on the roof, Federal agents with masks on batter down your doors, drag you and your children out of their beds into the street, and start an interrogation as to whether there is any undocumented person present.

America.

Many were yanked from their homes and their beds and detained shirtless and without clothing. Some were detained using zip ties, including children. Here is what one witness of the events said:

Kids were crying. People were screaming. They looked very

distraught. I was out there crying when I saw the little girl

coming around the corner, because they were bringing the kids

down, too. [They] had them zip tied [together].

In the middle of the night in the city of Chicago, an assault on an apartment building in America. The witness continued:

One of [the agents] laughed [out loud]. He said ``f*** them

kids.''

Four U.S. citizen kids with undocumented parents were separated from their parents who were taken into custody.

Secretary Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security posted to social media a highly produced video of the raid--her version of the story--because that is all this is to them, a promotional video, political theater. But the human toll has been immense.

What if it were your child yanked out of his bed in the middle of the night, hands zip-tied behind him, brought down with few, if any, clothes on, standing in the street, while all this is happening, watching his parents be arrested in America?

In another case, ICE agents fired a pepper ball into CBS Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei's car. What was her crime? Driving by the Broadview ICE facility to report on the protests there. It is known in the Constitution as freedom of the press. It doesn't seem to impress Kristi Noem.

I have long fought for humane reforms on our immigration system on a

bipartisan basis and evidence-based ways to reduce crimes in our city. If the President is serious about fixing our immigration system or lowering crime in our communities, I am all in. But sending in militarized Federal immigration agents and National Guard troops to terrorize Chicago or any American community in any State is not the American way.

These actions have accomplished, I believe, the President's true intention here: spreading fear in America, especially among immigrant communities.

And he has been very successful. I go to these communities virtually every weekend when I return to Illinois. I meet with the people who live there. They are scared to death, people who have been here for years, no criminal record, no reason to be removed, working and paying taxes are afraid to shop and afraid to go to church.

Last week, on the floor, I warned about this, and I have for some time now. The President's decision to unleash military personnel against the city of Chicago and American communities is another pillar in his master plan to weaponize the Federal Government against those he views as ``the enemy within.'' Where did that phrase come from? From the mouth of the President of the United States speaking to the military leaders of the United States. He told them to be fearful of ``the enemy within'' and to use American cities as their training ground.

Think of that. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ranted to law enforcement agents on the eve of their Memphis deployment that they were, ``unleashed.'' Stephen Miller's word, ``unleashed.'' Does that sound like law and order? Does that sound like the rule of law? ``Unleashed.''

In addition to Memphis and Chicago, this President has targeted cities like Los Angeles and Portland, reckless immigration raids, unnecessary deployment of military power over the objection of State and local officials. I fear these disturbing developments are the latest indicators that we are on a slippery slope into control by the Trump regime.

The President is attempting to overturn the Department of Justice, the FBI, ICE, and the military into his own personal police force. This not only erodes trust between communities and the people tasked with protecting them, it is an existential threat to civil liberty, the rule of law, and the core of values of who we are as Americans.

This is what is at stake. This is a defining moment we are in. In times like these, you have a choice. You can stand up and speak out or you can be silent or maybe you can cheer. It is your choice as Americans. But think about if it were your family in the middle of the night, people crashing through the doors yanking you and your children out of bed into the street, arresting people.

Remember what the goal was when we got started with this? The President made it very clear. We were after undocumented people, illegal people in the United States who were rapists, murderers, terrorists, criminally insane, and child predators. The President was very explicit. These are the people we are going after. We will tell you their names as we arrest them.

So what percentage of those that have been arrested with this mass deportation detained by ICE, what percentage of them have a criminal record? Fewer than 30 percent. By a 2-to-1 margin, innocent people are being dragged into this in the middle of the night in the city of Chicago in an apartment building. Children are being treated like pawns in the Trump political game.

Today, Illinois attorney general Kwame Raoul filed a lawsuit to block the administration's unconstitutional attempt to deploy troops in Illinois.

I join with all of my Democratic colleagues in the Illinois delegation who are calling on the President to immediately rescind this unnecessary and dangerous deployment of the military to Illinois.

I have spoken personally to the Governor of our State, JB Pritzker, several times this weekend amidst this development. He did not ask for the National Guard troops to be sent in from Texas or anyplace. There is no need for it to either protect Federal facilities or to protect the people living in the city of Chicago.

I am going to continue speaking out as the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I appeal to my Republican colleagues who are watching this in silence: It could be you. You could have an opportunity soon for the President to send in troops.

It is not likely as much from the Republican side, as very few of their communities have been targeted, but if you happen to live in a State that didn't vote for Donald Trump, buckle up. He is coming down on you, whether it is California, Oregon, or Illinois.

I will close with this: At that Tuesday morning raid, videos taken at the scene showed detained immigrants being held in an adjacent parking lot across the street. A woman is seen and heard calling out in broken Spanish:

I will always love you.

Where is the humanity in tearing families apart?

If there is a dangerous person, for God's sake, put him in a separate category, but families who are doing their best to get by and struggle, who work and pay taxes, and who have children who are citizens of the United States should never be treated like this in America.

In an interview recently, Secretary Noem was quoted as saying:

This country is a country of laws. If you don't like the

laws, go change them. We are enforcing them.

She said:

That is sending a message to the whole world.

The Secretary is right. The administration certainly sent a message in Chicago on Tuesday night--a shameful message and one that shouldn't be part of American history.

Terrorizing families with midnight raids and troops in our streets is writing a shameful chapter in our Nation's history. This is going to make America great again?

President Trump is not intent on fighting crime; he is intent on spreading fear. In doing so, he is destroying the values which define us as Americans.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich) and the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Rosen) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich), and the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Rosen), are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich) and the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Schatz) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I am sure that you can agree, having been involved in public service for a large part of your life, that sometimes it takes a long time to make an idea a reality. That has happened many times to me in my public career and, certainly, in my home State.

In 1969, 56 years ago, former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley proposed extending the Red Line of the Chicago

Transit Authority, and yet, still, to this day, residents of the Far South Side of Chicago don't have that transit option, at least not as they should.

Transportation can make or break not only employment but attending school, even making it to a doctor's appointment. For decades, residents of the Far South Side viewed this extension as just politicians talking.

That changed this past January, when the Federal Transit Administration officially obligated $1.9 billion in Federal funding for this crucial extension. After waiting over 50 years, it was finally going to be a reality. This project will expand transit access to 100,000 people. It will be an economic boost for the city and create tens of thousands of jobs for working families.

However, guess what: today, a news flash from the Trump administration. We received news that the OMB Director, Russell Vought, and the U.S. Department of Transportation have decided to illegally freeze $2 billion in grants for Chicago, including the obligated grant for the expansion, and risk decades worth of effort.

This is in addition to the $7.5 billion in Department of Energy grants Director Vought canceled yesterday, including 33 projects totaling almost $700 million in Illinois.

So why would this administration decide to target thousands of working families when it comes to their electric bills and when it comes to transportation? Because President Donald Trump wants to punish States like Illinois and the people who live there because they didn't vote for him in the last election.

This is petty. It is unfair. It is wrong.

These vindictive actions will cost Illinoisans jobs. Many of them will lose their employment. And it is going to raise the cost of electricity across the country.

Freezing funds for these projects is a blatant abuse of power by a President and an administration that would rather settle petty personal scores than actually help people.

OMB should immediately release any freeze on these funds, and I will do anything I can, with Senator Duckworth, to hold this administration accountable for its decisions, which continue to hurt working families.

Nomination of Stanley Woodward, Jr.

Mr. President, on a separate subject, the upcoming vote on more than 100 nominees is exactly what I feared would happen when Senate Republicans violated Senate rules to fast-track nominees. This has opened the door to rushing through more extreme nominees who have one qualification for office: They are blindly loyal to President Trump.

That extends to a man named Stanley Woodward, the nominee to be the No. 3 official at the Department of Justice.

Let me make this clear: Mr. Woodward is not even close to qualified. He has never--never--worked at the Justice Department before this administration. What he has done is show his loyalty to Donald Trump by representing Trump associates for their roles in thwarting investigations into the President.

As Associate Attorney General, Mr. Woodward would oversee some of DOJ's most critical programs, including the Office of Justice Programs and the Civil Rights Division. As senior adviser to Attorney General Bondi, Mr. Woodward has already been involved in gutting these offices.

The Trump administration has terminated hundreds of millions of dollars in grants administered by the Office of Justice Programs that support State and local law enforcement. The Trump administration also has gutted the Civil Rights Division, which has been known for years as the ``crown jewel'' of the Justice Department.

About 70 percent of the Division's attorneys have been forced out--70 percent--and many, many staff have been diverted away from crucial efforts to protect the civil rights of all Americans, so long as they sign up for the mass deportations of the President.

Mr. Woodward also overruled Antitrust Division officials to personally negotiate a settlement with lobbyists in DOJ's challenge to Hewlett Packard's $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. The acquisition resulted in two firms controlling more than 70 percent of the wireless network market, a market duopoly.

To Trump administration political appointees in the Antitrust Division who objected to this settlement, what happened to them? They were forced out of office. One of them said of the settlement:

[C]orrupt lobbyists with no relevant expertise are

perverting actual law enforcement through money, power,

relationships, and influence. . . . Stanley Woodward

perverted justice and acted inconsistent with the rule of law

[in this deal].

I asked Attorney General Bondi about Mr. Woodward's involvement in the scandal. Crickets. No response. Nothing to say.

It is wrong to fast-track unqualified, unfit nominees whose only goal is to advance a political agenda at the expense of the American people. Previous Associate Attorney General nominees have received a rollcall vote on the floor of the Senate and committee, of course.

Take President Biden's nominee for this position, Vanita Gupta. In 2021, Republicans tried to filibuster her nomination in committee and then tried to shut down committee business before we voted.

On the floor, Republicans forced extra procedural votes to slow down our confirmation. Despite my frustration at the time with Republican colleagues for obstructing a highly qualified and experienced nominee to serve as Associate Attorney General, I never sought to short-circuit the constitutional responsibility of Members in the Senate of advice and consent.

Now when the shoe is on the other foot, Republicans are intent on taking away yet another core duty of the Senate in deference to President Trump. I hope they remember this moment when they resume their minority positions in the future.

I urge my colleagues to vote no on these nominations.

I yield the floor.

I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New York (Mrs. Gillibrand), the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Schatz), and the Senator from New York (Mr. Schumer) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New York (Mr. Schumer) is necessarily absent.