I attended mass earlier in the day. Ruth baderr Justice Ginsburg and her family. The nation lost a heroin and an icon. They also lost a mother, a grandmother and matriarch. We know how hard that is, to watch a piece of your soul absorb the cruelty and pain of the dreadful disease of cancer. I spoke to her daughter and granddaughter last night, expressing my whole familys sorrow, particularly my grown granddaughters, one of whom was a student of Ruth Bader Ginsburgs daughter at columbia. They made clear to me, daughter and granddaughter, that until the very end Justice Ginsburg displayed the character and courage you would expect of her. They said she held their hands and give them strength and purpose to carry on. It has been noted that she passed away on rosh hashanah. By tradition, a person who dies during the jewish new year is considered a soul of great righteousness. That was Ruth Bader Ginsburg a righteous soul. It was my great honor, when i was in the senate and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to preside over her confirmation hearings and strongly support her ascension to the Supreme Court bench. Justice ginsburg achieved a standing few justices have or ever will. She became a presence in the lives of so many americans. A part of our culture. I agree with what others have said. She did as much to advance the constitutional rights, opportunities, and justice for women as Justice Marshall did for africanamericans. Yes, there was humor in mentions of the notorious rbg and her impressive exercise routines, but there was so much more. She was to use an overused word a trailblazer. A role model. A source of hope and a powerful voice for justice. She was proof that courage and conviction and moral clarity can change not only the law, it can change our culture it can change the world. I believe in the days and months and years ahead excuse me she will continue to inspire millions of americans across this country. And together we can and we will continue to be a voice for justice in her name. Her granddaughter said yesterday, and said publicly, that her dying words were, my most fervent wish is that i not be replaced until a new president is installed. As a nation, we should heed her final call, not as a personal service to her, but as a service to the country, our country, at a crossroads. There is so much at stake. The right to health care, clean air, clean water, the environment, equal pay for equal work, the rights of voters, immigrants, women, workers. And right now our country faces a choice. A choice about whether we will come back from the brink. Thats what i would like to talk with you about for a few minutes today. Within an hour of news of her passing, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said President Trumps nominee to replace Justice Ginsburg will receive a vote in the senate. Within an hour of her passing the exact opposite of what he said when president obama nominated someone to replace Justice Scalia in 2016. Merrick garland to replace Justice Scalia in 2016. At that time, majority mcconnell made up the rule based on the fiction that there should be no nomination to the court in an election year. That is ridiculous. The only rule i ever followed related to the Supreme Court nomination was the constitutions obligation for senators to provide their advice and their consent to a president s judicial nominee. But he created a new rule, the mcconnell rule. Absolutely no hearing, no vote, for a nominee in an election year. Period. No caveats. Many republican senators agreed with him, including then chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time, chuck grassley. Including the current chairman of the senate Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham of south carolina. Who at the time, said, i want you to use my words against me, if there is a republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term. You can say, Lindsey Graham said, let the next president , whoever it might be, make the nomination. And you could use my words against me and you would be absolutely right. That is what republican said when Justice Scalia passed away. About nine months before election day that year. Now, having lost Justice Ginsburg less than seven weeks before an election and americans have already begun casting their votes. It is estimated that 40 of americans will have voted by the october 1. Tens of millions. You cannot unring the bell. Having made this the standard, to serve their interests, they cannot four years later change course when it does not serve their ends. I am not being naive. I am not speaking to President Trump, who will do whatever he wants. I am not speaking to Mitch Mcconnell, who will do whatever he wants and he does. I am speaking to republicans out there, senate republicans, who know deep down what is right for the country and consistent with the constitution, as i stand here in the constitution center. Not just what is best for their party. I am speaking for millions of americans out there who already voted and continue to vote and will have many more voted by the time the process is finished. Millions of americans who are voting because they know their health care hangs in the balance. In the middle of the worst Global Health crisis in living memory, donald trump is before the Supreme Court trying to strip Health Care Coverage away for tens of millions of families. Stripping away the peace of mind of more than 100 million americans with preexisting conditions. If he succeeds, insurers can once again discriminate or drop coverage for People Living with preexisting conditions like asthma, diabetes, cancer, and so many other problems. Perhaps, most cruelly of all, if donald trump has his way, the complications from covid19, which are well beyond what they should be it is estimated that 200 Million People have died, probably by the time i have finished this talk. Complications from covid19 like lung scarring and heart damage could become the next deniable preexisting condition for over 6 million americans who already contracted the disease. Millions of americans are also voting because they do not want nearly half a century of legal precedent overturned. Millions of americans are at risk of losing their right to vote. Millions of dreamers who are at risk of being expelled from the only country they have ever known. Millions of workers, union workers, who are at risk of losing the right to collectively bargain. Millions of americans who are demanding their voices be heard, that equal justice be a guarantee for all, not just some. They know, we all know, what should happen now. Voters in the country should be heard. Voting has already begun. By the time we get to the middle of october, there will be millions and millions who already voted. In just a few weeks, all votes in the nation will be heard. They are the ones who should decide who have the power to make this appointment. This appointment is not about the past. It is about the future. And the people of this nation. The people of this nation are choosing their future right now, as they vote. To jam the nomination through the senate is just an exercise in raw political power. I do not believe the people of this nation will stand for it. President trump has already made it clear this is about power. Pure and simple. Power. The voters should make it clear on this issue, as so many others, the power in this nation resides with them, the American People, the voters. Even if President Trump wants to put forward a name now, the senate should not act until after the American People select their next president. Their next congress. Their next senate. The senate should move on Donald Trumps election and weigh the nominee he chooses fairly. If i win this election, President Trumps nominee should be withdrawn. As a new president , i should be the one who nominates Justice Ginsburgs successor. The nomination should get a fair hearing in the senate before a confirmation vote, after a confirmation hearing. We are in the middle of a pandemic. We are probably passing 200,000 deaths to this virus. Lost tens of millions of americans are unemployed. Health care in the country hangs in the balance before the court. And now they have decided to jam a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to the United States senate. That is the last thing that we need, at this moment. Voters have already begun casting their votes. In the millions. In just a few weeks, we will know who the voters of the nation have chosen as the next president. The United States constitution was designed to give voters one chance to have their voice heard on who serves on the court. By the way, there is no Court Session between now and the end of this election. That moment is now for the voters to get a chance to be heard, and their voice should be heard. I believe the voters will make it clear that they will not stand for this abuse of power. This constitutional abuse. There is no discussion about what happens if the Senate Confirms on the eve of an election or the lame duck donald trump loses. A successor to Justice Ginsburg, what happens . But that discussion assumes we move this effort to prevent the grave wrong that trump and mcconnell are pursuing here. I believe the voices of the American People should and will be heard. This vote, this fight, this nomination, will not be over until the senate votes, if it does vote. Winning that vote, if it happens, is everything. Action and reaction, anger and more anger. Sorrow and frustration at the way things are in this country. That is the cycle that republican senators will continue to perpetuate, if they go down this dangerous path that they put us on. We need to deescalate, not escalate. It is why i appealed to the few senate republicans, who really will decide what happens. Please follow your conscience. Do not vote to confirm anyone nominated under the circumstances President Trump and Mitch Mcconnell have created. Do not go there. Uphold your constitutional duty, your conscience. Let the people speak. Cool the flames that have been engulfing our country. We cannot keep rewriting history, scrambling norms, ignoring our cherished system of checks and balances. That includes this whole business of releasing the list of potential nominees that i would put forward. After Justice Ginsburg passed away, they said biden should release his list. It is a game for them. It is a play to gin up emotions and anger. There is a reason why no president ial candidate other than donald trump has ever done such a thing. First, putting a judges name on a list like that could influence that persons decisionmaking as a judge, and that would be wrong. Second, anyone put on a list like that under these circumstances would be subject to political attacks. Any nominee i would select would not get a hearing until 2021 at the earliest. She would endure those attacks for months on end without being able to defend herself. Thirdly and finally, perhaps most importantly, if i win, i will make my choice for the Supreme Court, not based on a partisan election campaign, but on what prior president s have done, republicans and democrats, and i have served with many of them. Only after consulting democrats and republicans in the u. S. Senate, seeking their advice and asking for their consent it says advise and consent. The president is the person who gets to name someone. Propose. As everyone knows, i made it clear that my first choice for the Supreme Court will make history as the first africanamerican woman justice. But i will consult with senators from both parties about that pick, as well as legal and civil leaders of our country. The choice will be mine and mine alone, but i will consult. It will be the product of a process that restores our finest traditions, not the extension of one that has torn this country apart for years. Let me conclude with this. As i said in this campaign, we are in the battle for the soul of this country. We face historic crises. Once in a generation pandemic, a devastating economic recession. The rise of White Supremacy that the fbi directors warned us against, unseen since the 1960s, and a reckoning on race that is long overdue. A challenging climate, a changing climate that is ravaging our nation and the world as we speak. Supreme Court Decisions will touch every part of these crises, every part of our lives and our future. The last thing we need is to add a constitutional crisis that plunges us deeper into the abyss, deeper into the darkness. If we go down this path, i predict it will cause irreversible damage. The infection this president has unleashed on our democracy can be fatal. Enough. Enough. Enough. We must come together as a nation. Democrats, republicans, independents, liberals, conservatives, everybody. I am not saying that we had to on everything. We have to reason our way to what ails us, as citizens, voters, public servants. That is the guidebook called the constitution. We have to act on good faith and mutual goodwill in the spirit of conciliation, not confrontation. This nation will continue to be inspired by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but we should not only be inspired by her, we should be guided by her. By her willingness to listen to those with whom she disagreed. View. Pect other points of famously, Justice Ginsburg got along well with some of the most conservative justices on the court. She did it without compromising corerinciples or losing principles. If she could do this, so can we. How we talk to one another matters. How we treat one another matters. Respecting others matters. Ginsburg proved it was important to have a spine of steel, but also important to have an opened hand and not a clenched fist. This nation needs to come together. Times, we areany the United States of america. There is nothing we cant overcome. There is nothing we cannot do if we do it together. Donald trump wants to divide this nation between red states and blue states, between those states that vote for him and ignoring those who dont. I do not. I cannot. I will not. Be that president. I will be a president for the whole country. Me and thosee for who vote against me. Sake ofto rise for the the country we love so dearly. For its very soul. Bless the United States of america, may god protect our troops, may god bless Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Thank you so much. Joe biden will be in wisconsin, you can see that live three 153 starting it p. M. President trump will be in dayton, ohio. That is scheduled to start at 5 00 eastern. If you cant be near a tv, you can watch online at cspan. Org or listen with the free cspan radio app. Donald trump and invite joe biden will debate. Week, he accepted the endorsement of the portland district attorney, who has a policy of releasing criminals and violent extremists. He lied to the American People. He willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months. He had the information. He knew how dangerous it was. While this disease ripped through our nation, he failed to do his job on purpose. It was a life and death betrayal. Watch live coverage of the first president ial debate on september 29. Watch all of the debate coverage live or ondemand. Past debatesall from the video library. There is a link to our campaign 2020 website with videos, candidate information, election results. Freean listen live on the cspan radio app. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. Both chambers of congress are in session. House returns in a few moments at noon to debate 41 bills. Negotiations continue on a temporary spending measure ahead of a september 30 deadline. Week, bills on preventing forced labor. The senate is back for its first session since the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Is work on judicial nominations. Thats beginning at 3 00 eastern on cspan two. The washington journal will focus on key battleground states with political reporters and analysts on the ground. We will examine what has changed and what Public Policy issues motivating voters. Wisconsin, tomorrow we will look at florida. Thursday, north carolina. , david cannonay the professor at the university of wisconsin madison. Wisconsins record on president ial elections. Wisconsin has been a battleground skate for quite some time. We have been in the democratic column for over 20 years. Surprisedonald trump the nation by taking wisconsin and the