Transcripts For CSPAN Business Meeting 20240712

The purpose of doing it is simply to have a justice on the Supreme Court, as the president said, to decide the election and a strike on the Affordable Care act. We have had inadequate time to review this nomination has indicated most recently yesterday. A cnn report that there are seven more speeches or talks she has given that have not been disclosed to this committee. The consequence of this rushed process is that we have given inadequate scrutiny to this nominee. I move to delay the proceedings so we can do our jobs and ask again for all the documents. The 2006 open letter. Documentsr among the previously undisclosed. We now have apparently reportedly seven more. I moved to delay the proceedings. Sen. Graham thank you very much, senator blumenthal. Those letters will be made available. I think everyone understands the issue about judge barrett and the position she takes as an individual. As to the process, they will be seven days from the time of the hearing to the vote. Times last 50 years, 676 we have done exactly what we are doing today. Over half about half of the nominees nominated by president have a hearing within 16 days. We have had two Supreme Court justices confirmed totally from the time they were nominated to being on the voting by the senate 17 to 19 days. Justice ginsburg was 33 days. There is nothing out of the norm in terms of the time we have given this matter. We have had two days of hearings. Each member had 50 minutes. With all the respect, we will call the roll mr. Chairman . I wanted to join in with senator blumenthal. This is a sham. I heard you talk about presidence. What you said mr. Chairman and what senator mcconnell said where he set the precedent. He said the American People should have a voice in the selection of the neck Supreme Court justice. When he was looking back at the mary garland time, this vacancy should not be filled until we had a new president. This is closer in time than that. Is best president we have when Abraham Lincoln was president. It was the closest in time we have had in history to this when it justice died close to the election he waited until after the election to make a selection. I look at the words of my colleagues in this committee, people i work with very well all the time. I look at that historical example and i think it leads us to one and. One end. We should allow the winner of the election to pick. We should do this after the election and we should remember we have literally millions and millions of people voting as we speak. You all know that. The final thing that concerns me is the president himself has been making it very clear why he wants this justice on the court. He said he wants nine people after the election. He said he wants the court that will overturn obamacare. He has made all of this clear. To me, not only do you have your own precedent, not a the example of Abraham Lincoln, but you have the fact that because of what this president has been saying, it undermines the process, undermines the court. That is why we should delay. The final word is we are not working on a covert relief packets in the middle of a pandemic. That is what we should be doing. That is what the American People want. 74 say we should be doing that instead of working on this. I think the time has come to be honest about what is going on here. You are just trying to ram through this justice against your own words in light of everything this president has said. He wont even commit to a peaceful transition of power. That is the world we are in right now. It is not some ivory tower where people talk about the dormant Commerce Clause. This is about peaceful transition of power and the effect this has on peoples lives, the effect on their lives with the Affordable Care act hanging in the balance and whether or not people will be kicked off their Health Insurance for preexisting conditions. That is what we should be focused on and i joined senator blumenthal in this motion. Sen. Graham i will recognize senator feinstein a moment. As chairman i want to hear anybody that wants to speak on this motion. We will vote. We have a panel from the american bar association. We have an eightperson panel chosen by the minority and the majority. I will do whatever my colleagues want in terms of motions and being heard. Panel hatethe it for the panel but i will let you decide what we do today. We will vote for the judge on october 22. I would prefer if possible we could hear from the panel. I will leave it up to my colleagues. Senator feinstein . Know, this is being done without any precedent in the time ive been on this committee, which is about 25 years. It is being done i guess to show power and push someone through. Really abrogates the value of hearings that this committee should treasure and respect. Somebody that has been on this committee for a while, i have come to value the hearings. The search for information. The desire to do justice to individuals. I really dont understand why it makes a difference whether it is two weeks or three weeks or four weeks. It allows us to complete a process which we have put in place that has worked i think very well for a long time. When we do this we breach i was going to say the etiquette of the committee. Im not sure etiquette is the right word but it breaches everything we have held dear and the processes we have moved forward with. I very much hope this does not happen. There is no need for it. It will create a lot of bad will that does not need to be created. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sen. Graham i will recognize senator cruz. In october a camper member when it was in 2013. I got a call from senator schumer saying we will change the rules regarding court nominations. It was relatively late in the evening. I said please dont do that. There will be no going back. You will live to regret it. My view is that set in motion a lot of things that have taken the senate in the wrong direction. No longer do you require 60 votes. That started with circuit courts. The belief in 2013 was we will pack the d. C. Circuit court with people firmly to our cause. All litigation regarding the government goes there. Nobody thought you would lose in 2016 including me. I have gotten to know the president that he voted for somebody i wouldnt know if they walked in the door. 2016 gave an outcome different than anybody in the country thought except the people who voted for the president and the right states. Isnt that ironic . The American People actually get essay get a say. Day forward there has been an effort to say that election was not legitimate. As much as i was disappointed that barack obama be john mccain, i excepted the outcome of voting for his nominees. There is no way you will convince me that Amy Coney Barrett is not qualified using any reasonable standard of qualification. If i applied to Justice Sotomayor and kagan the standards being imposed upon every republican nominee since i have been here, i would not have voted for them. Senator lakey voted for justice laheys senator voted for Justice Roberts. I have to reevaluate where i am. It is to be fair but silly to play a no one else is playing. In august of this year, i said i will noth sit on the sidelines and watch one of our nominees be destroyed after showing respect for two democratic nominees. That is not right and i am not going to do that. The timege barrett, periods we have talked about extensively, the same party as the president , the same party as the senate. Senator cruz is very smart on all this stuff. Major had a chance to test her. You did and i want to complement each member of the democratic side for being firm but not kavanaughn the ca road. Senator cruz . Mr. Chairman . Sen. Graham after senator cruz will go to senator durbin. Heard atd like to be some point. Sen. Graham i promise you everybody will be able to talk. Uz its important for the record to reflect moving forward on this nomination is consistent with two centuries of precedent and tradition in the senate. Numerous democratic members of this committee have given speeches. They have charts prepared to give more speeches. All attacking the legitimacy of these proceedings. Factsn adams observed, are seven things. Stubborn things. The scenario of a Supreme Court vacancy occurring during a president ial Election Year is not a new thing. It has occurred 29 times in our history. Nominationsave made all 29 times. The president is unequivocal and uniform when a vacancy occurs in a president ial Election Year, the president makes a nomination. That includes republicans and democrats. A total of 44 people have served as president of the United States. 22 made a Supreme Court nomination doing a president ial Election Year. What has the senate done . The precedent is clear. Of those 29, 19 of those occurred when the president and the senate were of the same party. Of those 19, the Senate Confirmed 17 of them. President is clear from the precedent is clear that if the president and senate are of the same party, the senate and all but extort new circumstances confirms that nominee. Have about in the senate and president are of different parties . That has happened 10 times. The senate has confirmed the nominee only twice. 2016, which are friends on the democratic side invoke and i understand why the invoke it, they were frustrated. 2016 was an instance in which president obama was a democrat in the senate was controlled by republicans. They had differing views on the kind of justice is that should serve on the court. The election resolved those views. One example that has been pointed to senator klobuchar just pointed to it. Senator harris pointed to it. Abraham lincoln. We are told that honest dave, founder of the honest abe, founder of the Republican Party show the example on why we should not proceed. It is worth noting that example misses a lot of the story. 1864, 27incoln, in days before the election, chief Justice Roger tani passes away. He had been the author of the infamous dred scott decision, and abominable decision of the Supreme Court. Suddenly there was a vacancy 27 days before the election. Senator klobuchar and senator harris pointed out the fact Abraham Lincoln did not make a nomination in those 27 days. What both of them omitted was the senate was not here. The senate had left. They had gone home. This was not the age of jet travel over the age of Community Every weekend commuting every weekend on a united flight. The senate would not return until december. There was no senate physically present to confirm that nominee. When the senate did return in december, Abraham Lincoln nominated in december a justice to fill that seat. Simon chase, which the Senate Confirmed the next day. 24 hours later they confirmed him. I would note also Abraham Lincoln was in the midst of a president ial reelection. As Doris Kearns Goodwin writes atutifully, he was very good assembling the Political Coalition he needed to win. He had multiple factions of the Republican Party that were splintered. Some things have not changed since 1864. Playershad multiple that wanted that chief justiceship. They were working hard to reelect him. Salmon chase had been treasury secretary. He had been a pain in the rear to lincoln. As a result of this vacancy, salmon chase campaigned like crazy for lincoln to get him reelected because he wanted the nomination. None of that should be shocking as a matter of history. There are many members of this committee that enjoy being students of history. But to suggest that is somehow a precedent and requires us not to ithis vacancy now is cant put it better than the Washington Post who factcheck senator harris on this claim. Conclusionton post was that senator harriss argument wasnt exactly true. So i recognize our democratic friends wish a different president had been elected in 2016. I am sympathetic to those arguments. I recognize our democratic friends wish there was a democratic majority in the senate. But the voters decided otherwise. This committee moving forward is consistent with over 200 years of history and precedent. Sen. Graham i wonder in our times it was the salmon chase of the Republican Party. So many to choose from. Senator durbin . Durbin i want to thank the senator from texas for his sympathy. [laughter] what we are witnessing this morning and this week is different than anything we have seen. Some of us have robert bork stuck in our craw. Others have merit garland stuck in our craw in terms of what is happening here. We all need to concede we are not in a place where we should be when it comes to the operations of this committee and the senate, the relationship with the Supreme Court. The chairman started this hearing reminding us about votes 80 for antonen 9 scalia. 3 for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. How did we manage to put together five partisan coalitions or people on such opposite ends of the political inctrum who we knew going were very clear in what they believed . Now today we struggle vote to vote, daytoday when it comes to filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court. I think there are a lot of explanations for it. One of the things we have witnessed here in the time i have served on this committee is a denigration of the process to the point where it is almost useless. We have reached a point now where gifted, experienced jurists, legal scholars take that seat behind the table and then deny everything. Refuse to answer anything. Consider that. Asked then where we nominee, can president unilaterally delay a president ial election . She could not answer it. Too political. Too political . That is the standard for the United States of america. She can certainly have alluded to that. I asked cap president unilaterally deny a woman the right to vote . Sorry, cant answer. The case could come before me someday. It reached the point where senator kennedy asked this learned attorney, professor and jurist if she had any opinion on the issue of Climate Change. Basically she said ive never thought about it. Dont have any views. What are we dealing with here . We are not dealing with the reality of who this person is and what she believes but some kind of artifice we have constructed between the nominee and our questions. I would be afraid to ask her about the presence of gravity on earth. She may decline to answer because it might come up any case in a court someday. I look back in history at other nominees, both conservative and liberal, who have answered questions along these lines. What was the purpose of this hearing if we dont know what she thinks about any issues . Any major issues . She hides behind originalism. Many do but wont go to their original words of the transition when it comes to the trent were to the constitution when it comes to the transition of power. We are measuring a person who will spend the rest of my natural life and many other committee will serve on the court if nominated and approved and confirmed. We know this process is really stacked. The president told us so repeatedly. We cant get a direct answer from the nominee. We get direct answers every day from the tweets of the president. We know what his motives were in nominating this person for the Supreme Court. He does not cover it up. It was to make sure there was someone on the court to eliminate the Affordable Care act. You have been respectful of the fact that we brought these photographs before you. Thankful. They are meaningful to each and every one of us and they should be for you as well. These are people genuinely concerned about the future of health care in the midst of a pandemic. They are worried its being stacked to limit the only protection they have at a time when they are facing a lifeanddeath scenario everyday over masks and their conduct as citizens. To think with this president has said. One never said i will not put for anyone until i am certain she will overturn roe v. Wade. Getting the are deck stacked again as to what we can expect. The president said as much. The gracenote. The president said we should have nine justices in case the risen election contest. Be . Obvious can this we do with the president had in mind when he came up with his name. She may deny it but she has denied she even has a view on Climate Change. I met a point now where i have to say we have to believe that the president says. He picked the nominee he thought would achieve his political goals. We are breaking the rules of the senate, the rules of this committee. We are defying our own tradition and common sense and the mutual to 980 and led 963. I dont how we get this train back on the track. This nomination at this moment is not usual, not normal, and it is beneath the dignity of this committee. The rules would have told us to wait, as senator mcconnell told us four years ago, until after the president ial election. When we discarded the mcconnell rule it was clear that all bets are off. We are going for this nominee at any cost. One of them is the integrity of this committee. Sen. Graham i recognize let me give you my take on what i saw. How did we get here . We are talking about things unrelated to qualifications. She taught extensively about whether or not zero becomes a tax. She would apply the law. The holdings of fnib. Did the change by Congress Change that holding for you went from a dollar or whatever it was to zero . If you cross the threshold, it would be unconstitutional and still have to ask the question, can you say the statute, the analysis with a presumption we try . An Climate Change. Anybody who has doubts about Climate Change is weird in your world. You are trying to make her something she is not. You are asking her questions about what happens if the president pardons himself. What is she supposed to all i can say is donald trump is the nominee, not her. It is pretty obvious to me what you are trying to do to this nominee. Every time you talk to her about the law, she gave you rational, common sense answers. She talked extensively about originalismin and how people can come out with different conclusions using the same process. I personally reject the idea she was not forthcoming. I thought she was incredibly forthcoming about who she is and the way she would judge. Now, the game has been since she has been nominated to get back at trump. I understand this. That is probably what i would do if i were you all. If anybody in america is ready to go to the Supreme Court, it is amy bryant. If anybody has done the homework to be ready for this moment, it is judge barrett. If anybody has the character and disposition to handle the job, it is her, in my view. Sen. Lee thank you. Covered the first point i was going to raise, which leads essentially to the observation that there is no indication from the historical record that Abraham Lincoln would have deferred to George Mcclellan on the issue of filling that seat that went to sam chase, had the election of the fall of 1864 gone differently. None whatsoever. Just not what happened. Secondly, the dormant clause has been brought up. It is an issue that is deeply personal to me and should be to every american. Look, sen. Graham we believe you. It is not entirely uncontroversial. It has been the subject of some controversy. It impacts the way a political subdivision of a state can treat an article of commerce and whether or not it can be discriminated against based on its origin outside or inside the United States. It is controversial, including the fact that it affects revenue how theyor states and can access them, and it is based on an interpretation of the Commerce Clause of the u. S. Constitution, one that is often understood as providing congress with an affirmative grant of authority to your late interstate commercial transactions and interstate commerce. It has also been interpreted by the courts as creating a cause ,f action against states municipalities, and other subdivisions of states, where discrimination against interstate commerce has occurred. This is a significant thing. To call it insignificant only highlights the fact that there are some issues, and not others, that my colleagues want to focus on. They have wanted to focus almost exclusively on those issues. Why . I dont know. Perhaps in some ways to convert this nominee and other nominees into somebody who can be measured against the backdrop of a democratic politician. If you are looking at a democratic policymaker, Amy Coney Barrett is not a policymaker. As far as im aware, she is not a democrat. You are upset with the fact that she will not uncritically commit as some other nominees have to upholding certain sacred cow president s, but it is not as though your observation is that she lacks commitment to president s generally, just that she will not commit to president s who may be subject to additional litigation in the future. It is important to remember that elections still have consequences. In the election of 2014, the American People voted, and the elected and they elected republicans to the senate. In 2016, the American People elected republicans to the senate and republican to the white house. Which ilection of 2018, would note here, followed on the heels of abominable treatment by members of this committee on the other side of the aisle of Brett Kavanaugh. The American People in the immediate wake of that missed treatment of Brett Kavanaugh and your manipulation of the committee hearings, elected a republican majority to the senate. Those terms for each of those senators the last six years, not two years, not four years, not five and threequarter years, six years. Those terms matter. Just as Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted in 2016, there is nothing in the constitution that indicates the president is no longer the president in the final term of his office, so, too, here. So, there is nothing that makes us less senators depending on our proximity to our next election. Certainly there is nothing about left asinee that can be suggesting that she is anything other than an extraordinarily gifted terrorist, and wellprepared or her service on the federal judiciary in a different capacity. Instead of being on the seventh circuit. The fact that she will not controversialain policy positions makes her more qualified for the job, not less. Mr. Chairman . Sen. Graham yes, maam. I just wanted to respond sen. Graham we will. You have spoken i know. Both of these comments by senator cruz and senator lee have provoked my name. Sen. Graham go ahead. Be. Omise you will kolbuchar i have nothing against that clause, but you are bringing this up for a reason, to make it seem esoteric and apart from the lives of the American People. I believe that is why you are bringing this up, and that is why we are spending, on your side, so much time on some of these things that are not relevant to peoples lives. Plopped thiss nomination proceeding in the middle of an election, it is our job to make people understand how very much if this nominee gets on the court, it will affect their lives. The case coming up right after this election is about the Affordable Care act, where the Trump Administration has argued very clearly that they should throw the whole thing out, the Affordable Care act. So whatever academic discussions you have about severability with a nominee, that is the case they are making. What i did the last few days, and what so many of my colleagues did was politely make the case about where this nominee is. She would not even answer if she knew that Donald Trumps position was to try to get favor of who were in striking down the Affordable Care act. She would not answer our question, so i have to look at the tracks. As i said the other day, up in northern minnesota, we followed the tracks. We followed the deer tracks to see where the deer went. I am left with her tracks. What her tracks showed me was that she blatantly criticized Justice Roberts for his legal reasoning for upholding the Affordable Care act. She then goes and says she thinks that scalia has a stronger argument in another case, which had upheld the Affordable Care act, but scalia is on the other side. She then takes on precedent that had been set that felons should not possess guns, that senator durbin got out. That is another track i followed. She then signs onto unpaid newspaper ad that refers to roe v. Wade as barbaric on the anniversary of roe v. Wade. That is another track. You can have different views, but this is what im left with. And what the American People are left with, to look at the tracks. You cannot separate this from the election we are in, so that is why i think it is a plan to talk about things like dormant Commerce Clause is so we can get away from what the real world repercussions are of this judge and of doing this to the American People in the middle of an election. But do i come out of this, as i said, as Justice Ginsburg would say in her dissent, they were blueprints to the future as opposed to what someone once said of cries of defeat. I dont come out of this with cries of defeat, and you know why . You are motivating more people to vote. Lets go out and vote. This should not be Donald Trumps judge. This is your country i say to the American People, not Donald Trumps. This should be your judge, not Donald Trumps judge, and they are watching. Sen. Graham thank yousen. Graham . I will recognize someone on our side after i have a moment. We will keep talking here. Number one, the tracks were clear to me when it came to Justice Sotomayor and justice kagan. I did not need a bloodhound to tell me where they were going to go. I understood based on their writings and philosophy that they would be with the liberal majority most of the time. They have been. I was not surprised at all. I accepted that as the outcome of president obamas election, but it was equally obvious to me, senator klobuchar, that whatever personal opinions they had, did you think it would be hard to follow the tracks of Justice Ginsburg . She worked for the aclu. She was a prominent, progressive thought leader. She openly talked about her prochoice views, and she had every right to hold them. And she was true to herself. And when the senate voted, they knew they were getting someone very special, but from a conservative point of view, with a different philosophy. And the senate saw the same thing in scalia. How much tracks did you need to figure out that scalia would be and the bottom line with judge barrett, she is someone that a republican would pick. Atublicans generally look people with a disposition like judge barrett. Democrats generally look at people with a disposition like Justice Sotomayor and justice kagan. You all have a good chance of winning the white house. I dont know where the polls are going to be a l klobuchar thank you for knology now. Sen. Graham yeah, it is true. It will be that important to people. I think that judge barrett is the exactly kind of person that you would expect any republican president to consider, not because there was a bunch of money to get us there, just because of who she is, the way she has lived her life, and the philosophy she expositors. And respecterence to senator klobuchar, this is not hard to figure out. It was not hard for me to figure out that sotomayor and kagan were of a disposition different than i have, but i trusted them in the big moments to apply the law and not turn it upside down, and they had been with a liberal majority, but i dont believe they have been activist judges. I really dont. Every time they rule in some fashion that the conservatives in america do not like, i get blamed for it. Now, i am getting blamed for everything roberts did. All i can tell you is that i found them all eminently qualified. And if judge barrett decides can the Affordable Care act stand because of severability, i do not want you to be surprised because it is pretty obvious to me she is thinking long and hard about that. Had no ide said, president ial terms are for four years. Every american to think long and hard about who would you like to be on the court, knowing the difference between the party preferences. That, to me, is more important today than it ever has been. With that, i will yield to senator lee. I would like to be recognized sen. Graham you are on deck. Klobuchar, youor are making the point i am trying to make. The dormant Commerce Clause does impact peoples lives and local forms of government. And in fact impact did in fact impact the formation of this country. It was the economic fall canonization during the articles of confederation that led to the need for the Commerce Clause to begin with. There are some questions as to whether or not the courts ought to have the power to create a private right of action to enforce it, or whether that should have been created by congress, which we have the power to do. Regardless dormant Commerce Clause together, and we will incorporate the antidiscrimination dormant clause jurisprudence and make it law once and for all rather than a judicial creation. I would love to do that. The point is, this one matters, too. It has not yet become a subject of political tugs of war based on fear mongering, based on fundraising by politicians in both parties. Yet, there are a lot of similarities there. This is what we have reduced the courts to. , this is the American People seat. That is why we have elections. 2016,elections in 2014, 2018 that i mentioned mattered. We have got the authority to do this. We have historical precedents on our side, and we have also got the constitution. The best nominee i have seen in a long time. Sen. Graham senator . Thank you. There has been so much talk about precedents. When historycome books are going to use senator theins comments about president. I certainly think he stated it as well as i have ever heard it stated. We have another precedent, and that is that senators have always kept their word. Andainly by the, craddick Republican Leaders when i came to that certainly by the republican and Democratic Leaders when it came to the senate. Chairman, i know we have been friends a long time, and your reasons for delaying any would have kept what you said them. You have not. Committee got through the confirmation for judge barrett, but now we are officially through the looking glass. Confirmation just two weeks after judge barretts nomination, three weeks before an election, and a pandemic affecting committee members, as if that was not enough of a sham, we are now proceeding to bench a nomination before the hearings are even concluded. Before we even have a chance to ask the nominee all of our questions. Many senators submitted which she did not answer, i guess knowing we are going to vote before we hear those answers. We have not even had a chance to hear from all the witnesses this committee needed and deemed necessary. Apparently, before we even reviewed all of judge barretts record, records of her undisclosed speeches that continue to pour in. I think there are half a dozen or more from last night. All of those were admitted for questionnaire. Suggesting that judge barrett intentionally failed to disclose all of these records and the committee, but, normally, we back andgh time to go see that they fail to. [indiscernible] so, there is no reason why these deficiencies cannot be ensured. There is no reason why this nomination cannot be delayed. If President Trump wins the election, well, then take up his nomination in january. That process would be legitimate. This one is not. In fact, this process is a caricature of illegitimacy. The fact that we have a nominee before Justice Ginsburg was even thisd, in order to jam nomination before the election, that is a mark on the United States. It will be the mark of a process paradigms. L it is no secret why President Trump is so desperate to install judge barrett before the election. President trump is always going to say the quiet part out loud or very loudly. He expects his nominees side with him in any electionrelated dispute. Impossible for americans not to question judge merricks impartiality judge barretts impartiality if she has to vote on such an occasion as a justice. Incrediblyit disappointing. If she decided in the president s favor in any election dispute, it is going to cause harm to both the court and our democracy. Not placeould integrity of either in such jeopardy. I worry about what is happening in these processes that we are going to diminish the respect that all americans can have for our federal judiciary. Have another horse in the race. They are launching to strike down the Affordable Care act on november 10. The attorney general does not just want to strike down some of the aca, they want to strike everyll of it, and almost republican on this committee has joined those briefs. Republicans on this committee have tried for years to overturn the Affordable Care act, both in congress and the courts. It serves Many Americans with preexisting conditions. How long do you think they have an opportunity with judge barrett . Certainly President Trump has said that is expected. She repeatedly criticized the constitutionality and the galley of the law and has never defended it. Clear,e has been very very outspoken about. That is why we are here today. See an republicans opportunity to wildly swing the balance of the court for decades. Instead of having a court for both democrats and republicans, they look at it and think it is going to be evenhanded. I know i have voted for more republican judges since i have been in the senate, then probably anybody on this committee. In evenhanded federal judiciary. I do not believe in a president of the United States backed by republicans in the u. S. Senate to say which way a court is going to go. That is why republicans have. One backward they are worried about giving the American People a voice one aesident obama nominated judge 10 months before an election. Not 10 weeks, 10 months. Person with many republicans who served in the Committee Said they would not vote for until republican leader told him to shut up. That is why republicans are andnishing the committee the senate and to remind us where we are at now. Glossis really nowhere to over how long and biggest processes. The damage inflicted in the wake of this outrageous power grab is going to be considerable, perhaps irreparable. All to the u. S. Senate and federal judiciary. It does not have to be this way. This does not have to be the story of judge barretts nomination. But it is what republicans have chosen. Certainly, you could have waited until the election was over and then gone forward. In the pursuit of raw power, the drive to deprive millions of americans of their basic health care protection, republicans are going assured every principle this place has stood for. Of this asought being the contents being a violation of the conscience. Hope the American People will, too. You are. Sen. Graham thank you, senator leahy. Anybody else . I will make sure everybody gets to speak. It is my motion, i will ask to speak for a second time if i may . Sen. Graham you may. Thank you, mr. Chairman. A roll call to have vote on this motion because i think it is so serious. Sen. Graham do you want it now or do you want people to speak . I would like everyone to speak who would like to speak and thank you for the opportunity. Know, there are very few written rules around here. The most important rules are the unwritten ones. Ist important of those rules you keep your word. We all know the United States senate works and our democracy works because people keep their promises. Committee on the when merrickomised garlands nomination was given no hearing, no vote, members will not even meet with him, that never would a Supreme Court nominee be considered during an Election Year. You are breaking that word. Aboutth all the rhetoric precedent, history, and anything else, and about the wrong direction that the senate is going, in essence, you are taking another step in that direction. Side to bringour into this room real people who would be affected by this nomination. We cannot bring them to the hearing room as witnesses. We cannot have them be present here because we are in the midst of a pandemic, and we should be dealing with that Health Crisis instead of considering nomination of someone who has said, in effect, that our nt health law should be struck down, but we put them in the room here, and we saw their faces and voices. Natalie, who is brother was killed in newtown, and who won sensible gun violence prevention said this nominee is a prophetical to upholding. Kristin and michael, whose son perished as a result of the lack of safe storage of a firearm, and who once a safe storage law, ethans law, nationally, veterans who want emergency risk that theiralerts so friends and fellow veterans will not commit suicide because they weapons taken away if they are going to use them to commit suicide. Nickel for every time i have heard this term, elections have consequences. We all know elections have consequences. Here is an seeing exercise of raw political power. You are moving ahead with this , butation because you can right does not make right. Heremerican people put up to do what we think is right. In your hearts you know that what is happening here is not right. It is not normal. So the real people, eventually, will judge us. Haunt this raw exercise of political power that threatens to strike down protection for people with preexisting conditions, including now covid19, as well as heart disease, asthma, cancer , about half of all americans. At least half the people in connecticut, 1. 5 million, 130 million across the country, suffer from those preexisting conditions. Their lives are at stake area that is why i brought into this their lives are at stake. That is why i brought into this room a person who suffers from a disease that would have killed him by now if not for the Affordable Care act. But the most Important Message tom him was what he wrote this nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. Oath,d, doctors take an first, do no harm. Can you take that oath . Same question might be put to us. First, do no harm. Can we take that oath . I hope that we will recognize, my colleagues will recognize, ist delaying this nomination the right thing to do here. We are talking about moving ahead on it before we have even finished the hearing. We have not heard from those witnesses who are going to comment on the qualifications of this nominee. And, yet, we are talking about moving ahead. Word senatoran, yield a question . Sen. Blumenthal i will be finished in about one minute and then yield at that point. Sayingjust close by there is more information that is coming out every day. Disclosedoned, cnn last night additional statements and speeches and talks, which is one of the reasons why i made this motion. There is more to be learned here. An opportunity and an obligation to scrutinize this nominee for a lifetime appointment to the highest court what is reallyd insulting to the nominee is the president has, in effect, said he wants to put her on the court as a result of a rushed process so she can decide his election. She refused to commit. She would recuse herself from sitting on that case. Eventually will do great harm to the court itself. To leave that question unanswered for the American People, and, as we know, and she said it, the orders of the Supreme Court are not self enforcing. The Supreme Court has no armies, no police force. Its authority depends on the trust and faith of the American People and its legitimacy. I reviewed the Supreme Court. I was a law clerk there. I have argued cases in front of it, including both Justice Scalia and Justice Ginsburg. Both gave me an equally tough time, but i trusted that they were going to take a position based on the law. Damage to the Supreme Court by politicizing it in this way. I asked my colleagues to vote aye on this motion and delayed indefinitely the proceedings on this nominee. Now will the senator yield a question, mr. Chairman . Senator, you know how much i respect you. Sen. Blumenthal i appreciate that. I know you know that. But you just accused me of breaking my word. Want to know how you reached that conclusion. When did i promise in representing the good people of the state of louisiana that i would not vote on a supreme when aomination president , any president , brought it before me as a member of this committee . I have read the constitution. I know you have. I have listen to your eloquent questions for 3. 5 years here. The constitution is unaffected by the electoral calendar. When it deals with Supreme Court nominations. When have i broken my word not to vote on this nominee . Blumenthal if i may respond . Sen. Kennedy yes, that is a legitimate question. Blumenthal i never said any specific member of this committee, but i can name some names, and i was not going to do so, but i think the record will confirm that the chairman, in effect, made that commitment, and sen. Kennedy the chairman can defend himself, but i have heard you say, richard, that the republicans in this committee have broken their word. I take that seriously because of my respect for you. Are you alleging i broke my word . Sen. Blumenthal im not saying you personally broke your word. I am saying that any member of the committee or the senate, and there are others, and i do not think we should be personal in this Committee Meeting. The fact of the matter is, and you know well, that there were numerous statements at the time that Merrick Garland was denied a hearing, was denied a vote, meetings that it was improper to have this nomination go forward during an Election Year. That was nine months, not 30 days. Votings committee is less than three weeks before the election. The full senate will vote literally days before november 3, and right now, americans are voting. We are in the midst of an election. Americans are going to the polls in more than 11 states. Probably it is now more than 15. I am just saying the commitment year, and iing last am asking the members of this committee to abide by that. Sen. Kennedy but you are not saying i made that commitment . Sen. Blumenthal but you are not saying i person but i am not saying you personally do. Sen. Graham and senator blumenthal, i am not taking personally what i said. That is fair game. Just look at everything i said from august of this year, i said there was an opening, we will see what the market will bear after Brett Kavanaugh. Up is down and down is up there that is what i said, also. Nothing personal. Mr. Chair, ir have quotes from 15 senators. I will put them on the record. Sen. Graham without objection. Mr. Chairman, i associate myself with the remarks of my democratic colleagues as to the legitimacy of his hearing. Mr. Chairman, you know that ruth with ginsburg had tracks her position on important issues. He also noted that elena kagan course, i, and, of know that republicans have voted over 70 times or at least 70 times to constrain or repeal the Affordable Care act. The tracks of this nominee are that she will strike down the aca. Those are her tracks. Thank you for not hiding that from the American People as they worry about their health care in the middle of a pandemic. As for the lifeline you tossed judge barrett about severability to save the Affordable Care act, that is a smokescreen. Severabilitynvoke when she criticized cj roberts for, as she put it, stretching the limits of the constitution to uphold the Affordable Care act. If cj roberts had followed her reasoning, he would have voted to strike down Affordable Care act. Isall know that severability a canon of construction, and the as trumpo that is just and the republicans are arguing in the Supreme Court, nothing in the Affordable Care act can be severed as to sustain it, and that is why we are so concerned why she is being rushed in this process. Thank you. Sen. Graham thank you. Booker,kunz and then and then feinstein, and anybody over here. Align sorry, could you redo that order and say feinstein and then booker . Sen. Graham kunz, booker, feinstein, corner after senator kunz align i am happy im happy to defer. Sen. Graham sure. To stay here until 1 00, october 22. All right. If i may, mr. Chairman . Sen. Graham you may. I listened carefully to these comments, and i must say the argument for really giving due regard to this nominee i think has been cogently made on our side. I would hope that the republican side would listen to that. These are lifetime appointments. They last for decades. Here willt is done affect policies long before or long after our lifetimes end. Time i we are in the have been on this committee, the 25, 26 years, there has never been a situation quite like this. I think history will regard as if wef we are considered are diligent and patient if we are considerate, diligent and patient. . En. Graham senator chairman, during my opening statement, i quoted james manley, who we all remember worked here at reed for many years. He was quoted as saying on this the groups want blood. Democrats off and on the Committee Want a real fight. I guess this is what passes for a real fight. I am really struggling to find out and to understand why judge merrick judge barrett is such a threat to them. Is it because they have become accustomed that when they lose elections and votes in congress they depend on the courts to bail them out . That is not what judges should be doing. Toges should be trying determine what the intent of congress is because we are the ones accountable to the voters. They are not, by definition, by the fact that they have lifetime tenure. That is why it is so important to have judges like Amy Coney Barrett. She does not want to substitute her opinion for ours. She wants ours to prevail. She wants majorities respected. That is the american system. Think a lot of the arguments, and maybe it is so obvious that nobody wants or needs me to say it, but call lisa stroman but keephese strawmen they racing, or the unspoken accusation against judge barrett issue will violate her judicial oath. That the sort of integrity and character she demonstrated here that somehow she will leave that all behind in order to accomplish a result. In a future case she has not even heard. It is absurd. I think the regret, the of our democratic colleagues israel because they have become accustomed to the Supreme Court being policymakers and being a body that bails them out if they cannot win the election or a vote in congress. I understand the disappointment, but i think their loss is the American Peoples game. Gain. Sen. Graham senator kunz . You, mr. thank chairman. Today, my constituents have been asking for weeks the same thing. Thehis particular context, question is, and i got one while we were sitting here, why is the Senate Judiciary Committee Meeting to race through your process and this confirmation on the senate itself is not in session . I was delayed a few minutes this morning because i went and got tested for covid by the Senate Physician so that i can return with some competence to my family this evening that i have not picked it up while here. Descendent of the United States is not in session because we have an outbreak amongst senators, and im not confident we have provided for senators, staff, for the white house, frankly, for the American People. My little state is 900,000 people, and how many people filed new unemployment claims last week . Almost exactly 900,000 people. My hope is we will get back to the work of people trying to deliver the relief of those infected and unemployed desperately need, but i worked hard to bring the voices of real delaware ians into the discussion because delawarians into the discussion because it is easy to miss things that matter to lawyers, like the dormant Commerce Clause, and i look forward to our long delayed debate on that, senator lee. Conversations about regionalism, originalism, what is or is not the president for this committee for confirmations, or for the Supreme Court cannot leave the millions of americans struggling in the middle of this pandemic and the recession i would argue made worse by the bungling handling of this pandemic by our president a little cold. I am greatly concerned, mr. Chairman, that you, and the majority, are standing on the edge of a precipice of pushing through a nominee in a way that you yourself said was unthinkable two years ago in the last days of the last quarter of this presidency. We are 19 days from the president ial election. The majority of states are voting. People stood outside for 10 hours enjoyed yesterday. That is the good news. I think they are that determined to vote. We heard repeatedly from the agenda,that she has no but i will tell you the agenda of President Trump in choosing her, and the agenda of the republican majority in racing forward with this confirmation. That is clear. Saidlleague from illinois that this process has turned into something that your average american has trouble discerning what is going on. We keep asking earnest questions, the nominee keeps declining to answer them in any substantive or meaningful way. Ourselves if ask there is any path toward getting a confirmation process of this body onto a real and rational footing. We are about to have a vote in this committee. That is why i will support my colleagues from connecticuts motion, we have not even heard from the last panel of witnesses today. We have not heard responses for questions for the record. This is an unprecedented context , and with unprecedented speed. A supreme convene Court Confirmation hearing in the middle of a pandemic while the senate is on recess, while voting has already started in the president ial election and the majority of states because we are simply concerned about abstract ideas or the neutral application of law. Mangle andnot mishandle my predecessor and attribute to him some rule and then restated as the mcconnell rule, ignore and then state up is down and down is up when nothing could be further from the truth. This is not on the level. You do not go against your own promise after you already claimed as a matter of high principle that justices should not be confirmed in elections, and after you have already blockaded decentrist, competent, highly qualified nominee for that reason because you solely care about methodology. President st the disastrous response to pandemic and a decadelong, unfilled pledge embodied in one partys platform to overturn protections for the majority of americans in the middle of a pandemic. As my democratic colleagues and i have been working and laboring to lay out, there will soon be, if judge barrett is confirmed, a hard turn to the right on the Supreme Court. A change in methodology, a change in approach and principle that will have lasting consequences for the majority of americans. After studying judge barretts record, im convinced she would come to the Supreme Court with a deeply conservative originalist philosophy and judicial activism with regards to president that would put numerous longstanding rights the American People have come to hold dear and nearly every modern aspect of life at risk. Simply put, i believe she will open a new chapter of conservative additional activism, unlike anything we have seen in decades. First, judge barrett as Justice Barrett may well past the deciding vote to overturn the Affordable Care act with potentially disastrous consequences for the majority of americans. Everyone watching at home has heard my colleagues say that for the last 10 years, their top priority has been repealing the aca, and every single republican on this committee has talked repeatedly about their desire to get rid of that law at some point previously. So, too, has President Trump. Despite their best efforts, they have so far failed to do so here, and in my view, have failed to advance the credible alternative plan for how to deal with preexisting conditions and give them lasting protection. Best shotk the last for accomplishing this goal is at the Supreme Court. That is where judge merrick comes in. As judge barrett comes in. As she proceeded to our exchange, she has written a no Uncertain Terms she thinks Justice Roberts got it wrong in his ruling, upholding the law against the constitutional challenge. She wrote that article in early 2017, and then months later, found herself on President Trumps short list for the court. Meanwhile, the Trump Justice Department joined a challenge to the aca that is back in front of the Supreme Court to be argued on november 10. And hist Trump Administration are arguing in no Uncertain Terms the court must tear down the entire law. My colleagues have said this is fear mongering. This is baseless political theater. Thinks thiso challenge is farfetched, just read the brief. Filed by thef solicitor general of the United States, or the one filed and cosigned by 18 Republican Attorney general. Our president himself said what he expects from his judicial nominees. Chief justiceat roberts over and over for his decision upholding the Affordable Care act, and pledged as a candidate, his nominees would do the right thing and overturn the law. It is not just the aca that is on President Trumps agenda for the court. He has made clear he wants to overturn the aca, roe v. Wade, me,most concerning the to he repeatedly made statements that he expects his nominee to hand him the election if there is a dispute in the courts. As i made clear in my exchange with judge barrett, i am not suggesting she engaged in inappropriate commitments with the president. That is not what im saying. It was the president s conduct himself that has put this issue and from the American People in front of the American People. His repeated undermining of the safety and security of our election should be alarming to to commit his refusal to a peaceful transfer of power and the results of the election should give all of us concern, those of us who have pledged to uphold the constitution under all circumstances. Sen. Graham im sorry. Could . Ons if i i will not speak after this. Sen. Graham i did not mean to interrupt you. Sen. Coons judge barrett also refused to answer whether she believed scalia was correct in his criticism of griswold versus connecticut, a case decided when i was two years old that protects the right to use contraceptives in the privacy of ones home and it is an important marked case because it is the anchor marked jurisprudence. Roberts wases willing to say that griswold was right, but what truly concerns me is her approach to president. President s is called the Foundation Stone of american law, giving predictability to it. As i walked through yesterday, i concluded that judge barrett is even more willing than Justice Scalia to overturn precedence with which she disagrees and makes clear is that justices should feel free to overturn cases they believe were wrongly decided, which if she deeply holds the original philosophy she has espoused, may means that dozens and dozens as i detailed in a chart yesterday, more than 120 cases long settled in many cases may be at risk of reconsideration. They will cover, yes, health care, yes, privacy, but education, consumer protection, marriage equality, criminal justice, a range of cases the majority believes are long settled. I was concerned that judge barrett would not specifically tomit to recruits will recusal in the event there is something arising from this eminent president ial election. I think nothing could be more challenging to the role of the Supreme Court in our natural life. I urge my colleagues to first consider seriously the senator from connecticuts motion and to delay the final stages of this process until after the election. But, equally, if not more importantly, to think about the moment we are on. Because if the selection in some way is interfered with, does not go appropriately, i think that our democracy itself is at risk. Clear,very least, to be i thought nothing was stopping judge barrett for making a commitment to recuse herself given what President Trump has said. I was greatly concerned she did not. Mr. Chairman, i will not be voting to confirm judge barrett to the Supreme Court, but, i frankly think we should not be taking this boat and proceeding today. Vote and proceeding today. We should be turning to the process of ensuring the safety and security of our election and keeping our word. Sen. Graham senator kennedy. Want tonedy i associate myself with part of remarks. Oons lessnk i have been here than amount of time that anybody on this committee. You are the most interesting people i have ever been around. I mean that. The senate is. I have not met a dummy yet. I realize that might be debatable by some. Single solitary member of the senate that does not want what is best for america, and i certainly include you in that, senator coons. I think we ought to do something about the economic consequences of the coronavirus. I dont know why bad things happen to good people, but it has happened to the world, and it has had Public Health consequences and private health consequences, but also economic consequences. I am not trying to score political points here. I mean what i am about to say. Senator mcconnells has put the coronavirus will put the coronavirus bill on the floor next week. I understand any of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle get is not a perfect bill. So, if you will talk to senator schulenberg, i will talk to senator mcconnell, a on the side of the aisle that have more friends than i have contacted senator mcconnell. Lets agreed to proceed with lets delete it and start the amendment process. Lets debate it and start the amendment process print lets debate and decide. I did notcome come up. In may, and i know you did not either, chris, and lets try to pass a bill next week. I think everybody on this committee tests their assumptions against the arguments of their critics. That is one of the reasons that i find you also interesting. I am willing to consider democratic amendments to that bill, so lets do it. But it will require my democratic friends to vote to proceed. So i am asking you, respectively, vote to proceed on that bill, and then lets start amending it. Lets pass something. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sen. Graham senator booker . Booker mr. Chairman, let me apologize for this metaphor. I know it will insult the two vegans on the committee, me and senator cruz. [laughter] call it personal privilege. I am sorry. Sen. Graham may be one step below the Houston Astros thing. Sen. Booker i just want the people of texas to know the truth, he is a closet vegan. I recognize, mr. Chairman, that this is pretty much cooked. Postures of all of us around, people talking, and when people say things original like mr. Kennedy just said, folks listen, and repeat what others consider to be the routine partisan posturing. I see lots of heads go down to the cell phones. Let me try not to do anything routine but with the hope that my colleagues will listen to me. First of all, just with the hearing, i do think some of the things you said earlier are right. This was a hearing conducted with the quorum and profession d quorum and professionalism. That is something we can all agree to. We had criticisms back and forth. I found things troubling to me during this hearing. I tried to elicit in both private conversation and in the hearing just conversations about what i think is one of the issues we dont speak enough about in United States of proud ofen extremely the fact that we have a senate that has more blacks serving on it than in any time in history, and i have been grateful to watch my colleagues, often on , tim,oor, my colleague speak about the truth of race. And the last time he did it get applause from republican colleagues about his experience as a United States senator and i have my own. With theexperiences Capitol Police that have been stunning. I think many of my colleagues recognizes this goes on. And here we are in a backdrop of what i think is, and somebody can correct me, the largest period of demonstrations in the United States, greater than the civil mites star symbol write units, predominantly coming out to protest issues of race, and i was surprised that in this backdrop, issues of race were so important to the Supreme Court that we had a nominee who could not talk to a law review article that they wrote. I heard senator kennedy asked her yesterday which made me smile ask her if she is a racist, clearly she is not, nor is anybody who is serving in this committee, but it is not out of the bounds to ask questions about this being in the lifetime of my family there have been members affected by Supreme Court decisions in profound ways, and these are issues that will continue to come up. I found it surprising thank you, sir. I found it surprising that this conversation, and i am new to this committee, and this conversation about does this nominee answer questions that reflects their philosophy, i thought that there were a lot of questions in bounds that she refused to answer and that is the erosion of precedent that will continue in this committee. We are getting to a period where the instructions will get say do not answer things to not be able to answer whether you believe in the peaceful transfer i found that stunning, i really did. I do not think we could ask anybody in the United States senate, house members, High School History teachers if they dont think that is something somebody should do, i found that surprising. I am not here to rehash comments that i made about why think this is wrong to do this. What i would rather do, and chairman, i think you will send me a note or flowers, but tomorrow will be the 70 year to the date of when i got elected into the united the seven year date of when i got elected to the United States senate. Just a congratulations will be sufficient. I appreciate it. Before you move on, this is a contentious time and twitter is blocking the story about biden and the world is turning sideways and we will talk about it in a minute, but, they would be no first steps act if senator booker at a very Crucial Point in time decided to find common ground. I will attest to the fact that when it was about to fall apart, you kept it together and kept your eye on the prize, i wanted to say that. Sen. Booker i want to attest to the fact that other colleagues that when i talked about race had a conversation about the work that we can still do together on those issues. I came to the senate and people said it was impossible to pass some of the legislation that dick durbin, on our side, really lead. I am proud of some of the work we have done on this committee. So, i just want to actually talk about that moment i came to the senate. I was elected on the 16th, my dad had died six days earlier, and i came down here grieving. My staff knew before Vice President joe biden swarming into take me into see john lewis, explore me in to see john lewis and my mom walked me onto the floor of the senate on october 31st. A week later the rules of the senate were changed, which ive heard a lot about from colleagues about breaking the senate. Imagine me, i was a little bit naive to the function of the senate, this was a truth. I got sworn in and we had a vote and i did not know how to vote, i thought there was eva a button to press and menendez has to say raise your hand and say aye. And i have senators coming to lobby to change a rule that surprised me because the the word they used was nuclear option. Why the heck are we doing something called the nuclear option. I thought we would talk about treaties to try and prevent Nuclear Proliferation more catastrophe. And, i had senators who i respect, people i saw speak for them and women explaining to me about what they saw was the leader mcconnell was putting on the ability of senator obama to put executive positions and judges on. Heard mitchrecently mcconnell brag about that, that he was able to choke the number tojudges that obama was able put on to give President Trump a historic number of vacancies to fill. I am not bringing this up as a point of argument because i have haseded to this both hashed out on both sides. I believe i did the right thing with my vote. With private santos conversations that this is people telling me that this body and committee is terribly broken and, remarked to me that we are tumbling towards a very bad reality. And, that is what concerns me right now in this moment. That this is another moment where we are, as an institution, eroding norms to the point where we all are bemoaning it, everybody, i have heard on both sides bemoaning it. But this is not happening in a vacuum. It is not. It is happening in a time of terrible crisis for our country, and sometimes i walk around the halls of the senate and i feel like a frog in boiling water that has been having the temperature turned up so slowly that they are barely remarking on it. Colleagues to ask my to think about what is happening in the context of American History right now, and some of you all might not agree with me but i have had a couple of republican colleagues of mine who have spoken out about these things that are troubling to me. I sigh president of the United States bringing in military and gas and rubber bullets on Peaceful Protesters in Lafayette Park and for what . There are people all of us there are people of faith all of us around here, to hold up a bible for a photo op. That was such a stunning moment that i watched a lot of what i called states people in america, out strongly against it, including people in this body on the republican side. Mattis,shed general who believes in the restraint of power to call the president of the United States a danger to our democracy. That is stunning. But it does not stop there. I do not know if i can point, but there are better students of history, of a president before an election doing things to compromise the outcome and saying if i dont win, clearly and unequivocally, this election is rigged. That is something in the presence of my lifetime, george bush, Ronald Reagan would have never have said. And for those of you who do not think it is problematic, we have armed militias gearing up. Go to the website armyoftrump. Com. That worries me because i like my conservatives because we pick on, this isl agree the colts of a personality, cult of a personality. Am i exaggerating when we literally are sitting here while we have people like our governor of michigan where people are putting together plots to abduct elected officials in the United States of america. Does this not trouble us . The things that are going on are stunning to me. A president staying stand back and stand by to an organization that is doing that, standing by. We have literally, in this moment, a president refusing to talk about the peaceful transfer of power. All of these things are troubling, and i know some people want to cast them in partisan ways, but even the constitution mentions the census and post office and yet both of those are under attack right now. Usee these signs all around that should make all of us concerned, and worried about what is going to happen 19 days from now. I never thought i would have rational conversations with republican colleagues and members of my family that i am fearful of the violence that might happen around and election. I am having conversations on my side of the aisle with people saying what are we going to do to protect the polls and black communities from what happened in 1981 in new jersey where people with arms came in to try and undermine people voting . This is actually going on and these are real conversations by rational people. This is not partisan rhetoric, but that is facts, and it happens when something deeper. And i texted this person on the republican side and talked about these deeper issues. I really appreciate what you wed senator kennedy, because do have common virtue, we do have common values, we have common cause. The lines that divide us are not nearly as strong as the ties that bind us in this country, i still believe that. Call me earnest or naive, i still believe that. Tit right now we are doing for tat, i hear people calling us extreme and there are times i sit back and i remember in 2016 that many of our colleagues were saying let us keep it open, people were saying let us keep the Supreme Court open for four years if Hillary Clinton lives. They are things that have been going on on both sides. But we are doing this and failing as a body to lead in a time of crisis. We have food lines in america that have not been seen since the great depression. We have Unemployment Rate that we have not seen since the great depression. Business starts have been going down for years and now we have Small Businesses closing at rates we have not seen since the depression. If anybody not know heard, i ran for president last and wend there are farms are seeing the closure of the independent American Farms at a rate we have not seen that we have not since the 80s and before. Let me go know more because my colleagues are concerned. Life expectancy in america is going down. And every other industrial nation, it is going up. You want to talk about national anxiety, rates of depression, clinical depression is going up, usage of antidepressants going up. That all of these signs the great experiment in democracy and in all comparison, in fact, mr. Chairman, you ran for president and lost, sir. What youam way behind were able to do, not even a tshirt. Sen. Booker when i came to this body as an executive i was interested in data. I had dashboards when i was mayor of my city that showed us how successful we were doing. Ooked for the bore of the dashboard of america, one the World Economic forum that keeps data. We were number one on every one of their metrics and measures in quality ofa, infrastructure, education of our children, even the research and development, we were the innovators of the planet. Now we are not even in the top 10 for most measures. China built 18,000 miles of highspeed rail, have we done a major infrastructure build . The busiest rail quarter runs half an hour slower than it did in the 60s. We stabbed the most College Graduates port cap per capita, we are not in the top 10. Trying to compete in a knowledgebased economy when r d, countries are and we are drafting off of the investments we made, we are not the number one anymore. Or in research intensity. I want to go on but i want to come to this conclusion. Body toailing as a serve the purposes to which we all care, and the best we can do is blame each other. And each of us are participating in the erosion of this body. And, this is yet another example of that. People here think this is wrong, and im not saying just people on our side, because in the words of my colleagues, this group this ghost goose is cooked. I am appealing right now, but during times like this, i have been texting with my friends that i text on the others of the style and i hope that that they will never make those public. Now,i am appealing right that we have to find a way to stop this. The only thing that heals this body is a revival of civic grace. Somewhere along the line there will be a moment, it is coming, i think it has gone past, but there has to be acts of heroism when it comes about grace. I will quote you, because you will not take offense. You said we have the authority to do this. I know you are a student of history. The greatest acts of American History are when people have the authority to do something but they showed the restraint of power and did not use the authority. This is one of those moments where that is the kind of grace that can stop this tumbling of towardstitution further what i think will be a real constitutional crisis, and will help us begin to rise together to save this nation. Whate now at a point with we are about to do here, unless somehowagues resolution passes where we will see another firm to the erosions of arconic of our institutions, and i hear rational people telling me things like, it is the first time in Supreme Court history that we had the most antidemocratic Supreme Court because they bring up facts like this is the president was not elected with the majority and confirmed by a senate that has 10 million less votes the majority then the minority, that these are antidemocratic things and we have to stop them, just in the same way that my colleagues are hearing when Hillary Clinton seemed to be the winner, were talking about trying to stop. To get things to stop. What has to stop is that. I will end with my favorite point, you may have had these moments, it was in iowa, chuck grassley, i was running for a town hall and im about to leap up on the stage in a big guy sees me mr. Chairman, i am a big guy, the older i get, the better i was, and im about to jump up on the stage and the guy stopped me and says i want you to punch donald trump in the face and i looked at him and said dude, that is a felony. Near, i am a shadow of the kind of grace that john mccain showed when somebody was eviscerating barack obama personally and he grabbed the microphone from him and talked about how good of a family person barack obama was, rather than the easy vilification. I cannot imagine for the life of me the current president doing Something Like that. What this body has to rise to, and i hope it is now, is to understand is that what the nation needs from us is that this, and i have failed in , but this has come the moment that we need to show it. I pray that my colleagues will join the other two republicans and stop this from happening to show this grace now, because this is a point when millions of americans are suffering, hurting, and losing the idea of what it means to be an american in terms of the dream and promise of this country. This is the moment that this nation needs from this body, actions of grace. Sen. Graham , it is ifhouse if if it is ok i would like to dispose of the motion. If it is ok after senator whitehouse, we will take out the vote. Sen. Whitehouse , i will try to be brief. The me first say how surprised i am that senator kennedy finds us , i haveresting because operated under the principal for many years that everybody from louisiana is more interesting than i am i would like to associate myself just for the sake of time, and particularly with the remarks of senator blumenthal, who spoke in a way that was very true and eloquent and does not need my repetition i do want to suggest to colleagues that the rule of because we can, which is the rule that is being applied today away from aleads lot of the traditions and commonalities, and values that the senate has embodied. There are republican members on this committee of whom i am very fond. But, do not think that when you have established the rule of that showed the shoe be on the other foot that should the shoe be on the other foot that you will have any credibility to come to us and say i know you can do that, because you shouldnt because of x, y, or z. Your credibility to make that argument of at any time in the future will die. Room, and on that senate floor, if you continue to proceed in this way. I hope that that is not the case. But please, do not think that there are two separate rules. When there is republican majority the rule is because we can. When there is a democrat majority rule is you cannot do it that way. Senator cornyns questions about why are we concerned, let me associate myself with obstruction that senator kunz gave coons gave. We are concerned because of what you have said, and what other senators have said in briefs and public pledges about the Affordable Care act, about roe fell. E, about oberg we are concerned about these things because of what President Trump has said. , andan who made the choice told us that that choice was being made specifically to cover election litigation and to terminate Health Coverage under the aca. He is your president , why should we not take him at his word . You do not answer that question. Your Party Platform, the Republican Party platform calls reverse theo obamacare cases, the affordable wadeact, that is, roe v. And the gay marriage case. We did not say that that is what your plan was. You said that was what your plan was. And you said in your Party Platform that you were going to do it through your judicial appointments, that is how you reverse decisions. Play, andat threat in i got to say, i have an awful lot of Rhode Islanders that depend on the Affordable Care act. I have a lot of Rhode Islanders who want to have some autonomy over the decisions about their body that roe v. Wade protects. I have a lot of Rhode Islanders who either are married to someone of their sex, or wish to , or havean to be friends and family members who they love who either are married to somebody of their samesex or wish to be. So, when you put those rights in threat intting that your party by putting that threat in your Party Platform, you have no standing for criticizing us for taking it seriously. Reversewhat you said, the obamacare cases, reverse roe gafell. , reverse ober dismay andpress our concern about the significance and disturbing procedural anomalies that are happening in this nomination. All of the last three nominations have been, characterized by significant procedural anomalies. Garland andhe gorsuch episode, the kavanaugh confirmation, and this one. That is a commonality to that is very disturbing, and it suggests the presence of outside forces and interests that are driving these conspicuous, disturbing anomalies. Last weekend, i was at home, preparing for this, and i was sitting at a desk with papers around me, trying to assemble my thoughts, and i was in a room with the windows closed. And i could not feel any breeze. We have pretty good windows in my house, and the wind does not through them blow through them. But, i look out the window, and we look out over a pond, and i could see the water on the pond and iing as rippling, could see the trees bending as the wind blew through the trees. I could see the russias along me at rushes flipping back and forth as the wind blew through them. I did not need to feel the wind to know that it was blowing outside. Because, the clues were obvious. Clues are obvious that something is happening behind all of these significant and disturbing procedural anomalies and, i for one, intend to find out exactly what has been going on. It has been going on behind front groups and using anonymous not, i do nots think, what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they stood up this democracy that big interests would hide behind phony front groups and use big money to get their way. That is not what generations of americans fought, led, and. Bled, and died for. I make a commitment here that i will spend every effort to get to the bottom of why these anomalies have taken place. Thank you, chairman. Sen. Is very strong. Im happy about that. This is a chance to have your say. The stakes are high. Let me just say an election will come. Winners will be declared. We get to start over. The thing i like most about democracy is it is a journey without a destination. Whenever we going to get there . We never actually do. When you are a child you are excited about going. It really is the journey. I dont know how this election is going to come out. I am hopeful for our side. Having said that, 2016 was a curveball