[no audio] lets go over why we are here. We are waiting for her. I wonder if that is going to stop. Sen. Schumer ok, everybody. Thank you very much for coming, and thank you for joining us this morning. I am here to stand with my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee who are boycotting todays Committee Markup on the nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. This is not a decision the members of the committee have taken lightly, but a republican majority has left us no choice. We are boycotting this illegitimate hearing. The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett is the most illegitimate process i have ever witnessed in the senate, and her potential confirmation will have dire, dire consequences for the senate , for the Supreme Court, and our entire country for generations to come. The Senate Republican majority is conducting the most rushed, the most partisan, and the least legitimate nomination to the Supreme Court in our nations history. Her potential confirmation will have dire consequences for the senate, for the Supreme Court, and our entire country for generations to come. The Senate Majority is conducting the most rushed, the most partisan, and the least legitimate process in the long history of Supreme Court nominations. Democrats will not lend a single ounce of legitimacy to this sham vote in the Judiciary Committee. Democrats will not lend a single ounce of legitimacy to this awful, awful hearing. We are voting with our feet. We are standing together. And we are standing against this unprecedented mad rush to jam through a Supreme Court nomination just days, days before an election. Today the seats of democratic members in the committee will remain empty. Instead, they will be filled by reminders of what is ultimately at stake, photos of americans whose lives will be turned upside down if a single if a Justice Barrett delivers the decisive vote to secure the longheld republican goal of destroying the Affordable Care act, stripping health care and preexisting conditions from over 100 million americans. You could imagine alongside their faces from the faces of women who cherish the right to make their own private medical decisions. The faces of lgbtq americans who want to marry who they love and not be fired for who they are. The faces of American Workers who are breaking their backs to make ends meet and want their union to help them get a better wage. The faces of young people who know the globe is in peril in their lifetimes. The bottom line is very simple the senate should not be moving towards this nomination. To call this process illegitimate is actually being too kind. But chairman graham, chairman graham has broken the rules of the committee to move forward with a vote on judge barrett anyway. The rules require two members of the minority to be present to vote anyone out of the committee. But chairman graham just steamrolled over them, just like the majority has steamrolled over principle, fairness, honesty, truth, and decency in their rush to confirm a justice. The United States senate has never, never considered a Supreme Court justice this close to a National President ial election day, especially one in which tens of millions of americans have already voted. The American People oppose this and can see the hypocrisy in realtime. It is a hallmark of democracy that might should not make right. But republicans are blatantly ignoring this principle. The American People know what is going on. They are not fooled. They know this process is a sham, a naked power grab. And it is no mystery why they are doing it. This is the culmination of a decadeslong effort to skew the court to the far right. What republicans and the far right cannot accomplish through the legislature, they are trying to accomplish through the judiciary. Senate republicans tried and failed to repeal the Affordable Care act. So President Trump and republican attorneys general are suing to eliminate the law in court. And now if Senate Republicans confirm judge barrett, someone we all know is critical decisions upholding the aca, they could be on the brink of achieving their goal. That is what this is all about. The American People, who are voting right now by tens of millions, are not fooled by this farce of the confirmation process, and they know what is at stake, their rights, if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed. This nomination should not, should not go forward. Senator feinstein. Sen. Feinstein good morning. Last week, Committee Rules were broken for todays vote, and the republicans broke the rules again by proceeding today without any democrats present. All along, democrats have objected to proceeding on this nomination in the middle of an election. 40 million americans have already voted, and were just 12 days from an election. In 2016, the republicans set a precedent against filling a Supreme Court vacancy in an Election Year when they blocked president obamas nominee, merrick garland, for 10 months before that election. Then in 2016, republicans said it was necessary to hold the nomination until after the election in order to give the American People a voice at the ballot box. Specifically, majority leader mcconnell said this, and i quote, the American People should have a voice in this election of the next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president. You know, there is an old adage what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Now, however, republicans are proceeding regardless. Last week democrats participated in the nomination hearings because we wanted to show what was at stake for america if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed. We made our case about the risks to Affordable Care, especially the Affordable Care act, reproductive freedoms, the right to vote, and equality for all. We believe that both the Affordable Care act and roe v. Wade could be lost. The democratic members of the Judiciary Committee did not have the votes to defeat judge barrett in committee. At that point, there was no further reason to participate in a Committee Process that has been used to rush this nominee forward. I will be voting against judge barrett on the floor. But between now and then, democrats on this committee and across our caucus will continue to make the case about what is at stake for the American People if judge barrett is confirmed. I now with pleasure recognize my colleague and friend senator patrick leahy. Sen. Leahy thank you. As senator schumer and senator feinstein pointed out, this hearing was anything but fair. We saw again what happened. Moments ago in a Senate Hearing room across the street, republicans broke Committee Rules, and in many ways even worse than that, they broke their word. The confirmation process has become a caricature of illegitimacy. Republicans have not been shy about why they are in this mad rush. Republicans announced a nominee even before Justice Ginsburg was buried. They see an opportunity to accomplish from the courts what they failed to accomplish in congress. That includes making voting a secondclass right. Republicans have launched an allout war on voting. Last night they were successful when the Supreme Court voted 53 to block curbside voting in alabama during the pandemic. And earlier this week, when the court split 44 to uphold the right of pennsylvanians to vote by mail. Republicans obviously believe a Justice Barrett will ensure they do not lose again when they try to stop people from voting. It is not hard to see why. Time and time again, the president has said he needs judge barrett on the bench when he raises his baseless, outrageous claims about mailin balloting. Another reason, another republican on the Senate Committee said it is the entire reason they need her confirmed now, is for the election. President trump says he has to have a Supreme Court justice who will do what he wants her to do. It doesnt bode well that during the hearing, judge barrett refused to stand for the most basic tenets of our democracy. She refused to affirm that the constitution requires a peaceful transfer of power. She refused to acknowledge that voter discrimination is happening when we all know it does. She refused to recuse herself from any election dispute. Make no mistake, President Trump sees this as a green light to do whatever he wants. No matter the odds, we need to keep fighting this nomination. We need to do everything we can to protect our democracy. Pass the john lewis Voting Rights advancement act. It has passed the house. Pass it here. We have to be clear about what is at stake with this nomination. Theres nothing more important for a country that claims to be of the people, by the people, and for the people, not a dictatorship. I yield back to senator durbin. Sen. Durbin thank you, senator leahy. On the floor of the senate we are discussing a Supreme Court vacancy. We should be talking on another topic. America is in the throes of the deadliest epidemic of more than a century. 222,000 americans have died. Many states are reporting a Record Number of infections and deaths. In my state of illinois, the governor has recently called on the restaurants in the four major counties surrounding chicago to close because infection rates are out of control. It is personal. A dear friend of mine, feeling ill last saturday, called her daughter and said i need to go to the hospital. She went to the first Major Hospital near her and was turned away because there was no room. She went to the second hospital. Turned away, no room. Finally admitted to the hospital. She passed away on tuesday morning. We have reached the point now, her daughter said, where i could not even get mom to the very best hospital. That is the state of america today. You would never know it if you listen to the debate on the floor of the United States senate, because senator mcconnell and republicans believe the priority for america is a political move to fill this vacancy on the Supreme Court. We should be passing a massive covid19 relief bill that would include testing, money for hospitals and clinics, money for schools, unemployment insurance, help for Small Businesses, help for the restaurant industry, the airline industry, and state and local governments. But senator Mitch Mcconnell has no time for that. He has otherwise only time for political agenda. No time for coronavirus in the economy, no time to personally attended negotiations to try to come up with a massive covid19 relief bill to meet this national challenge. Senator mcconnell and the republicans have only one priority, it is political. They need to reverse the position they announced four years ago when they deny president obama the opportunity to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. They need to deny the American People a voice in the selection process. They need to force through this nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. Millions of americans watched the senate Judiciary Committee last week. They can draw their own conclusions. I will tell you mine. Yes, her resume tells us she has a lot of law in her head. What i wanted to know is what she has in her heart. What we learned was she did not have the compassion for 23 million americans who are depending on the Affordable Care act to provide them some refuge and some confidence in the midst of this pandemic. She didnt have the courage to stand up to President Trump and say she would not be a lackey when it came to the election contest. And she didnt have a basic commitment to the pillars of modern law in america, the pillars including the rights of women, the pillars including our battle against racism, the pillars including marriage equality, privacy for every american citizen, and most importantly, just a few days before this election, no commitment to when it came to Voting Rights in america. Look every day at the news reports of people standing in line in the United States waiting for 10 hours to vote. That is shameful in a country that claims to be a democracy with opportunity for all. And so we come to you today to make it clear, we could not be party to this senate Judiciary Committee action across the street this morning. It was in violation of Committee Rules, but more importantly, it was in violation of fair play. We believe the American People should have the last word in filling this Supreme Court vacancy, and they will have the last word on november 3. The efforts by senator mcconnell to ignore this pandemic and to move forward with this nomination are inconsistent with the basic principles of this country, and that is why the members of the committee decided en masse not to participate. I will now introduce senator sheldon whitehouse. Sen. Whitehouse for the third time now, anonymous donors seem to have bought their way to the table at which United StatesSupreme Court justices are selected. For the third time. For the third time, big anonymous donors have written checks of 15 million and higher to pay for the campaigns for the confirmation of the selected justices. And for the third time, our republican colleagues have broken every rule, every practice, every norm of the senate, including one they set themselves, in order to deliver for the big anonymous donors a court that will serve their interests. They are turning that institution into a pantomime court that goes through the motions of adjudication but delivers the goods for the donors. This aint over. With that, let me turn it over to the distinguished senator klobuchar. Sen. Klobuchar thank you, everyone. This is a Justice Ginsburg dissent collar. I think we should not forget what her last fervent wish was, and that was that the winner of the election, the next president , pick her successor. That was consistent with the precedent set by our republican colleagues just a few years ago. That is what this is about. They have engaged in a sham, in violating their own precedent, not listening to the words of the great Justice Ginsburg. Justice ginsburg said that her dissents were blueprints for the future. As the rabbi noted in this great capitol, they were not cries of defeat. They were blueprints for the future. That is what is at stake in this election, because we can make our own blueprints for the future. We can make our own blueprints by voting. The one thing i wanted to focus on today was something that senator durbin referred to, and that is that it is deeply personal for so many americans. While the republicans are ramming through this justice and spending the whole weekend on that, what should we be doing . Helping the families of this country, the moms trying to keep their kids on their laps when they have their laptops on their desks. The moms and dads trying to teach first graders how to use the mute button. The seniors like my dad who got covid, visited through a glass door not knowing if it would be the last time i saw him at 92 years old, and he looked so small in that room. People like my husband that got really, really sick and i didnt think was going to make it home. This is personal for everyone out there. No matter where you come down on this, this is personal. And this republican majority and this president have chosen to make as their Closing Argument that they are going to push through a nominee whose record shows us just where she is going to come out on so many things. The Affordable Care act is on the ballot. Voting is on the ballot. Womens rights are on the ballot. And this is our moment. So i do not stand here today with a cry of defeat, no matter what a sham this is. I stand here for Justice Ginsburg with a blueprint for the future. Sen. Coons good morning. This morning the capitol and the Supreme Court are shrouded in mist and fog. It is not clear, so lets clear it up. In committees and quorum and filibusters in the senate, it is a little hazy for the American People and sometimes tough to follow. But why we are here on these steps and what this is all about is all about what is on the ballot and what is on the docket. On the agenda this morning on the senate Judiciary Committee was moving the nomination of judge barrett to the floor of the senate. As my colleagues have said now several times, the only way the republican majority was able to do this was by breaking the rules of the committee. We were not there and we were not part of that vote because after the confirmation hearing that happened, it is abundantly clear that in the middle of a pandemic, where 8 million americans have been infected and more than 220,000 have lost their lives, we should instead be negotiating a robust package of pandemic relief, and the republicans have insisted on breaking the example they set just four years ago of refusing to move a qualified nominee in the midst of an election. Folks, we are the midst of an election. Tens of millions of americans are already voting. And we participated in the hearing so we could ask judge barrett, so we could get clear for the American People whats on the ballot and whats on the docket. Like all of us, i brought a picture of a real person for whom the consequences of what is on the ballot are very real. Just a week after the election, the Supreme Court will hear another constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care act, long settled 8 years ago. In my case, carrie from middletown with a preexisting condition, a Small Business owner, someone who cannot get access to Quality Affordable Health Care if the Affordable Care act is overturned. In the confirmation process, i asked judge barrett, will you recuse yourself if this rushed and partisan, unprecedented process results in putting you in that court just in time to decide cases that arise from this election . Well, she hemmed and hawed. And would not commit to recusing herself from a decision that would hand the election to donald trump. Why is this even an issue . Because of what donald trump himself has said. Over and over trump has said he wants her rushed through so that a judge can sit on the court and overturn the aca. I want her rushed through so she can decide the election. Every member of the republican majority and the Judiciary Committee, and in this capital behind me, has over and over voted to overturn the Affordable Care act. This is not about what judge barrett said in her confirmation hearings, because she mostly wouldnt answer. Its about what we all know. Its on the agenda. Is on the ballot. And is on the docket. I asked judge barrett if she would simply confirm, as several conservative justices before her have, that the right to privacy, first recognized in griswold versus connecticut in 1965 would state what is secure with the sort of rights that americans can know is not on the docket and is not up for reconsideration. And unlike justices both progressive and conservative before her, she would not say so. Why does that concern me . Because her writings and records show a judge willing to go further to the right than even justice scalia, who shes claimed as a mentor and model. To reach back and reconsider, and possibly overturn decisions that she and other justices think were wrongly decided. What does that mean might be on the docket . The whole line of cases that recognize privacy, the right to love, the right to marry. Dont listen to me, justices alito and thomas just weeks ago raised their hands and said we should reach back and reconsider. So folks, they may be shrouded in mist right now, but i hope that i have helped made it clear, as have all the democrats behind me, we were not over in the Judiciary Committee this morning because we wanted to be clear. What was on the agenda and on the docket and on the ballot, this is personal. Its about long settled rights for millions of americans. In the middle of this pandemic, we should not be racing for the republicans to confirm this partisan nominee who puts at risk hundreds of cases long settled. We should be delivering relief to the American People. Thank you. With that i would love to hand this over to senator blumenthal of connecticut. [indistinct yelling] senator blumenthal thank you. First of all, my thanks to senator schumer and senator feinstein for their leadership. Make no mistake, we are 100 unified. If it sounds like we are repeating each others points it is not due to the lack of originality, it is a sign of our unity and determination to continue this fight. Now, i listened to my republican colleagues during the meeting today. Their case for moving judge barrett forward was to attack democrats. It was full of vile anger and grievance against democrats. They are running away from the issue. From the effect of this nomination to take away rights to health care for millions of americans. Rights to gun violence prevention, the right to vote, rights to safety in the workplace. In fact, millions of americans with preexisting conditions will be at risk because of this nomination if it is confirmed. But watching them in that Committee Room were real people on posters that we brought into that area. Real people whose lives may be decimated by a ruling on the aca to strike it down. Real women who will lose control over when and whether they have children because this nominee has said that the legacy of roe v. Wade is barbaric. She has aligned herself with groups that would criminalize in vitro fertilization. She has shown, by her legal positions, that she would overturn roe v. Wade, and in test, theas had the test trump said was a strong test, strike down the aca, overturn roe v. Wade. That is the reason she would not answer our questions. She has already answered those questions for the vetting and screening of rightwing groups that have given her the path. Almost half a century ago in the building across the street, Justice Blackmun wrote the opinion in roe v. Wade, i clerked for him shortly after he did it. And we thought then that this issue was solved. That privacy was guaranteed and yet today, we are still fighting the issue that protects womens rights. We owe it to them and to all americans to keep up this fight because we cannot go back to the time when abortion was banned. When contraception was criminalized. We need to move forward. We are determined. I have heard from those americans who have been watching. The americans that we brought into the hearing room. Americans that are scared and angry. I have been listening to people across connecticut who feel fundamental rights may be gone. Our republican colleagues have pushed this nomination through in a raw exercise of power. They are doing this because they can. The American People can do what they can on november 3. We are not done. We will fight this nomination. We will have votes ahead. And i hope my colleagues will be held accountable for disregarding the will of the American People who want their voice heard, so the next president and the next senate will choose the next justice. I am happy to yield to my great colleague from hawaii, senator hirono. [yelling] senator hirono thank you, i am very committed to joining my colleagues in other protests of what is happening with this nominee. These are not normal times when we ask Mitch Mcconnell and Senate Republicans, why are your priorities so screwed up that in the middle of a pandemic, we cannot work on a covid bill that helps people, and you are pushing through this nominee . It is not normal when that question becomes a rhetorical question, but here we are. We all know that amy barrett is a clear and present danger to the Affordable Care act. On november 10, when republicans get their way, she will be sitting there in the courts to hear this case. She has already let it be known that she thinks chief Justice Roberts made a mistake when he upheld the law, which means that if she had been sitting in that court she would have struck down the Affordable Care act then. She is a clear and present danger to so many of the rights that Ruth Bader Ginsburg it was not long ago when we lost her, have we forgotten all the things she fought for . Equal rights for women, access to Affordable Care, lgbtq rights, all the rights that Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought for and that she actually listened to the people who would be impacted by the courts decision. I want to focus on one of these rights, lgbtq rights. One of my colleagues mentioned two Supreme Court justices have already signaled, this is what they do. They have signaled, why dont we revisit this . Because there is no constitutional basis for samesex marriage, this would be justices alito and thomas. They are good at signaling what they would like to have a chance to overturn. Judge barrett aligned herself with justice scalia, who wrote major decisions against gay rights, including the last one. She combined the fact that judge barrett aligned herself with the right wing conservative wing of the Supreme Court. She is very much in line with her mentor, justice scalia, combined that with her view of precedent, where she says it is up to every justice to decide for herself what the constitution requires and if precedent does not align with that, down goes the president. That is why roe v. Wade is at risk. That is why other cases are at risk. That is why so many of the rights and protections Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought for on her time for the Supreme Court are at risk. That is why i stand here with my colleagues and protest this nominee. Guess what . There are already 40 Million People who have voted. They know what is at stake and they are listening. Republicans hope that people are not paying attention, but they are. I now want to turn to my good friend cory booker. [yelling] sen. Booker i stand with my colleagues in a Firm Commitment to some of the best American Values and tactics. I stand with my colleagues with a commitment to noncooperation for that which is wrong and boycott of that which is unacceptable. We stand resolute and in lockstep with tens of millions of americans of all backgrounds and persuasions, all political parties. What Senate Republicans are doing right now is wrong. They are violating processes, violating rules, violating conscience, they are violating their own words. Its a difficult thing to witness such bitter violence against your own words. Even though we stand at a point where in the midst of a pandemic we are literally walking through the valley of the shadow of death. At a time that our country needs the best of us, we have fallen into rank partisanship that is failing us. Instead of coming together to claim the high ground of action on the crisis, we are dissenting descending into a low ground and quicksand of a power grab that will go down in history as one of the darker moments of this institution. And so today i stand with my colleagues and i lean upon the truth of our history, that has not been absent of wrongs from this institution. I stand with them in an understanding that in this great nation, america has shown an extraordinary ability to turn dark days into new days of hope. To turn wretched wrongs into pathways of redemption. The ability to take from tragic defeat, new possibilities for greater victory. And so today, i join with my colleagues in a great tradition of noncooperation and boycotts of these proceedings. But i also join with them arm in arm, like so many of our ancestors did, and say resolutely the words of those whose sacrifices insured my presence here. We say, we shall overcome. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Questions. Senator schumer [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer the senate officially beginning debate tomorrow on Amy Coney Barretts nomination. The first full senate vote is expected sunday, a rare weekend senate. In the on sunday, the senators are expected to limit the debate to 30 hours. That sets up a final confirmation vote monday evening. Watch live debate and the votes on cspan two. The president of the senate, Vice President mike pence, is headed back to indiana for a rally this afternoon. Watch that live from fort wayne starting at 4 30 p. M. Eastern this afternoon here on cspan, online at cspan. Org, or listen live on the free cspan radio app. We will air another senate race debate this evening. A republican incumbent senator Susan Collins faces her challengers, democrat sarah gideon an independents maxlinear and lisa savage. The main debate is leave at 7 00 eastern, also here on cspan. That is leading into tonights second and final president ial debate held here, Belmont University, on the campus of Belmont University in nashville, tennessee. A live look here. Joe biden and President Trump in their final debate of the campaign. Our live coverage starts here on cspan at 8 00 eastern with a debate at 9 00 p. M. Announcer we are weeks away day, november 3. When control of congress and who occupies the white house next year will be decided. Stay with cspan2 here President Trump and joe biden make their case to the American Public and watch debates and some of the hotly contested house and senate races. Campaign 2020 coverage, everyday, on cspan, cspan. Org, or listen on the cspan radio app. Your place for an unfiltered view of politics. You are watching cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Created by americas Cable Television company as a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. Announcer House Speaker nancy pelosi held her week b