Administration, it is already manufacturing tens of millions of doses of six vaccines. And by the end of the year there will be tens of millions of doses of these vaccines already manufactured, ready to distribute. First, of course, to the priority individuals, those who are most vulnerable, Health Care Workers and others. Then according to the administration, they expect to be able to produce 300 million to 700 million doses of vaccines by march or april of next year. That is unprecedented. When i was a kid, we were terrified by polio. I had classmates who were in an iron lung and parents who were worried their children might be just as well. It took ten years to get a polio vaccine and polio is now eradicated. Most of the vaccines that our children take before they go to school, like mumps, measles, chicken pox, you have to take these vaccines, all 50 states and the district of columbia before you go to school. Most of them took ten years to develop. If the optimism of the administration, they call it operation warp speed, is accurate, vaccines will have been manufactured and they are optimistic at least one of them will be approved before the end of the year. They know theyll be manufactured because theyre already doing that. They dont know for sure, and they say theres no guarantee of success, but were optimistic that we will admit we will reach a goal that once was considered impossible and now seems likely. In other words, instead of waiting ten years for a vaccine to save lives, this vaccine for covid19 will be developed in less than a year if its approved before the end of the year. Now that is an unprecedented success story, and its only possible for a variety of reasons which ill go into in a minute. The same is true with treatments. There are five treatments, medicines for those who have contracted covid19. And thats especially interesting to teachers and faculty members at schools and colleges. The children dont seem to get as sick. But the older teachers could, and they do get sicker. So it helps to know that theres a treatment for covid if you get sick. What were told by dr. Fauci, dr. Redfield, dr. Hahn, others is theyre confident new treatment will be specific in the next few weeks. The monoclonal antibodies developed and used during ebola crisis to help prevent and cure it. They only can be approved based on data from the fd. F. D. A. If they are approved in the next few weeks, if you come down with covid, you will have an antibody cocktail that in the case of ebola approved to prevent and help cure it. Knowing these vaccines are being manufactured and are likely to be approved by the end of the year and that treatments will be broadly available by the end of the year in addition to the five that now exist should help give americans more confidence in going back to school, back to college, back to child care, back to work and out to eat. And then theres a third success story, and that is diagnostic testing. The United States got off to a bumpy start with diagnostic testing. The first c. D. C. Test flopped, and we lost some time. But since then theres been an explosion of diagnostic testing. Today we have a capacity to deal with 90 million tests a month. Abbott laboratories has announced that it will in october produce 50 million rapid tests. You can get a result in 15 minutes, higher degree of specificity. That means accuracy. And it costs 5. The administration has bought 150 million, the whole output, for the first three months of abbott laboratorys fast tests and is in the process of distributing them to nursing homes, to schools, to colleges, Child Care Centers and to states. I was able to say to the governor that if tennessee gets its rough share of 2 of 150 million tests, thats a lot of tests for the state of tennessee to be receiving over the next few weeks. And again the importance of of that is between now and the time a vaccine is administered and treatments are widely available, the surest path back to school, back to work, out to eat is an oversupply of diagnostic testings so you can have it whenever you want just as governor lee was saying we have 1,800 schools being open in person, i think if the teachers knew that they had more treatments, if they could test whenever a class needs to test a whole class and do surveillance testing that people would be safer and feel better about going back to school. The same would be true with the colleges and universities. If theres a breakout of 750 cases at the university of tennessee and you can quickly do random surveillance testings of an entire dorm or dorm floor of a class of students, then you can feel better about keeping the place safe. The hearing was a good hearing. I said during the hearing, i thank senator murray, my partner over the last six years, the ranking democrat. Shes a member of the Democratic Leadership. Shes pretty tough when she wants to be, but shes also because she is, i like working with her and weve been able to do a lot with our committee. We have 23 members of our committee. I thanked them today. I said senator ted kennedy used to say we have the broadest jurisdiction of any committee in the senate. I think we have the broadest range of views in the senate of any committee, and we have some very able advocates of those diverse points of view, and still weve got a very impressive record from fixing no child left behind to 21st century cures to the opioid bill to passing important Bipartisan Legislation thats good for the country. President obama called the every Student Succeeds act a christmas miracle. Senator mcconnell said the 21st century cures was the most important law of that congress. I thank senator murray and all the democrats and republicans on the committee for creating an environment where we can have our differences of opinion but still get important results. 1 there was one other thing that we discussed id like to mentiom connecticut on the floor. I know he wants to speak. Ill get out of the way so he can do it. But there actually were two things i want to briefly summarize and then ill put my statement in the record. Ill ask to do that. One was the New York Times said on march 1 that the United States was as well prepared as any country for covid. To the extent that was true, it was because of several president s and several congresses doing such things as in 2012 authorizing three standby manufacturing plants for vaccines. The operation warp speed, dr. Sawi said, who is their principal advisor, they could not be producing those tens of millions of doses of vaccines, four of those vaccines if those plants had not been put plans had not been put in place back then. In addition, earlier congresses created more authority for the f. D. A. , for example, to do emergency use authorizations which dr. Hahn has used expertly. Theyve given the n. I. H. Record funding for five years in a row and new authority. All of this authority has been put to work by this administration to do what i would call an unprecedented sprint towards success on vaccines, treatments, and tests. Without cutting corners on efficiency on efficacy and safety. There is a risk, but the risk is to the taxpayers. And the reason things are going so fast is because theyre doing everything in parallel. Theyre manufacturing while theyre developing the vaccine and while theyre reviewing whether its safe and effective. Then at the end of that process, say the end of this year, if it is effective, were ready to distribute it. The states have been asked to get ready. If its not safe, if its not effective, then we lose the money. The taxpayers lose the money. I think most of us would be glad to lose that money if the result was that one or more of those vaccines turned out to be the one that produces 300 million to 700 million doses of vaccines that are safe and effective as we move into the new year. Theres a lesson from all this, and that is that the earlier congresses and president s were visionary in this respect they built those standby manufacturing plants, they created barta. Senator burr from North Carolina was one of the leaders for that, for example. And without that, we wouldnt have this explosion of vaccines, treatments, and tests on the way. We need to do that again. Senator bill frist, the former majority leader, testified before our committee with some others. He said we go from panic to neglect to panic. And we dont do the hard things to do after the epidemic is over. The hardest thing to do is sustained ling sustained funding. We need sustained funding for manufacturing plants so they dont go cold while we wait for the next pandemic. We need sustained funding for our stockpile so theyre not depleted by budget problems. We need sustained funding for the strategic stockpile. And we need sustained funding for our state and local Public Health agencies which are about 50 supported by federal dollars. Sustained funding is something we dont do very well. That means mandatory funding. It means advanced appropriations. We like to do it year by year. If we dont do it, you can see what it costs us. 200,000 lives we lost already. 3 trillion weve already spent. A little sustained funding to prevent the next pandemic would be a very wise investment, and we ought to do it now while weve got our eye on the ball. Jerry diamond who wrote guns, germs and steel pointed out in his opinion in a recent article in the wall street journal that whats different about this vaccine is the jet plane. That people can fly from wuhan to San Francisco or from San Francisco to nashville and pretty soon suddenly this is spreading all over the world. He said, jerry diamond, that the next pandemic could be next year. We hope its not, but it could be. And we should be ready for it. So i wanted to report to the American People and to my colleagues in the senate, we hear a lot about problems, but i think its important to know that the vaccines are being manufactured, that the decisions are going to be made by scientists about when theyre ready to distribute. The states have been asked to get ready, that there are more treatments coming likely, and that theres been an explosion of diagnostic tests. So really there should be plenty of diagnostic tests for anyone who wants to use them before very long in the United States. My theory has been for a long time, as soon as we had an oversupply we wouldnt have a problem or an issue. So i thank those four witnesses, senator murray and my republican and democratic colleagues for monitoring this covid19, and im glad the hearing was broadly carried for two hours on Many Television networks. I hope it gave the American People some relief and sense that our chances of going back to school, back to college, back to child care, back to work and out to eat are increasingly good, and its very simple. Wear the mask, wash hands, stay apart, and keep this unprecedented sprint toward vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tests going. Madam president , i ask consent to include, following my remarks, the press release from governor lee in tennessee and my statement this morning at the hearing of health, education, labor, and pensions committee. I thank the president. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Alexander and i yield the floor. A senator madam president. The presiding officer the mr. Blumenthal madam president , as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. Con. Res. 46 which was submitted earlier today. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk s. Con. Res. 36, do correct the enrollment of the s. 2330. The presiding officer without objection, the senate la proceed to the measure the senate will proceed to the measure. Mr. Blumenthal i ask that the resolution be agreed to and the the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Blumenthal thank you, madam president. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Reed thank you, madam president. I rise to honor the lightest of Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg and to express my grave concerns at rushing to fill this Supreme Court vacancy rather than focus on the pandemic and its health and economic devastations. The passing of Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg is a monumental loss for our company, but she will leave an for our country but she will leave an indelible mark as a trail blaser and count l hero to people. We can all take inspiration from her lifelong crusade for equality shaped bid her own struggles facing gender discrimination as a young lawyer. Despite her outstanding education and obvious talent. Notably, one of her first and most important rulings was when she wrote the majority opinion that struck down the maleonly admissions policy at the Virginia Military institute. In this and many other cases, Justice Ginsburg opened the door for generations to come and heralded a new era of equality so that those who were traditionally excluded and oppressed could truly partake in the american dream. Congress should honor Justice Ginsburgs legacy by grieving her loss with her family, her friends, and the rest of the nation. More importantly, we should listen to the justices wish that the court she loved and served so honorably should not be part of the election season. My sense is Justice Ginsburg recognized that while the court has become more political over time, filling her seat a month or so before an election would do incredible harm. Some say we need nine judges. They certainly didnt feel that way about Justice Scalias open seat. Rushing here seems unnecessary, shows a disregard for history, and shows a lack of faith in the American Peoples choice in november. But it appears they will not be thoughtful and wait. Instead, its full steam ahead. I am angered and saddened that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are choosing to ram through a nominee who they know will not get broad support. While this is no different than their agenda over the last four years, the timing and circumstances could be not more startling or revealing as to their true priorities of power and stacking the deck. My colleagues have been rushing to issue statements for a nominee that President Trump no, sir not even nominated. Since the heros act passed the house, they have not been able to muster any emergency. Public Health Experts and economists alike have been soundly alarmed for weeks about what will happen if congress does not provide further assistance. They warn that without resorrieses or testing, contract tracing, the case counts and deaths will only increase. They warn that without rental, unemployment, and food assistance, evictions would skyrocket and households with children will go hungry. They warn that states will have to resort to deep budget cuts and layoffs without additional aid. But my republican colleagues disregarded these warnings, even as covid19 numbers continued to climb, and even after the pandemic unemployment assistance and Paycheck Protection Program expired. They looked for excuses not to act. Only pausing to bring up their socalled skinny bills which fell woefully short of providing the help that is needed for families, businesses, and the states. Due to the trump administrations mismanagement and republicans inaction, much of what these experts preducted is already happening, and we continue to pass grim milestones signaling that we have failed to contain the virus and adequately mitigate the fallout. More than 200,000 people have now died and the department of labor reports that nearly 30 Million People are on unemployment. Despite the overwhelming need, republicans seem eager to move on and shift all of their attention to filling a Supreme Court seat in as little time as possible. They want to do it in a way that has never been done before. While other vacancies have arisen in an election year, the history is clear. The senate has never confirmed a nomination to the Supreme Court this close toss a president ial election. Yet its looking more like republicans want to barrel ahead and deny the American People a chance to weigh in. We have to ask ourselves why. One answer is easy. Health care. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle, along with President Trump, had complete control of congress and the white house for two years, and after spending seven years of saying that they would repeal the Affordable Care act, they try with all of their might to do just that. What they didnt anticipate was that the American People would have turned against this effort. In 2017, i heard from countless constituents writing and emailing me, calling my office, approaching me at the Grocery Store and around rhode island telling me about how how the a. C. A. Had benefited them and their families and urging me to do everything in my power to stop the republican effort to repeal the law. I was not alone in this. I know my colleagues on both sides of the aisle were hearing similar concerns from their constituents. President trump and Congressional Republicans did not expect that they wouldnt be able to convince everyone in their party to go along with this scheme. And as we all remember, late one night in july 2017 while voting on the republican trumpcare bill, my friend and my clean air, senator john mccain, shortly before his death courageously stood up and gave their proposals a thumbs down, saying enough was enough. The following year, the American People swiftly voted many republicans out of office, handing control of the house of representatives to democrats, largely because of health care. Democrats won by vowing to protect the a. C. A. For the American People. So now President Trump and Congressional Republicans are counting on the courts to overturn the a. C. A. For them. They have spent the last three years stacking the courts with judicial nominees who they think will rule against the a. C. A. , regardless of the facts or merits of the case. With the passing of Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg, they have their opportunity to add another antihealth care justice to the Supreme Court, just days before the court will begin arguments on the trump administrations lawsuit to repeal the a. C. A. Whats worse is they are not willing to wait until the election to pursue this. Because they know the American People do not agree with them and they cant take the chance that they will lose the election and along with it their opportunity to take Health Care Coverage away from millions of americans. Republican fervor to fill the Supreme Court vacancy goes beyond dismantling Affordable Health care and denying care to those with preexisting conditions. They are counting on a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court to accomplish many extreme conservative goals which they know the majority of the American People do not share. This will endanger so many of the rights that americans have fought for decades to win. That could mean making our country less democratic by gutting what is left of the Voting Rights act. It could mean overing it up the right of women to take their own Reproductive Health care decisions in consultation with their doctors and the right of lgbtq individuals to live free of discrimination. It would include stripping away environmental protections which will become all the more important as Climate Change weakens wreaks havoc on our community. How these and many other issues that are decided by the Supreme Court for the next several decades is hanging in the balance. That republicans want to speed through the nominee shows not only their disdain for the will of the American People but also their lack of confidence that voters support these policy goals and those who wrongly espouse them. The only good that may come of this is that the American People will gain an even clearer understanding of what is at stake. The American Public now has a clear choice, and i have no doubt that it will make the right one. They can see and understand what majority leader mcconnell is doing. At the very time the majority should be joining with us to protect the health of the American People, in the midst of so much suffering and needless death during this pandemic, they are instead undertaking a misguided and justifiable effort to ram and unjustifiable effort to ram through a Supreme Court nomination. While i have little doubt that mcconnell will change his plans, i would hope that my colleagues would tyke a moment and look at where we are. Wait now the matters before us are profound. So i hope a few on the majority side reconsider and take a step back from their maximalist power theory and leave this issue to the next session. Until then, i will do everything i can to honor Justice Ginsburg and her lifes work for what is right and what is fair. We will demand justice for the American People to make sure that their voices are heard. Madam president , i would yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call can examine examine. Mr. Mcconnell madam president. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session with a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i understand there is a bill at the desk. I ask for its first reading. The presiding officer the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. The clerk s. 4675, a bill to amend the Health Insurance affordability and accountability act. Mr. Mcconnell i now ask a second reading and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i object to my own request. The presiding officer objection having been heard. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate resume the presiding officer the bill will be read the second time on the next legislative session. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate resume executive session. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell now, madam president , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 00 a. M. Thursday, september 24. Further, that following the prayer and pledge, the senate resume consideration of the young nomination. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks of senator bennet. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that the senate stand in recess subject to the call of the chair. The presiding officer without objection. The Senate Stands in recess subject to the call of the chair. This into gambling else. They been working today, number of senators came to the floor to talk about the Supreme Court vacancy following the death of Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg. It was lying in repose i think Supreme Court today and tomorrow. Watch live senate coverage, here on cspan2. Youre watching cspan2, your unfiltered view of government created by americas Cable Television company. As a Public Service, and brought to you today by your television provider. A number of senators came to the floor today to start with a vacancy in the u. S. Supreme court caused by the death of Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg. President trump is expected to announce a replacement through Justice Ginsburg this week. Two days ago democrat leader. That if they dared to play by the rules come and behave like us, the majority, it would mean the end of the supposedly great deliberative body. The end. This supposedly great body. Yesterday we learned what he meant. We saw an important business but what it amounted to a temper tantrum. For somehe reason, the democratc leader decided to vent and frustration. By blocking the Intelligence Committee. Listen to this rated falling a enbipartisan counterintelligence cearing. By blocking the Intelligence Committee from holding bipartisan counterintelligence hearing. The committee was set to hear the bill the director of the National Counterintelligence and security center. This is nation his top counterintelligence official among other things, he works directly on protecting our elections. Our elections. Enter politics from foreign nginterference. That is his job. If they were going to hear from him. This is same Democratic Leaders who declared a few weeks ago, if the Intelligence Community does not stay close to congress, but Election Security would be an application of the duty to protect our democracy. Just last week, he wrote me a letter saying Election Security and be above partisan politics. But now, the democratic his temper is more important. He denied chairman rubio, routine permission for the Bipartisan Committee to meet. Is everyone have business as usual here the senate. And today, but the Intelligence Committee are scheduled to meet with the Armed Services committee. This is a speak with top intelligence and military officials about Election Security. I guess we will find out whether the Democratic Leaders theatrics was just a oneday matinee. Or whether he means to make this series. A bipartisan Community Seven big deal of work to do to think on a nation. Particular to protect our elections. So would help our colleagues from new york gets out of the way. But the democrat leader didnt stop there. A few minutes later he decided to cheapen sullivan unified moment. And turn to draft an unanimous resolution to water Justice Ginsburg into a more depressing stuff for the tv cameras. Over the weekend, are not a resolution honoring her amazing life. Normally such measures are adopted with unanimous bipartisan support. Thank you madam president. And i want to say how much i appreciate you this evening for this. Last night i had the chance to speak about the late Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg, somebody is much as anyone in our history advanced the cause of the quality between men and women. When president clinton named her this report, shed already transformed american law through her trailblazing work as a professor andig litigator. Despite her nomination sailed through the spotting 96 votes. A reminder of the time not so very long ago when the senate understood its constitutional duty to advise and consent a qualified would be the best majority of the senators to vote for that person and every single time we did that. We will establish the idea the judiciary is independent from hopefully are temporary same partisan ballots. And 96 votes for more than a quartercentury, justice can spark and rulings that promoted fairness. Nancy quality, and scared rights. I feel affirmative rights. And the womans right to choose. And at the same time, she could never accept decisions that nullified right to vote otherwise limited our Democratic Values even when was hard for some of her colleagues at the highest court in the land. To proceed to systemic racism in our country. As we said last night, because the Young Ruth Bader new america would be worse off without her. Without her talent. Justice ginsburg fought hard. To make america more democratic, more fair and more free. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the majority leader of this body. But now seeks to ram a replacement through the senate. As a senator, is a majority leader. He dedicated his career to undo the work of Justice Ginsburg. And those who have fought beside her prevent for america. From the deliberation of our courts in our democracy to the sorry state of our governments the school conditions. And for decades, youll find the majority leader fingerprints all over the crime scene. Lets start with the courts. That seems an appropriate place to start today. Justice ginsburg care deeply about what she called public respect for incompetence in the judiciary. No one in america has done more to destroy that confidence and respect than the senator from kentucky. I first came to washington as colorados senator during president obama his first term. The majority leader who is in minority leader, mitch mcconneln from kentucky led the blockade of virtually all of president obama his nominees. He filibustered the nominee for secretary of defense it was a republican. In the history of the country, no nominee the sacred defense was filibustered. When George Washington to george w. Bush, the senators could use the filibuster to get 68 president ial nominees. In washington the bush, and entire. , 68 filibusters of president ial nominees. During president obama his first five years, the republican senators led by Mitch Mcconnell used it against 79 nominees. In five years. On a brandnew. These filibuster more times than in her history going back to George Washington. The obstruction was ruthlessness. And it timely with this sentence democrats change the rules Breonna Taylor the socalled nuclear allowing us to confirm a dish. Except for the Supreme Court another with 51 votes. Instead of 60 votes. I am about the boat. And i apologize on this for before about this boat. It is let us to our we are today. Naftait republicans won a majory in this body, senator mcconnell made his prior like a game of beanbags. He was not in the minority anymore friday is in the majority. And next point came on februar february 13th than i will never forget it. I was speaking at the Jefferson Jackson dinner to colorados read set on cnn announcing the death of Justice Scalia buried it was a president ial election year. And there were 342 days to go. Before president obama his second term. Term made possible by the American People once again. To give him the power to appoint people to a Supreme Court and let the people decide. One hour after chief justice confirmed scalia his death, senator macconnell declared that the market people should have a voice in the selection of the notice Supreme Court justice. Therefore the vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president. Thats not what the constitution says. When theres vacancy, they shall nominate the senate shall advise. Today we have a senate this not even interested in advising. As we stand here tonight, given theirhe consent. Without even knowing who the nominee is going to be. Hoping cooler heads would prevail, present obama nominated someone that had previously confirmed with 76 votes. In whom the former republican senator from utah, my friend, once called a consensus nominee for the Supreme Court. I had known them for a one the center. Work with them. Fresh out of law school. We both of us served in the Deputy Attorney general his office at the department of justice. Ive never heard another lawyer or anyone the matter refer to garland without the highestan admiration. He set the standard for excellence. It was lawyer his lawyer. The Senate Republicans led by the majority leader, refused tos even meet with judge garland. Let alone give him the courtesy of the hearing. So the American People could see what an outstanding person he was. How brilliant and fairminded he was. The majority leader and nola more to say about this disgraceful moment in the history about one of the proudest moments of putting them. One of my proudest moments was when i looked barack obama in the eye and said mr. President , you will not fill the Supreme Court position. We know happen next. We are still living this. For the rest of 2015, majority leader how the state open all year. 342 days, no hearings. No meetings. No vote. One of the senators in this body went home, and they said i will never vote for garland but i think it is wrong for us to have a vote. We should have a vote. She go home and explain why voted the way i voted. And have to defend my vote. In a few days later, super pack run by a former clerk of Justice Scalia threatened that they would run a primary brain if he did not change his mind. And he did. And so we know what happened. We get the majority later mcconnell kept his seat open. He helped elect donald trump who was waiting around listed judges that he would appoint to the court. In making donald trump of all people, the first president in American History with the power to fill every judicial vacancy with a simple majority vote. And because senator macconnell later changed the rules again. Without really having any debate here. As a result, his use that power to confirm hundred and 17 judges, nearly quarter of the federal bench. They are now trump appointees. In 2017, senator macdonald detonated his own Nuclear Option to lower thesu votes for Supreme Court justices as he warned he would do. They installed in which event something else. In 2018 coming down through the nomination of justices kavanaugh under his new regime. Delivering confirmation by margin of two votes. The narrowest margin for Supreme Court nominee since 1881. And throughout it, all, he seatd a roster ofwi judges across the federal bench who otherwise could not make the b team. The Senate Confirmed a judge who opposed the state proclamation honoring association of professional women because he dared talked about feelings. In the Senate Confirmed the lawyer killing conspiracies about barack obama and comparing abortion to slavery. An attorney has suggested that judges can ignore judicial president s. They be deemed incorrect. And who justified denying to enemy combatants with the brutal ancient victim. In the time of war. The laws are silent. The Senate Confirmed its firstever nominee rated not qualified by the american bar association. And it never happened before in American History. Once was noth. Enough. The senate went on to approve six more trump nominees. Not qualified by the you cannot find qualified lawyers. You can find a lawyer, but even exceed, just means these people are unqualified. What qualifies them is that any of them are in the 30s. Theyre going to be in the course to my lifetime. And i that that was all rockbottom. The last friday, one hour after we learned of Justice Ginsberg his passing, the majority leader issued a release saying wPresident Trump company will receive a vote on the floor of the United States senate. The opposite of what he sent out with Justice Scalia with the majority leader blocked judge garland, when he said the American People should have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court justice. There were 342 days left in president obama his term. 342. There are 119 days left in President Trumps term. There are 41 days left before the selection. Heres with the history really is. Not the masquerade that the majority leader has been engaging in with the American People. From the founding of this country until today. Uwe have had nine Supreme Court vacancies arise in the First Six Months or president ial election year. Nine vacancies. In the First Six Months of a president ial election year. The Senate Confirmed every single one of them except mayor arnolgarland. The senate has never confirmed Supreme Court nominee this close to a president ial election. Number. In history of america. Now we have given our assent apparently before we even know who the nominee is. Because of Donald Trumps magical powers. Were willing somehow to take it on faith. But these traditions make no difference to the majority leader. Thanks to him, we c now live ina world where confirming judges has become one more vicious partisan exercise. Or confirmation possible outbreak of party lines for the foreseeable future and perhaps forever. And where every ruling that the justice makes, is going be viewed as thats what we would expect from an obama judge. Thats what we would expect the trump appointed judge. It is the opposite of the way this works when i was in law school. When the majority leader said back to the days before we had a filibuster Circuit Court judges. Because now there is no filibuster when it comes to justices. Were judges. It is not accurate. It is not right. Because in those days, if you are qualified, you would get 96 votes. Like ruth god. Like justice god. He think 95 votes. Over his 36 years in office, the majority leader has voted against nearly every piece of legislation that promoted equality and advanced civil equality and advanced civil nearly every peace of legislation thatga promoted equality and advanced civil rights. Again and again, he has voted against banning discrimination based on someones sexual orientation. Prosecuting hate crimes. Proving equity in the workplace. He even voted against reauthorizing the violence against womens act. More than anyone in america, and i would say he is actually proud of this, he is responsible for exposing our democracy to a delusion of money, special entrance and foreign interference. The majority leader has voted against every Major Campaign finance bill that came to this floor. In fact hehe led the fight against the bipartisan reform bill written by the late senator john mckay. We failed to stop it in the senates, senator mcconnell went to the courts to have it overturned, paving the way years later for the disastrous ruling in citizens united. Has allowed billionaires to flood our politicale system in the name of free speech when average working people are being drowned out. He voted against the bipartisan National Voter registration act which allowed people to register to vote and they get a drivers license. Ahead of the 2016 election, he refused to join president obama and issue a bipartisan statement to alert the American People to the threat of russian interference in our election. He refused to do it. And the American People did not know until after the election was over that Vladimir Putin was putting here his thumb on the scale. To this day, he refuses to let us vote on bipartisan bills to protect our elections from foreign interference. Are even bills to fully fund our election so people can vote safely in the middle of a pandemic. There is only one person who gets to decide whether be vote on something around here, that is the majority leader. I would like to see which senators would vote against protecting our elections from russian interference. I would like to see it. But we cant know because he wont allow us to come here for a vote. I would like to see who in this chamber actually is against universal background checks. Something we have not been able to take a vote on because the majority leader wont allow a vote. Come out and vote. It has been 570 days since the house passed before the people act. A bill that would ban expand earlyra voting create automatic Voter Registration to make election day a National Holiday among other reforms. The majority leader refuses to bring it to a vote. He called it a power grab. That is the language he uses. The only power grab that is is a power grab by the American People to try and pry a little bit of power away from the majority leader from kentucky on behalf of himself i am not sure any majority leader in our history has had this low of a regard for democracy and for our institutions than the senator. I would say that less regard for the American People as well. Because every time hes taking a knife to our institutions, he is in front of the cameras talking about what an institutionalist he is. When he became majority leader he said his First Priority would be to quote restore the senate to the place founders and their wisdom had intended, not the hollow shell rule 19 paragraph two provides that no senator, no senator in debate shall directly or indirectly by any form of words imputes to another senator or two other senators, any conduct or motive unworthy or un becoming. Stomach i would ask im sorry. Na proceed. A thank you. Thank you. Thank you med and chair. I was interrupted but let me go back. When he became majority leader he said the First Priority would be to quote restore the senate to the place the founders in their wisdom had intended. Not the hollow shell of an institution terry reidhead created. He was his predecessor pretty think i remember him being on the floor calling harry reid the worst majority leader that existed in history. I do think he was sentient for that. Hehe promised quote to open up the legislative process in a way that allows for more amendments from both sides. Last year we voted on 26 amendments in the entire year last year we voted on 26 amendments. Only eight of those amendments were passed. I o think senator paul from kentucky had for thosequ amendments. Sometimes its going to mean working more often pray sometimes it will mean working late. But restoring the senate is the right thing to do. We are not working late around here. He said were going to work on fridays. Half the time, harry reid was majority leader, i could not go home until friday. And since the majority leader is been here, i am home for dinner every thursday night. Said we need to reconnect to what he called a rational functioning appropriation process. We havent pass the single appropriations bill the senate. Last read the longest Government Shutdown in American History. We need to return to regular order he said. Sermon majority live leader to put a bill on the floor to strip healthcare from 60 million americans that we did not even see until a few hours before the vote. Some things we dont even a member anymore he has brought this institution low, the lowest it has been. It is no different than it claimed to be a fiscal conservative. I have heard him say over and over again our debt and deficits are the single biggest threat toam americas future. He called it the transcendent issue of our era. He said until we fix that problem, the deficit, we cant fix america. He set americans are tired of the spending debt and government takeovers and complaints at d our debt makes us look ake lot like greece. He claims to be eight fiscal hawk, he has done it his entire career. The truth is there is not an american living or dead who is put more debt on the Balance Sheet of this country than Mitch Mcconnell. 17trillion and that is just over the last 20 years. And for what . To invest in education . To build our roads and bridges . Do something about Mental Health in the country or water infrastructure. For what . To cut taxes to the richest people in thew country. Borrow all from china, which is the opposite of what he said he was doing. The opposite ofr what he promised. He said the tax cuts would pay forhe themselves, they never have. He said they would benefit the middle class, two thirds went to the top 20 at a time when weve got the worst income any quality then we have had since 19208. When we have had an economy that for 50 years, 90 of the American People have not seen a pay raise. And that means in the first 25 years of this century, we are on track to spend 68 trillion on tax cuts for the richest 20 of americans. It is exactly the same thing if a mayor in any one of our communities or states said to their neighbors, and to their city council into the present, im going to borrow more money than we have ever borrowed before. And you say that worries me a little, what are you going to spend the money on . Organist spend it on our roads . Syriac no. Agnes spent on the bridges . Note. Mental health . Covid . Our Public Health infrastructure . Im going to take that money i am borrowing from the chinese and im going to give it to the two richest neighborhoods in town. That is the majority leaders tax policy. And that is what has been sincepe 2001. This speech is not about spending but while i have the microphone, heres what we could have done for 6. 8 trillion. We couldve created universal preschool for every child in america. These are not either or by the way, that is how big exponent chilean dollars is. We couldve Great Universal preschool for every child in america. We couldve invested in 70 of americans who dont graduate from college so it they can earn a living wage when they graduate from high school at the minimum wage. We can make Public College affordable for every middleclass american. We can get every teacher in america 50 pay raise and pay them like the professionals that they are. We could have cut Child Poverty by 40 in this country. We c could have protected Social Security so we know it will be there for our children and our grandchildren. We couldve rebuilt americas roads, bridges, tunnels and airports. High Speed Broadband to every community. Lowered the cost of prescription drugs. Covered everyone with high quality healthcare by creating a public option. Paid family medical leave. Invested in science and Public Health so we could be more prepared for the global pandemi pandemic. We might have even pay down some of ourt debt. And actually, acted fiscally responsible. In other words, we could have changed the destiny of america we could have to the legacy of Justice Ginsburg by making this country more democratic, more fair and more free. We still can come but we cant do it as long as the majority leader is continuing to pursue these policies. We have to choose leaders in the senate who will build this country better than they found it. Not leave it in tatters for our children and grandchildren to pick through the rubble. Instead of working the senate to work on behalf of the American People, the senate has been run from the senator from kentucky has run roughshod over this institution doing whatever he can, whatever he can get away with politically. We are at a point where what you can get away withta here, is the only rules that are left. And i said last night, and the senate, words have lost their meaning. And when words lose their meaning, when promises me nothing, when commitments me nothing, that is when institutions fail. And it is moments like this that i remind my colleagues that this is not the First Republic to risk failure because of all of this, the senate, the Supreme Court, centuries of rules written and unwritten that have guided this republic. Them. Were not preserving them for us. We are preserving them for the American People because without our institutions, we cant do what we need tocr do. Whether its Climate Change or healthcare or education or any issue that the American People care about. Ol no matter what side of the political aisle they are on. Justice ginsburg appreciated this. She describes her philosophy this way, quote some i am an originalist only sense of what these great men meant. The constitution that would govern through the ages. At least they hoped it would provide an instrument of government that would endure. That is what is at stake in this election. Whether we will accept this sorry chapter in our history as the new normal or insist on a government that can actually govern. It is focused on the needs and desires of the American People. I hope deeply that we are going to put this behind us. I am not for going back to some old era, but to build a democracy thats worthy of the f century. Worry of the example Ruth Bader Ginsburg set. What are the expectations that her kids and grandkids reasonably have of us . And most of us have for america in this world. That is the choice in this election. And to borrow a phrase from the majority leader, the American People should have a voice in the outcome. And it is my hope that in 41 days, they will. Madam chair i thank you for your patience, and i think the staff for their patients. And i yield the floor. The Senate Stands adjourned until 10 00 a. M. Tomorrow. Suspect the Senate Gambling outs, they have been working today on judicial and executive nominations. And number of senators came to the florida talk about the Supreme Court vacancy following the death of Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg who was lying in repose at the Supreme Court today and tomorrow. Watch live senate coverage, here on cspan2. You are watching cspan2, your unfiltered view of government. Created by americas Cable Television company as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. A number of senators came to the