Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate Sens. Loeffler Barrasso Merkley On Barrett Nomination 20240712

With the plea before the novembd election i am proud to support judging me Coney Barrett as the nominee for social justice of the United States Supreme Court. You are not the only one that is proud to weeks ago i join concerned women for america in marietta georgia to kick off the nationwide tour in support of judge barretts confirmation. Doesnt attended including men and women from every walk of life, families, business owners, policymakers and students. Judge barrett has inspired millions across the country and then while holding the Christian Faith and values and then to become the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court with the schoolage children. And as i travel around the peach state that admiration is very clear President Trump has a highly qualified candidates for the bench and was transparent and wellprepared for the moment this made better nomination she is a woman of remarkable intellect and character with a judicial philosophynd and is a contextual list and understands and respects to interpret the law and judge barrel upon the constitution to protect the godgiven rights including the right to life, the second amendment, free speech and religious liberty. The need for judges it is especially clear when the left to showing the disregard for our constitution. Democrats are attempting to change article numbern one with a universal Ballot System and nancy pelosi attempted to weaponize the 25th amendment and another desperate move to remove the elected president. Am introduced a resolution condemning the speaker for her gains in the middle of an election while refusing to give relief to hard working families impacted by the pandemic. No and with the First Amendment right to free speech and creatively for the existence of the very companies silencing conservatives in the 1996 Communications Decency act no longer suits our countrys needs. Last week Justice Thomas called on congress to update the laws to make them more appropriate for the internet driven society. Instead im leading the charge to modernize the reality of the digital marketplace of ideas by introducing the censorship act in june because all americans have a process to bringpa claims that they limit constitutionally protected free speech and then to introduce a bill to eliminate that ambiguous language in section 230 with a more concrete term recommended by the department of justice and we must act to hold big tech accountable and we must have strong judges in the courts for all americans. Thats way concerning the democrats are fighting so hard to oppose and imminently qualified nominee and as retaliation threatened to pack the court and attempting to constrain our welldesigned system of checks and balances unable to criticize the credentials resorting to scare tactics saying she will take away healthcare coverage or policy views and that her confirmation hearing judge barrett use the talking points to asked want us to rest is never appropriate for a judge to impose the personal convictions o on the law. s accusations made clear the social democrats fear more than strong conservative women but then to be attacked by the left and fake news. There is a playbook to strive to stop conservative women and their place in Public Service judge barrett has been the definition of grace under pressure. De and with the president s request to serve in knowing that their lives would be, deliver any negative detail on the benefit that we are committed to the rule of law to dispense equal justice for all. The commitment to the rule of law and equal justice are clear from her writings and decisions and testimony with 5 percent of the adjudicated t9h cases decided im grateful judge barrett accepted the call to serve our h country we cannot have chosen more qualified terrorist and judge. And im honored to vote to confirm her as the next United States Supreme Court justice. Thank you. Will my colleague yield for questions . Thankn . You. You noted the process we are in right now is based on clear precedent. I have scoured American History to find the president of conducting immediate vote on the Supreme Court nominee during the election and i have not found it. I just wanted to check in on essentially what am i missing . Where is there aer president to conduct this debate and this boat during the election. Thank you for the question. There have been 29 such cases where in t fact the executive branch in the senate are controlled by the same party as the nomination proceeds and that is the case for now. We will proceed. I thank you have that never an American History have they conducted such and you have a different precedent argument but not the president that shows during the election is appropriate. Ou the president is the president for a 41 a full fouryear term. And we will carry out our constitutional duties. Thank you for years ago i know you were not here in the chamber i listen to so many members of the senate and our president with that was born of deep convictions but there should never be a vote your in the process of casting in the election year. So that is a precedent set. Is that not correct . That is correct. And i respond . The senator from wyoming , the senator from georgia has the floor so to be found the distinguished senator from georgia has shown strong grace and strong leadership in this. Of course she knows 29 times as she was trying to explain before being interrupted , there had beent vacancies it happens. And the president it is of the same party as president and then thatf person is confirmed that if they are of a Different Party because 2016 have republicans had won the senate historically it is not confirmed the constitution is clear with the advice and consent by the senate and we know what happens and then president obama was reelected in 2014 so the American People voted to put the Republican Party in turmoil. Actually made it so wrong it was actually 2012 when obama was elected in 2014 to go back to the Republican Party so that they can see occurred 2016, as i stated at the majority of the president of one party Senate Majority of thece other and then nominee was done on was not confirmed and then those that follow the constitution on constitution and thats why people are so delightedpy with her nomination and why am so happy to support her and the senator from georgia and im grateful for your leadership in the statement you are making. L very impressive will want us will qualify judge and to put and confirm on the United States Supreme Court i apologize to the senator from georgia she has additional. You have additional remarks to make quick. Thank you very much you yield for a question . At this time i like to speak and complete that and you are scheduled to speak after that we were just going regular order mr. President. I appreciate the remarks of the senator from georgia and i come to the fore today also in support of the nomination of judge amy Coney Barrett to serve on the United States Supreme Court. She is terrific. So exceptionally wellqualified to take this renew responsibility but the part that sheem has fixed is predictably the backfired and the majority of americans on the Supreme Court so thats what they saw when they watch the hearings last week somebody who is ready to serve our nation to apply the law not legislate from the bench. This is an important moment mr. President in our history the American People deserve the hearing that match the moment that is highlighting her qualifications and capabilities. Regrettably that was turned out to be a partisan infomercial on obama care. This is a law democrats are still trying to explain to the American People American People , more than doubled. More than doubled. False attacks on healte that frighten people they never mention they voted five times to protect people with preexisting conditions including today on the bill every one of those democrats voted against with a targeted relief plan. There was a component toth make sure people with preexisting conditions were a protected and the coronavirus is listed as a preexisting condition. Every democrat voted against adding coronavirus as a preexisting condition and every republican today voted in favor. Democrats seem to bes sending everything but the qualifications of an exceptionally qualified nominee. Youve seen this and weve talked about this, these attacks began the nomination was announced. Criticized for being a mom to seven children, for going to church, criticized for going to church. Democratic candidates are criticizing her religion and faith. Astonishing and the delay tacticsee and the defamation continues. Weve seen this before. The American People saw through the attacks on Brett Kavanaugh two years ago. America has rejected the chief character assassination and the low road and now democrats are leaving open the possibility, and i hear this from the members ofdy this body as well as candidates for the United States, the leading possibility if they take the white house, if they take the senate of expanding the size of the Supreme Court, expanding the size nine to 11 or 13, havent tdecided yet. The president ial candidate wont announce his thoughts on it. First you have to pass it before you find out whats in it. The Supreme Court has been nine since 1869. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said dont go beyond that but thats what we see happening today with the sort of threats we see from the other side ofle the aisle. What do the American People think about that, the pole this week 58 of the voters said they are against adding additional members. How many in favor, 31 . They are the ones that want to call the tune if they have nancy pelosi is the speaker of the house and Chuck Schumer as the majority leader and joe biden in the white house. Thats why joe biden wont tell the American People what he plans to do so americans can rest assured republicans in the senate are committed to this nominee. A senator h from georgia and as others have said, republicans in the body are committed to this nominee and we will confirm this exceptional justice regardless of the delay tactics or seek ank and destroy mission the democrats have lost we are going to confirm this justice to uphold the law as written. The senate will vote and confirm judge amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court and with that i will yield the floor. The senator from oregon. I think my colleague for yielding. Goits not that long ago we had conversations and debate on the floor of the senate and now even in debate on bills we dont have dialogue back and forth so appreciate you attempting to answer my questionpr about the president. Lets be clear this is a precedent shattering event this isnt consistent with the history of the United States in fact we have seen a situation where never in the history has a president asked for a debate vote during an election. Never before in the history have we had a majority leader agree to hold a debate so that shatters a precedent. Then theres the president lincoln precedent which he deliberately said we are not going to violate the sanctity. I dont want you to debate and vote during an election. He happened to be republican but he cared about the institution, he cared about the constitution. He cared about the voice of the American People so he said the two shouldnt exist together then theres the president from four years ago in which mcconnell came to the floor supported by the caucus and said there should never be a debate or vote of a nominee during an election year. My colleague from wyoming noted while he has a new theory about theov split government it wasnt here four years ago. That is called aftereffect justification of inconsistent position. So many colleagues across the aisle came to the floor and said i have a deep and passionate conviction to defend the constitution. Now every single one of them coming to the floor and saying for years ago, it was a convenience of political power because what i was saying is we dont want to debate a nominee from the democratic we only want to debate a nominee from a republican president. I am shocked by the complete lack of integrity and that arguments are being put forth that were never raised four years ago about the split government and justification. I guess im not so shocked about the power grab involved because it begins, 40 years ago when a group of very wealthy white people got together and said we dont like this vision of the government of, by and for the people because you know, the people, they kind of like things we w dont want. We want to rig theay tax systemo we pay very little. We want to get those Tax Deductions and those tax subsidies. We want to make sure people of communities of color dont vote. We want to be able to suppress the vote. How do we do that . The problem is people that are elected get elected by the people. We might be able to influence the campaigns some of the time, but you know what, theres one institution not subject to the vote of the people, the court. If we could corrupt the court, this small group can control the government rather than the constitutional vision of the government by and for the people. So, this is a precedent shattering situation. Theres only been two objectives by the leadership of the body over the last four years. One was a 2 trillion tax cut, to truly and with that he. Virtually all of the benefits going to the richest americans. They might go to prison for six months or get a couple of years, but through this bill, 2 trillion given to the richest most powerful americans. That isnt a government by and for the people, that was one objective. The other was to dismantle healthcare for ordinary americans who are not rich and powerful, lets tear down the aca. In my state, 400,000 proceeded to gain healthcare through the expansion of medicare and the aca and since march at another 120,000 to that list because they arer losing their jobs and economic implosion by the failure to address the pandemic. I have a town hall in every county and most of them are as red as you will find anywhere in the country. People say healthcare bill of for that. What are they talking about, children on the policy at age 26. They think that is aut step forward. Ive been out there every year and i asked them, children on the policy age 26, how many people here like it. Very republican and very conservative, we like that. Tax credits so lower income families can afford to buy marketplace where you can compareik policies. Having preventive conditions covered. We think that is a step forward they thats in the conservative red districts and expansion of medicaid is a lifesaver. You know what happens at these townre halls, people at the locl Healthcare Clinics stand up and say we doubled the size of the Healthcare Clinic because now the low income c constituents cn pay the bills weve been able to hire more people. We had a Substance Addiction Program we didnt have before. We have a Mental Health program we didnt have before. Dont take that away from us. We love our Healthcare Clinic and the investment that the aca made. That list goes on and on. My colleagues from wyoming said theres there is a whole scare c about healthcare. Peoplere are scared. They are calling our offices and saying we are worried because they heard the president of the United States. The president said im only going to nominate a person who will tear down the aca and strike down roe v wade. Dont you trust the word of the president of the United States to do what he said . He said it repeatedly. He said that was his goal. He said of the federal society, get the nominees to complete my goals. Federal society and work now for four decades. In court for the wealthy and powerful. As that is what they are all about. Its aboutre preventing people f color from voting and now its expanded to College Students and native American Reservations and extended to poorer communities. The manipulation is being planned on election day because now there is a court that got at the Voting Rights act and allows the voter intimidation in the country. It allows Voter Suppression so we see the efforts and the decrease in the number of the polling places. You dont want people to vote, you move them so people are not sure where to go. You understaffed them so theres long lines in the blue districts and short lines in the red districts. Stick machines in there that dont work so well. Maybe that will slow things down. Put out messages and say thank you for forwarding last week to confuse the vote when its coming up the next week. By the way, you can use any state id to vote but you cant use a college id because they dont want College Students to vote. I am proud of the constitution of the United States. I am proud of the vision of the voter empowerment, Citizen Engagement and participation as a foundation for what we do in this country. But i have really been stunned by the scope of those in the chamber that believe in Voter Suppressioni and intimidation. I am stunned that they do not share the view of the government of, by and for the people. That is the oath of office we took was to the constitution. Im also stunned that it has been passed in the house and this body has sat on its hands for five l months. And now the leader of this body says mr. President , dont negotiate with speaker pelosi. We dont want to vote. On a bill that would really help america. You have the treasury secretary and the speaker ready to make a deal and the leader of the body saying dont do it. For five months, dont do it. Always think of the phrase you hear growing up [inaudible] america suffers while the senati slumbers under the leadership that says no vote on a comprehensive package to help thean healthcare pandemic and economic implosion associated with it. Director of National Intelligence and fbi director held a News Conference wednesday evening on election security. He said Voter Registration information has been obtained by iran and russia in an attempt to push misinformation. Here is the briefing