Pandemic that has already claimed more than 225,000 american lives. We are 00 mere eight days away we are a mere eight days a away from a president ial election. Donald trump announced his nomination of judge barrett even before we could fully mourn the death of the great Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg. And Senate Republicans then rushed this nomination to the senate floor. In doing so, they violated the rule that their leader, Mitch Mcconnell, imposed in 2016 which kept Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court after president obama nominated him in february of that year to fill the vacancy that arose with the death of justice antonin scalia. That rule was clear. That rule was concise. That rule was definitive. The senate would not consider a nomination to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court during a president ial election year. Many of my republican colleagues echoed leader mcconnells pledge. In fact, my colleague, senator Lindsey Graham, who chairs the judiciary committee, admonished us to use his own words against him if he went back on his promise. Quote, if there is a republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of that term, you can say that Lindsey Graham said, lets let the next president , whoever that might be, make that nomination. But the majority has ignored the mcconnell rule and broken their promises to follow it as they engage in the outright theft of yet another seat on the United StatesSupreme Court. You cant spell shameful without sham, and thats what Senate Republicans have turned this Supreme Court nomination process into a sham. What else is unprecedented about the circumstances surrounding the barrett nomination . Well, in donald trump, who made the barrett nomination, we have a president who has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power, should he lose the upcoming election. And in donald trump, we have a president who has openly stated that he needs judge barrett on the Supreme Court to cast a crucial vote, if cases arising out of a disputed election reach the court, like bush v. Gore did after the 2000 president ial election. In donald trump, we have a president who has vowed to appoint to the Supreme Court a justice who would vote to overturn roe v. Wade and take away a womans reproductive rights and freedom, even before he was elected in 2016, he pledged, quote, i will appoint judges that will be prolife, yes. In donald trump, we have a president who has expressly promised that he would only nominate a justice who would vote to get rid of the Affordable Care act, obamacare, and coverage for preexisting conditions. President trump made that another brightline litmus test for this nomination. In donald trump, we have a president who has told us that he needs judge barrett on the bench to rule in the Affordable Care act case, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on november 10, one week after the election, a case that will decide the fate of that law and the availability of Health Insurance for millions of americans suffering during a pandemic and well afterwards. If Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court and votes the way republicans expect, nearly three Million People in massachusetts with preexisting conditions could face higher costs, fewer benefits, could have trouble finding insurance coverage, massachusetts was the model for the Affordable Care act. But if donald trump and his Supreme Court nominee have their way, more than 335,000 bay staters enrolled through the Medicaid Expansion could lose their coverage. And as we experience the highest number of oneday coronavirus deaths since the spring, we have a Republicanled Senate that has been unwilling and unable to work with their partys own president to craft desperately needed legislation that would provide relief to the hundreds of millions of americans who are suffering during this pandemic. Americans who are out of work through no fault of their own. Americans whose Small Businesses, the engine of our economy, are struggling or going under. Americans who cant get the medicine, the testing, the protective equipment of medical care they need. Americans who need who right now are lacking the access to Online Learning and the promise of an education. For weeks and weeks, Senate Republicans would not lift a finger to help our workers and our families during this crisis. They would rather our states and our cities go bankrupt, our students go without wifi, poor students, black, brown, poor children in our country without the internet at home and without the funding to provide it to those kids. Right now at the height of the pandemic, there are going to be millions of children who do not have access to the tools they need to be in the third grade, to be in the fifth grade. And even today, our nurses go without the masks which they need. Yet, when it comes to filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court and confirming a farright justice, these same republicans made the senate move with a speed that would make hussein bolt jealous. Jamming through this nomination in this fashion is unprecedented. It representedders this process and this nomination illegitimate, period. If judge barrett is confirmed, it will only serve to further erode the stature and the legitimacy of the Supreme Court in the eyes of the American People. Now, everything to which i have just pointed, the pandemic, the election, the corruption are just the place settings. Its the table on to which donald trump has served up the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. Judge barrett is a proud originalist and texturallist in the mold of her mentor, the late justice antonin scalia. One of the staunchest and most arch conservatives ever to serve on the United StatesSupreme Court. And as judge barrett put it at her own confirmation hearing, Justice Scalias judicial philosophy is mine, too. As judge barrett described socalled originalism, it means she is supposed to interpret the constitutions text and understand it to have the meaning it had when the constitution was ratified. But interpreting the constitution in that manner has been used over and over to deny rights to women, to communities of color, and to the lgbtq individuals, members of our society who had no rights when the constitution was ratified. Originalism is racist. Originalism is sexist. Originalism is homophobic. For originalists like judge barrett, lgbtq stands for lets go back in time, a time when you couldnt marry who you love, when you couldnt serve in the military if you were trans, a time when rights were not extended to gay, lesbian, by sexual, transgender, queer, questioning, or intersection individuals. Originalism is just a fancy word for discrimination. It has become a hazy smoke screen for judicial activism by socalled conservatives to achieve from the bench what they cannot accomplish through the ballot box, and an elected congress and as a result they roll back individual rights through judicial decisions. The activists, originalists, judges on the Supreme Court and lawyers in its Legal Community are poised to repeal the Affordable Care act, deny reproductive freedom, and repeal samesex marriage. They will welcome a judge that they will welcome a Justice Barrett and a 63 conservative majority with open arms. So we know a lot about judge barretts judicial philosophy of originalism. What about her application of it and her views . Well, in early 2017, four months before donald trump nominated her to serve on the u. S. Court of appeals for the seventh circuit, she wrote a law review article in which she criticizeed chief Justice John Roberts majority opinion in nfib versus sebelius which upheld the Affordable Care act. She made clear she didnt think much of Justice Roberts opinion, arguing that he, quote, pushed the Affordable Care act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute. We know from another law review article that judge barrett, like many originalists, does not give precedence the respect that it deserves. In 2013, she wrote that because a justices duty is for the is to the constitution, there is, quote, more legitimacy in enforcing her best understanding of the constitution rather than a precedent she thinks clearly is in conflict with it. Er in other words, she believes that her own interpretation of the constitution is more important and more legitimate than precedent such as roe v. Wade. We know from her dissenting opinion in kanter versus barr that she believes a felony conviction shouldnt necessarily result in losing the right to own a gun, but she is okay with felony convictions taking away the right to vote. It should make it easier for a felon to own a gun than to vote. Thats the kind of result that judge barretts originalism gets us into. So on many of these issues, Amy Coney Barrett has shown us that she couldnt be further in spirit from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late great justice whose seat on the nations highest court that she will fill. While Justice Ginsburg always had us looking forward, Amy Coney Barrett and her originalism will always have us looking backwards, and backwards is precisely the direction in which this nation should not be going. So what we know from Amy Coney Barretts own words is very troubling. Yet, then at her confirming hearing, we learn that there are many basic fundamental legal issues on which she would not say a word, and she would keep her views hidden. At her confirmation hearing, Justice Barrett declined to answer questions about such important propositions as whether its unlawful to engage in voter intimidation. Spoiler alert it is. On questions whether the president can delay a president ial election. News flash he cant. Questions about whether president s should commit to a peaceful transition of power. Listen up they should. Questions about whether obergefell versus hodges, the landmark Supreme Court decision recognizing the right to gay marriage and making marriage equal the law of the land was correctly decided, no doubt about it, it was. Questions about whether the nondiscrimination provisions of the Affordable Care act protect lgbtq people from discriminatory treatment in health care. Of course they do. Questions about whether roe v. Wade was correctly decided and is a superprecedent. It was and it is. Questions about whether medicare is constitutional. Of course it is. Questions about whether climbing is real and whether human beings cause it. It is, and we do. On these and so many important issues and questions, judge barrett refused to give the obvious and indisputably correct answers, but based on her earlier philosophy, her writings, and her record, i have little doubt where she really stands, and that is the same counter with rightwing reactionary jurists who are far outside the mainstream of jurisprudence. Finally, there was another question that judge barrett would not answer whether, if confirmed, she would recuse herself from the Affordable Care act case and any election cases that reach the Supreme Court. There is a federal statute that governs the recusal decision. It requires recusal in situations where a judges impartiality might reasonably be questioned. President trump himself put judge barretts impartiality at issue when he confessed that he needed judge barrett on the Supreme Court to decide any election disputes. He did it when he said it only he would only appoint a justice that would vote to overturn the Health Care Law. And after reviewing judge barretts record and listening to her testimony before the judiciary committee, its becoming clear that we have a binary choice. We can have the Affordable Care act or we can have Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court. We can have the a. C. A. Or we can have the a. C. B. , but we cant have both. Judge barrett needs to do the right thing and recuse herself. I will conclude by noting the irony that Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Mitch Mcconnell were both on the same page as to this nomination. In 2016, senator mcconnell gave us his promise that the senate would not fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court in a president ial election year. And after she passed, we learned that it was Justice Ginsburgs dying wish that she not be replaced until a new president is installed. So let us hold Mitch Mcconnell and Lindsey Graham to their words and honor Justice Ginsburgs perfect wish. No confirmation before inauguration. But if republicans succeed here today in their effort to confirm yet another conservative Supreme Court justice just days before the president ial election, as soon as the democrats take back control of the senate in january, we must abolish the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court. We cannot allow such corrupt partisanship to take precedence over justice and liberty in our country. I will vote against the confirmation of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United StatesSupreme Court and urge my colleagues, all of my colleagues to do the same. Mr. President , i yield back. The presiding officer the senator from michigan. Mr. Peters thank you, mr. President. I would like to start by giving a quick history lesson, and i will begin with just two numbers. These two numbers speak to how extraordinary it is that we are here today debating and voting on a nominee for the United StatesSupreme Court. The first number is four. Four. Thats how many Supreme Court vacancies have arisen after july in a president ial election year. Only four times in the history of this country has a Supreme Court vacancy arisen within four months of a president ial election. The next number i think is very important to remember. That number is zero, zero. Thats how many times these vacancies were filled. In fact, similar to this vacancy, president lincoln had a Senate Majority when a vacancy arose just weeks before election day in 1864. And what did he do . He chose to wait. President lincoln thought nominating a justice so close to an election would delegitimize our institutions and harm the republic that he was fighting so hard to preserve. Thats the precedent that President Trump and Senate Republicans have disregarded as they quickly plotted to fill this seat just hours, if not minutes, after Justice Ginsburgs passing. In addition to breaking with this historical precedent, republicans are also jamming through their nomination in the middle of a pandemic that is gripping our country. Instead of prioritizing Michigan First responders, Small Businesses, workers, teachers, and families and Health Care Professionals that are still suffering through the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Senate Republicans and the president are instead laser focused on instead jamming through a Supreme Court nominee for a lifetime appointment. This is more than political gamesmanship. This nominee will significantly impact the lives of michiganders and folks all across our country. We know that the Supreme Court is set to shortly consider a case that has farreaching ramifications for Peoples Health care. The Trump Administration is arguing in court that the Affordable Care act should be overturned in a case that will come before the Supreme Court in november just seven days after election day. If the Trump Administration gets its way in this lawsuit, we can go back to the days when Insurance Companies once again call the shots on Peoples Health care. Over four million michiganders with preexisting health care conditions could be denied coverage. Seniors could be charged more for prescription drugs. Lifetime and annual limits on coverage could make costs unaffordable, and as a result force families into bankruptcy. Before the passage of the Affordable Care act, medical debt was the number one reason for personal bankruptcy. People faced financial devastation simply because they got sick. Women could again be charged more for being a woman because a potential pregnancy is a preexisting condition. Is we have come way too far to be turning the clock backwards. For the Trump Administration to be pushing this lawsuit is reckless and dangerous especially during the worst Public Health and economic crisis in generations. But thats not all thats at stake. A womans right to make her own Health Care Decisions and reproductive freedom is at stake. Workers rights against corporate special interests are at stake, Environmental Justice is at stake. Access to the ballot box is at stake, attempts to enthe corrosive effect of end the corrosive effect of money in elections is at stake and lgbtq are at stake. Those are just some of the many issues that a Supreme Court justice with a lifetime appointment will be ruling on for decades to come. Judge Amy Coney Barretts nomination has extremely farreaching consequences. We are just a few days from election day. Already over two million michigan anders are michigan ganders have voted. With all thats at stake, michiganganders deserve a say in who nominates and confirms the next justice to our nations highest court and the fact that michiganganders are being denied this is unacceptable. I cannot confirm this nomination process. It should wait until a new senate and president takes Office Following an election to take place in a few days. So for this reason and many others i will not be voting for judge barretts nomination and will cast a no vote. So, mr. President , you know, here we are, instead of bringing folks together to find Common Ground on Coronavirus Relief, our country is being forced to go through a divisive Supreme Court nomination process. It simply did not have to be this way. I continue to stand ready to roll up my sleeves and put together a comprehensive, bipartisan, and meaningful covid relief package. Ask any michiganand der what they are worried about . They are worried about putting a roof over their head, worried about supporting their families, they are worried about catching a virus that has killed over 7,000 of their family and over 250,000 people across the nation, they are worried if they survive a covid infection, it will compromise their health for the rest of their lives. They will have a preexisting condition. So i ask, why isnt this pandemic the senates top priority right now . When we passed the cares act, we came together. We put politics aside and passed a real comprehensive package that kept millions of people stay afloat. We need to summon that spirit again. Michigan and americans across the country are counting on us. Mr. President , i implore my colleagues to drop what we are doing and lets come together and pass a meaningful, bipartisan covid relief package and lets get that done now. Mr. President , i yield. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. Mr. Heinrich i rise today as more than 220,000 americans are dead from the coronavirus. There are more than four million fewer jobs than when donald trump took office. We are still squarely in the middle of this pandemic and an economic crisis the likes of which we have not seen since the great depression. In recent weeks cases of the coronavirus have risen dramatically in my home state of new mexico and frankly across the entire country. Everyone is rightly worried about whether our schools and our Child Care Centers and our Small Businesses can acquire the resources and the equipment they need to reopen safely. We still dont have enough resources or even a National Plan for testing and contact tracing, much less for treatments and the eventual nationwide vaccine that would allow us to get a handle on this virus many and if we dont pass real Economic Relief in the coming weeks, many families in new mexico will face desperate choices between paying their bills, keeping a roof over their heads or putting food on the table. And, yet, here we are using valuable time on a Supreme Court confirmation process that should have never been taken up before the election. Senate republicans say they arent going to negotiate another Coronavirus Relief package. They say its more important to ram a Supreme Court nominee through a broken and nakedly political process than it is to help the people that we were all elected to serve. Clearly nothing, not even the lives and livelihoods of the American People, will get in the way of their power grab designed to reward their biggest donors and the most extreme interests. Well, let me say this clearly. I disagree. There is still so much we need to do to stop the spread of the coronavirus and support families, workers, businesses who are struggling and real build our communities and rebuild our communities. Lets move to that urgent action. But with Senate Republicans refusing to do that, lets discuss in real terms what they are doing instead. Considering and confirming Supreme Court nominees is one of a senators most solemn duties under the constitution. We are supposed to take it seriously, deliberately, but Senate Republicans have thrown out the rule book. It started when with nearly a full year remaining in president obamas final term, Senate Republicans refused to hold hearings on Merrick Garland. Then they dismantled the rules to ensure that both parties would have a Supreme Court nominations and they rushed Justice Kavanaughs nomination to the court in spite of allegations of sexual misconduct. It should come as no surprise that majority leader mcconnell waited an hour after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to say he was going to push the envelope even further. So here we are. Leader mcconnell and republicans are now forcing the senate to rush through another partisan Supreme Court confirmation battle, mere weeks, now mere days before election day. They are shamelessly disguarding their disregarding their own rules and abandoning their own words and they are trampling on the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg. Before her death, she told her granddaughter that her fervent wish was that her seat wouldnt be filled until after the next president was inaugurated. Justice ginsburg served on our nations highest court for nearly three decades and worked for decades before that to move our countrys laws towards greater equality. She understood that the American People must trust that the Supreme Court justices are acting above the partisan politics of the moment. The next president ial election is now less than two weeks away. Millions of americans have already voted for their next president and their next senators. I believe that these americans deserve a voice in this process. In the words of majority leader mcconnell himself, as reported in the Washington Post on february 18, 2016, quote, given that we are in the midst of a president ial election process, the American People should seize the opportunity to weigh in on whom they trust to nominate the next person for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. The senate should follow that precedent and should allow voters to decide who should fill this Supreme Court seat. So what has changed for majority leader mcconnell . In the last decade, the court has made razor thin 54 rulings on womens rights, lgbtq rights, immigration, civil rights, Climate Change, and much else. Now, my republican colleagues will say that these decisions were made by activist judges and that all they want are judges who will call balls and strikes. But what they really want are judges who will make those calls consistently biased towards wealth and power rather than towards people. For all the talk of activist judges, it is my republican colleagues who are right now attempting to add one whopper of an activist to the Supreme Court. Next month the Supreme Court will take up President Trumps case to eliminate the Affordable Care act in its entirety. Thats right. In the middle of this pandemic that has now killed more than 220,000 americans and infected millions more, the Supreme Court is taking up a case that could eliminate Health Care Coverage for millions of americans. Now, judge barrett refused to answer questions about the Affordable Care act during her confirmation hearings last week, but her views on the Health Care Law are clear and they are exposed in the public record. Judge barrett has repeatedly and publicly criticized the Affordable Care act. She has said that the Supreme Court should have already invalidated it. If Senate Republicans have their way, she will have the opportunity to do just that. And what would it mean if the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care act . It means bringing back discrimination, higher costs, even outright denial of coverage for more than 800,000 new mexicans living with preexisting conditions like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and now covid19. I am particularly worried about what this would mean for the people in Indian Country who have been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic. In new mexico tribal nations have experienced heartbreaking losses and Health Care Resources in the tribal communities have been incredibly strained. I have lost friends and mentors in Indian Country and i know others who are still struggling to recover from this virus. I cannot even imagine how much worse this situation could become if the Health Coverage provided by the Affordable Care act were ripped away. When we passed the Affordable Care act, i fought hard to include a permanent reauthorization of the entire Indian Health care improvement act which supports the care provided to native americans through the Indian Health service. An estimated 290,000 American Indians and alaska natives also gained Health Coverage through the Affordable Care act Medicaid Expansion. All of that is at risk if the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care act. If judge barrett is confirmed, she will also attack other important Supreme Court press precedents Court Precedents from roe v. Wade to the recent Marriage Equality decisions. Now, she dodged questions on these issues during her hearing, but her academic and judicial record make clear judge barretts extreme belief and philosophy. In her hearing last week, judge barrett also refused to take a firm view on Climate Change. Now we have major wildfires burning right now in northern new mexico in october, colorado, california seeing much of the same. We dont have time to debate the undisputed facts and realities of Climate Change especially with a judge that would strip us of the tools needed to address it. Telling, judge barrett refused to recuse herself related to the upcoming president ial election. Given that President Trump considers judge barrett his justice, it creates a dangerous conflict of interest. Its also a very real threat to the foundation of the Supreme Court as an equal and independent branch of government. Meanwhile, instead of attempting to tear down our democracy, the house of representatives has passed multiple Coronavirus Relief bills over the last six months that would help workers and families, and they are already willing and able to negotiate with the president , to negotiate with leader mcconnell, to come to some sort of bipartisan agreement. But majority leader mcconnell and Senate Republicans have walked away from the negotiating table, leaving us with nothing but false promises, sham bills to provide themselves a little political cover before an election. We all know the real story here. Behind closed doors, majority leader mcconnell is actively discouraging negotiations on a bipartisan relief bill. Let me say this to majority leader mcconnell and all of my republican colleagues. If voters reelect your republican majority and President Trump, there will be plenty of time to move forward with a real and legitimate Supreme Court confirmation process. Right now, we should be focusing all of our energy on delivering the aid that americans so desperately need. Protecting the health and the economic wellbeing of americans, that is what our country expects of us. That is our duty. Lets get to it. From virginia. I yield the mr. Warner mr. President , are we in the midst of a quorum . The presiding officer we are not. Mr. Warner i rise today out of grave concern with the direction of the senate as an institution and with the choices being made on behalf of the American People. By almost every