Understanding the role of the judge. Thank you. This isnt just a sterol discussion of some theoretical legal document, this is lifeanddeath. For thousands, if not millions of americans. We believe the Affordable Care act is hanging in the balance on this decision fulfilling this vacancy on the Supreme Court. Sowill drive that issue home our colleagues on the others may want to talk about additional policy, very interesting. But this is mandan. We demand demanding. We demand those who are in these hearings understand the reallife situations of american families. Our republican colleagues are shocked that we think this nomination is all about judicially destroying the Affordable Care act. Here from like laura rhode island. The only problem with their feigned shock is that they are the ones who, thats what they are doing. Its in the Republican Party platform to reverse the obamacare case. Trump has said he is using his nominations to terminate the affordable i think it is pretty fair Affordable Care act. I think it is fair of us to hold them to what they said this nomination is about. The American People are watching. They know this is targeting november and they know it is wrong. Let me turn over to amy klobuchar. Thanks so much sheldon. I mentioned these two when i was in the hearing room but these are two sisters from cambridge, minnesota. They both play on the Softball Team and one is a picture and one is the catcher, one was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and one was not. My point here is doesnt matter which one was diagnosed, dont they both deserve Good Health Care . That is what is at stake. Despite my colleagues comments from the other side of the aisle about how somehow this these decisions are in some ivory tower and they will not affect peoples lives, they are going to affect peoples lives. They will affect the lives of every Single Person in this country. You do not have to be a lawyer or senator to figure out where this nominee is coming from when it comes to the Affordable Care act. We know where she is coming from. The president knows it to and he has made it clear in tweets and statements that he wants a court that will overturn obamacare and that he wants a court that is going to, in his words, count the ballots. He thinks the election is going to somehow end up in the court. Nomineeot divorce this from the moment we are in in time. We do not have some secret clever procedural way to stop this. As good as we are, its probably not can it be some brilliant crossexamination that is going to change the trajectory of this nomination. But there is one thing that will and that is the people of this country. That is them voting. That is them understanding exactly what the Republican Party and this administration are doing right now and how it is going to affect their lives. Because this is not donald yours country, this is country. Americas country. Be donaldd not trumps judge, it should be your judge. I will turn it over to my good friend. Why are we here . It is a mystery within easy answer. An answer hiding in plain sight. It is because the Affordable Care act is on the ballot and on the docket. I represent just 900,000 people in delaware and 340,000 of us have preexisting conditions. Carrie from middletown is one of them. A Small Business owner, she and her daughter have preexisting conditions. Before the Affordable Care act, she wouldve found it very difficult to afford Quality Health care, to make possible her ongoing confidence that she and her daughter have access to Decent Health care. When we talked about this last week, she said to me seriously, that is at risk, i thought that was settled . Ago when the Years Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care act. President trump has made it blindingly clear publicly and repeatedly that he only intended to nominate someone who would overturn the Affordable Care act. That will throw into chaos the lives of millions of americans. In some ways most importantly given that we are talking about filling the seat made vacant by judge ginsburgs untimely passing, key provision prohibits gender discrimination. Women cannot be charged more for Health Care Just because they are women. Pregnancy cannot be treated as a preexisting condition. Justice ginsburg dedicated her life to gender equity. Sometimes in covering the aca, they say it benefits 10 million or 20 million or 30 million americans, it benefits a majority of all americans. Those whose preexisting conditions is being female. We should not turn away from a focus on protecting the health care of a majority of americans in the middle of a pandemic. So much more than that is at stake in this confirmation, which we will play out in the next two days. But this is the most pressing and important thing in the middle of a pandemic. Andme turn it to my friend colleague senator blumenthal of connecticut. Sen. Blumenthal they say they have the votes. They say they have the vote. They may have the votes on this committee, they do not have the American People on their side, their votes, they dont have history on their side. Connor is on the right side of history. Every time i look at this picture, it just breaks my heart. All of the pins and stuck inhat have been this young man, all with all the procedures, all the pain and anguish. Anguishery least, the and pain should not be imposed of paying for it should not be imposed on connor and his family. The harm the Justice Amy Coney barrett could do to those real people in real ways. If she is confirmed and she overturns the Affordable Care act. Said shes stead would vote to overturn the Affordable Care act had she been a justice in the two previous situations. She threatened Supreme Court precedent can be disregarded if it conflicts with how individual justices positions are aligned. Is real and urgent. There are two other Health Care Issues on the line here. Reproductive rights is a health care issue. Bodiesontrol over their and their decisions about health women underght of roe v. Wade, which is in danger because of specific letters and adds that Amy Coney Barrett has signed. We will be asked me about them. Gun violence is a health care issue. The epidemic and scourge of gun violence continues to kill tens of thousands of americans. Amy Coney Barretts position on onregarding past president gun violence provision endangers laws like connecticuts common sense provisions that protect people against gun violence. They may win in this committee, they may confirm this justice. But the American People can still stop it if they stand up and speak out. Power to, you have the stop this nomination if you make it known as powerfully as possible to your senators what it means to you. Thank you and i will turn it over to my colleague. Health care is a concern for everyone in our country, whether youre a democrat, republican, independent, the republicans have been trying to get rid of the Affordable Care act for over 10 years. And nomination is occurring 8 as if this is occurring in a vacuum. Theis being nominated for purpose of striking down the Affordable Care act. Do you notice its only the democrats on the committee who are talking about what can happen to the real people here if the Affordable Care act is struck down. This is jordan. She is a teacher in hawaii. She has such a rare blood condition that she needs medication that would cost her 500,000 a year. Way she can afford that. Act the Affordable Care that is enabling her to live. This is what we are talking about. Arewhile the republicans hiding the fact they are so eager to push forth this nominee for the very purpose of taking y the people of this taking away the rights. Why are you doing that to your constituents. Ask that. Thank you. Booker we are in the middle of the fourthlargest largest mass casualty event in american history. Civil war, world war ii and the pandemic of 1918. We are rushing to remove Health Care Away from millions of americans. I would like to bring up dick durbin to answer questions. The shortest cory booker speech ever. A picture is worth a thousand words. Contention oft of leadership in your caucus to when itthe floor vote comes to the confirmation vote on the floor . Ive heard no speculation along those lines. Im planning on voting. Unless my nonvoting stops are. Stops her. Republicans of repeatedly said they are attacking her faith. Of yoution is do any plan on pursuing that line of questioning. To theave taken an oath constitution which says no religious test. Enough said. You plan to highlight republicans disunity over his stimulus given we are still in the middle of this pandemic and they are rushing to confirm this nomination but not the stimulus . The first thing the people we represent ask us is why arent you doing something to help with covid19. I get more questions than anything else about why arent you giving another round of stimulus. Americans in a recent nbc poll said we should be doing that, but our republican colleagues, who run the senate, should be leading on covid relief instead of having this hearing. Americans are with us on that. I would add one thing i didnt get to say at the hearing. We heard the Federal Reserve head say it would be tragic if we did not get something passed to help the economy. It is a trump appointed head of the Federal Reserve. We know what we should be doing. We are asking our colleagues instead of engaging in this sham of a hearing that they should be helping the American People. No one knows better than me then when my husband was sick in ammonia and my dad got in assisted living, we have multiple examples with over 210,000 people dead, over 7 Million People have gotten this disease. , kidss open and closed trundle in the mute button at age six. Maybe its time to help the American People instead of jamming through their nominee who they want on their and we know this, from what donald trump has said, to overturn the Affordable Care act. 55,000 more americans will die before the end of the year. Will beore americans trumpsause donald ineptitude and incompetence. Colleaguescan blocking action here. As a group, you were disciplined and unified. And was it do it effective to stay focused on aca and not put this on religion . There is nothing more powerful than saving the Affordable Care act is that idea. It unites us and the American People. Republicans on that committee and beyond our tone deaf from the middle of a pet in the middle of the pandemic pushing a launch to a limited health care protection. We are allat hearing. Two of the female republican senators said essentially some sort of paternalistic or misogynistic attack, a basically given your track record you would think my colleagues would jump at the opportunity to stick a more successful legal superstar. Suggesting only certain kinds of women would be allowed into the hearing room. We are proud there are so many women that are now serving in the u. S. Senate and we are proud that more and more women are achieving positions of power. But that does not mean that we agree with every woman that is nominated. I know this because i ran against a number of women for president and we were able to handle it just fine. The point here is we have a nominee that donald trump has put forward for the purpose of overturning the Affordable Care act, something they have been trying to do time and time again in the courts. Someone who has expressed views that i do not believe are consistent with where the American People are and, of it to me is he has done this where he clearly says he wants all nine justices on the court, intimating that is where this election will end up to count the ballots. So many of us think there are Serious Problems with having a nominee who we are waiting to see if she will recuse herself in these cases. But he is literally putting her on for that reason. That is what matters to us. Our colleagues on the others can do what they want to distract from the real issues, but the real issue for the American People is there rights, their health care. I think it is really interesting with the republicans decided that its the two women on the committee who should raise those kinds of gender issues. It goes to show how genderneutral we all are on our side because we are going to hold amy barrett to her positions, to her articulated positions on the aca, roe v. Wade, number of issues, gender has nothing to do with it. Feelinteresting to me they very defensive about it. You know they didnt even have any women on the committee until after the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. That should tell you something. How much of the points you are all making on this health at republicans and how much are focused at voters driving home their message. I think it goes together. We are calling on the American People who agree with us to reach out to the senators. One republican on the committee, two on the floor, this nomination is stopped. Thats what it comes down to. Appealing to people across america. If you agree with us on the importance of safety in the, reach out to your senators. They need to hear from you. Again, our message, vote and call the republican senators. We dont have special procedural stop thisever way to sham, its the American People that will stop it. Thanks everybody. If you missed any of the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Amy Coney Barrett, add to our website for the hearing in its entirety entirety. That is online at cspan. Org. Also on washington journal, we get your reaction to the confirmation process by taking phone calls and Text Messages. Athington journal is live 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Following washington journal, our coverage of judge merricks confirmation judge barretts confirmation hearing continues. That gets underway at 9 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. You can also watch online at cspan. Org or listen live on our free cspan radio app. Cspans washington journal. Every day we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discussed policy issues that affect you. We will discuss the future of health care, including legal challenges to the Affordable Care act with julie. Watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern this morning. Be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, Text Messages and tweets. The u. S. Supreme court began its new term, hearing oral arguments via conference call. Listen at cspan. Org supremecourt. Listen live to two cases. On wednesday, the justices here arguments in torres v madrid. Listen to the oral arguments live or ondemand at cspan. Org supremecourt. The competition is on. Be a part of the competition. Middleton High School Students make a five to six minute documentary exploring the issues you want the president and congress to address in 2021. Show supporting and opposing points of view. Be a winner in total cash prizes including a grand prize of 5,000. Informed, you will find competition rules, tips and more information on how to get started on our website. You are watching cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you by your Cable Television provider. Next, highlights of the first day of testimony of the Amy Coney BarrettSupreme Court confirmation hearings. We will show you Opening Statements starting with lindsey graham, Ranking MemberDianne Feinstein and we close with Vice President candidate Kamala Harris and the nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. Everybody. Ning, bird will judge barretts family, welcome. Judge merrick family,