I hope you can hear me. I always feel like i am being muzzled here. People wanted to do that for years. This phase in the hearing is complete and we now move to several closeddoor sessions and tomorrow morning, there will be a meeting of the judiciary in attee on the next step public panel will be part of it, then ultimately there will be a vote of the full committee i assume next week on this nomination. In my observations are these, we should not be here. We should not be holding the Committee Meeting in the midst of an election. This is the first time this has ever happened in the history of the United States that a Supreme Court nomination has been considered in the midst of an election. It is a desperate attempt by oconnell and President Trump to fill a vacancy at a time when we should be taking our time, assessing the nominee, and doing it in an orderly fashion and as the American People have said, it should be done by the next president. We should not be here. The hearing itself lasted several days has been conducted in a fair manner. I said that to Lindsey Graham at the end of this. We should not be here in the first place, but he gave us our moment and give us time to ask questions of this nominee. The situation we face is one that is troubling. We know why this has been scheduled the week it is scheduled. Republicans are determined to make certain that the new Supreme Court justice is on the court in time for an oral argument seven days after the election and they believe that she will vote with them to eliminate the Affordable Care act. Have photographs and stories over and over again, the reallife impact that this political strategy people who will pay the price are innocent People Living in illinois and connecticut and across the United States who are counting on Health Insurance and may lose it because of this republican tactic and filling this nomination in the way they have it breaks my heart. I dont want to dwell on my own personal story but i was stuck like many of these families without Health Insurance at a moment when i had a sick child, i will never forget it. As fromsee these ple people, i take it personally. I think a lot of us take it personally as well. I will turn it over to my colleague from connecticut and thank him for his loyalty and service on this committee. We have more work to do but i believe we have asked the important questions and done it in the right way. Sen. Blumenthal thanks to senator durbin for his leadership. Are we have presented here the personal impact, the reallife effect of this nominee. We brought america into the hearing room. In spite of the pandemic or because of it, we have made their voices and their faces real. What is happening in this nomination is shameful and embarrassing. Through a sham process is am this nominee through disgrace to the senates, to america. Let me just say, the reasons are transparent. ,s senator durbin has said there are two dates. November 3, november 10. Wantser 3, donald trump the Supreme Court to decide the election, not the voters. Clear, hen absolutely wants a ninth justice to decide the election, and this nominee would not even answer questions about whether he can delay the election. On november 10, he wants her on the bench to decide the Affordable Care act. The American People can see through it and they can also see through her avoidance of questions. That i asked every one of my democratic colleagues asked. What we saw in this hearing was the barretts rule. Answers, the questions are abstract or hypothetical, there is ongoing litigation, or potential litigation, or maybe just cant answer. That is the kind of avoidance that does a disturbance a disservice to this committee but it is become Standard Operating Procedure and this administration basically is showing contempt for the democratic process by byamrolling this nominee and , in effect, making a sham of the nomination process. [inaudible] no waycan see there is to stop his nomination from moving forward, will she be confirmed . Do the bond if you numbers, there is no way to stop it but we have learned in the past that if the American People decide to speak up, it can make a difference. Two more republican senators will join us by the end of this process for now. We will continue to appeal to across america for people to not only vote but also to engage. If your health care is on the line, you ought to make it known to your senator. We are hoping that that message will convince a few republican senators to join the two who are with us. Are meetinghal we our case to america about how americans will be affected by denial of protections for people with preexisting conditions, other Health Care Benefits in the midst of the pandemic, reproductive freedoms, gun violence prevention, workers rights, voting rights, no answers, clearly an agenda to shift the court to the hard right extreme beyond what the Republican Party has ever stood for. Democrats were less confrontational, less tense than with past Supreme Court justices and other judges. Can you talk about what were the dynamics for you guys in that regard . Sen. Durbin Brett Kavanaugh was an extraordinary situation. I have been through many of these and it was exceptional. The charges from outsiders and bringing in witnesses and such, it really was an unusual circumstance. What we saw with judge barrett in that room i thought was the more orderly process that i remember from previous nominees. Gorsuch included. Kavanaugh was a touch point for how this would go and this went back to what was the ordinary approach within the room. Sen. Blumenthal i differ a little bit. As you and i have discussed, i think, i think we hit them hard and we hit her with those issues in a courteous way, which we did in Brett Kavanaugh too, but it turned out to be more confrontational because some of his reactions were therontational and i think orderly process should not be confused with hardhitting issues. We brought out all of them. I dont think there are any that went unmentioned or unquestioned. Sen. Durbin one point, doing at this quickly means that we are uncertain as to whether we have gathered the information which was traditional in a Supreme Court nomination. Some of it is trickling in from other sources. Doing at this quickly, i think we sacrifice the complete approach we should have taken. Sen. Blumenthal by the way, i asked her. I do not know whether you heard it, but when i went into the documents that were undisclosed, in fact, they were known only because of investigative reporting by the press. Even though she admitted they were undisclosed, i made the point that this rushed process may have prevented her from doing the full review of her own records. But certainly, it prevented us from doing the kind of scrutiny we should be doing. Sen. Durbin we have another meeting. If you missed any of judge Amy Coney Barretts confirmation hearing over the last three days, you can find all her testimony online at cspan. Org as well as other events that took place before her nomination to the Supreme Court. On tomorrows washington journal, we will get your reaction to the confirmation process by taking your phone calls and text messages. Washington journalism live every day at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Later any the morning, judge barretts concludes with the Senate Judiciary committee listening to outside witnesses who support and oppose her nomination. A. M. Gets underway at 9 00 eastern. On cspan you can watch online at cspan. Org or listen on our free radio app. You are watching cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Cr