Their challenges, as thoughts of your steadfast love sustain them throughout lifes seasons. May their lips speak of your wisdom and the meditations of their hearts earn your sacred approval. Give them the which is disple to remember how fragile life is and that when we die, we leave our possessions to others. When our senators call on you in the day of trouble, deliver them with your mighty hands. And, lord, touch senator Claire Mccaskill with your healing hands. We pray in your great name. Amen. The president pro tempore pleae join me in reciting the pledge f allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell at a time when the prescription Opioid Epidemic is tearing families and communities apart in our country, its clear we need strong leadership at the f. D. A. This is an agency that request play a leading role in addressing the crisis through its drug approval process, but its also an agency thats been rightly criticized for not recognizing the severity of such a significant problem and for not taking greater action to address it. So today well consider the nomination of someone who i think can help lead the agency in a new direction. I recently met with dr. Califf and raised my concerns and desire for the f. D. A. To take a more acertificate tougassertiveg this serious epidemic. He shared with me his proposed plan for dealing with the issue and for establishing a necessary cultural shift over at the agency. I plan to support his nomination today, and i look forward to working with him. That said, i proudly led many efforts over the years to push the f. D. A. To take a stronger approach when it comes to ending todays prescription Opioid Epidemic. I dont plan to let up now. The f. D. A. Should expect continuous, ri rigorous oversigt in the way the Agency Addresses this epidemic in the future. So on a different matter, mr. President , we understand that in just a few minutes the president is set to make an announcement on the secure facility in guantanamo. In light of that, colleagues should consider the following things weve heard in recent weeks general dunford has spoken of the need for our military to take more agresssufficient action aggressive action against the isil group thats operating inside libya. General campbell has spoken of the need to retain a sizable enough force in afghanistan to accomplish the dual missions of both conducting Counterterrorism Operations and training and visiontheafghan security forces. Secretary carter has requested money for the programs well need to balance against the region noel ambitions of china and russia u in other words, some of the most Senior NationalSecurity Officials within this administration are already working to better position the next president for the National Security challenges that well face in 2017 and beyond. And yesterday president obama seed seemseems to remain capture matter by a exrai campaign prome made back in 2008. His illconsidered decision to close the secure facility at guantanamo. Today we received the descriptions of where the president would like to detain terrorists within the United States, though not any actual proposed locations. Despite the fact that it would be illegal under current law to transfer foreign terrorist at guantanamo into the United States. This isnt a case where the president can even try to justify the use of some penandphone strategy which claiming congress failed to act. To the contrary, congress acted over and over rand over again in a bipartisan way to reject the president s desire to transfer dangerous terrorists to communities here in the United States. The president signed all these prohibitions and his attorney general recently confirmed that it is illegal illegal for the president to transfer any of these terrorists into the United States. So well review president obamas plan, but since it includes bringing dangerous terrorists to facilities in u. S. Communities, he should know that the bipartisan will of congress has already been expressed against that proposal. So, mr. President , on one final matter, the signs of the season are all around us. Volunteers are knocking on doors, caucuses are caucusing, votervoters are vote, countless ballots have been cast already in places as diverse as council bluffs, nashua, and mete myrtle beach. Americans will have the too unts to do the same next have the opportunity to do the same next week. Its campaign season. Were right in the middle of it. And one of the most important issues now is this who will Americans Trust to nominate the next Supreme Court justice . President ial candidates are already debating the issue on stage. Americans are already discussing the issue among themselves, and voters are already casting ballots in the case of the Democratic Leaders constituents on this day. One might say it is an almost unprecedented moment in the history of our country. Its been more than 80 years 80 years since a Supreme Court vacancy arose and was filled in a president ial Election Year. And that, mr. President , was when the Senate Majority and the president worke were from the se Political Party the same Political Party. Its been 80 years. Since we have divided government today, it means we have to look back almost 130 years to the last time a nominee was confirmed in similar circumstances. Thats back when politicians like mu mugwamps were debating policies like free civil and a guy named grover ran the country. Think about that. As senators, it leaves us with a choice. Will we allow the people to continue deciding who will nominate the next justice or will we empower a lame duck president to make that decision on his way out the door instead . The question of who decides has been contemplated by many, including our friends on the other side of the aisle. We already know the incoming Democratic Leaders view. The senior senator from new york didnt even wait until the final year of president george w. Bushs term to declare that the senate should reverse the presumption of confirmation and not confirm a Supreme Court nominee except in extraordinary circumstances. We also know how the current democratic leader feels about judicial nominees from a president of the other party. Heres what he said. The senate is not a rubber stamp for the executive branch. Nowhere in the constitution does it say that the senate has a duty to give president ial nominees a vote. It says appointments shall be made with the advice and consent of the senate. Thats very different than saying every nominee receives a vote. Well what about the views of the top officer at this body, the president of the senate . Joe biden was a senator for many decades. He was a loyal democrat. He developed enduring friendships in both parties, and before becoming Vice President , he served here as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Lets consider what he said in circumstances similar to where we find ourselves today. It was an Election Year with campaigns already underway, a president and a Senate Majority from different political parties, just like we have today. And heres what appeared on page a25 of the washington post. Senator joseph r. Biden, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has urged president bush not to fill any vacancy that might open up on the Supreme Court until after the november election warning that any electionyear nominee would quote become a victim of a quote power struggle of control over the Supreme Court. Biden said he would also urge the senate not to hold hearings on a nomination if bush decided to name swufnlt the article continued, quoting thensenator biden. If someone steps down, i would highly recommend the president not name someone, not send a name up, biden said. If he did send someone up, i would ask the senate to seriously consider not having a hearing on that nominee. And then this can you imagine dropping a nominee after the three or four or five decisions that are about to be made by the Supreme Court into that fight, into the caldron of the middle of a president ial year, biden went on. I believe there would be no bounds of propriety that would being honored on either side. The environment wroo be so supercharged and the so prone to be able to be distorted. Whom ever the nominee washings good, bad, or indifferent, he added, would become a victim. As the current chairman of the Judiciary Committee pointed out yesterday, senator grassley, biden went even further here on the senate floor. He said that, it does not matter how god a person is nominated how good a person is nominated by the president. It is the principle be, not the person that mattered. Biden said some of our most heated confirmation fights have come in Election Years but also remiewrnded senators when president s exercised restraint and withheld prosecute making a nomination until after the election. One of them was Abraham Lincoln. It offers an example others may choose to consider. President obama, like lincoln, once served in the illinois legislature. It is a place he returned to just the other day to talk about healing the divide in our country. Heres what he said. Its been noted often by pundits that the tone of our politics has gotten better since i was inaugurated. In fact its gotten worse. One of my few greets is my inability to reduce the polarization and meanness in our politics. Well, this is his moment. He has every right to nominate swurntion evesomeone, even if dl plunge our initial a bitter struggle. That certainly is his right. Even if he never expects that nominee to be actually confirmed but, rather, to wield as an election cutting edge l, he election cudgle. He can let the people decide and make this a legacybuilding moment rather than Just Another Campaign road show. Whatever he decides, his own Vice President and others remind us of an essential point president s have a right to nominate just as the senate has its constitutional right to provide or withhold consent. In this case, the senate will withhold it. The senate will appropriately revisit the matter after the American People finish making in november the decision theyve already started making today. But for now, i would ask colleagues to consider once more the words of Vice President biden. Heres what he said. Some will criticize such an decision and say it was nothing more than an attempt to save a seat on the court in the hopes a member of my party would be permitted to fill it but that would not be our intention, mr. President. If that were the course to choose and the senate could not consider Holding Hearings until after the election, instead it would be our pragmatic conclusion that once the political season is underway and it is action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the Election Campaign is over. Thats Vice President biden when he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee in a president ial Election Year. Fair to the nominee, essential to the process, a pragmatic conclusion. The words of president obamas own number two, what else needs to be said . The presiding officer the democratic leader. The presiding officer on behalf of the entire senate, we acknowledge the prayer of the chaplain today regarding Claire Mccaskill. Claire mccaskill, its known now, has Breast Cancer. She feels comfortable with the diagnosis. Shes in a place where they render great care, st. Louis, state of missouri. Were hopeful and very confident that shes going to be just fine, but our thoughts are with her, recognizing the senate, the number of people who have been stricken with cancer of one kind or another. Without belaboring the point, Breast Cancer is personally very devastating not only to the patient, of course, but the family that is doing everything they can in a compassionate way to support their loved one. And we know joe, her husband, is terribly concerned. But i sent a message to him that the treatment of Breast Cancer is so much better than it was just a few years ago that we believe that claire will be okay. And we certainly hope thats the case. The republican leader mentioned a number of things, mr. President , and im not going to talk about all of them. But the one thing that i want to focus on just for a minute, we have something that is devastating moving forward and throughout this country, and thats the poison of opioids. These products that come in the form of medicine prescribed by doctors has really been devastating, sweeping the country. I of course am glad that were moving forward on dr. Califf. Hes a fine man. Hell do a good job as head of the food and drug administration. But were going to move to some legislation dealing with these poisons, and i would hope that everyone would appreciate the fact that we around here do too often celebrate the passing of legislation that really doesnt have much to do with reality. The only way were going to do a better job of fighting the scourge is to have some resources to help people who have responsibilities to do something about that. It means well take up the opioid bill maybe as early as next week. We need to devote real workforces, not just devote real resources, not just lip service, to this important problem. I know the republican leader is doing his best to try to make a good picture here as to why hes made the decision that the senates not going to confirm any Supreme Court nominee that the president puts forward. I heard one statement by the former chair of the Judiciary Committee this morning say it doesnt matter who he puts up, were not going to vote for him yen anyway or her whatever the case might be. But the facts of my case are distracting and wrong. He can read all the statements of the senior senator of new york and the Vice President , but never were any nominees held up. In fact, he you dont have to go back to grover as he indicated to find a similar situation. Lets talk about ronald, a more recent president. President reagan in 1988, the last year of his presidency, put forward the nomination of Anthony Kennedy to be a Supreme Court justice, the last year of his term. And what did we do . We took it up, and he was confirmed. Now theres lots of time to do things. Bidens statements Vice President bidens statement was made in the middle of the summer of the year that he spoke, but theres so much time left. We have 333 days left in president obamas term of office, so theres plenty of time to get the work done, because average days to confirm justices, 67 days. So i think we should be able to squeeze out of 333 days, 67 days. I dont want to burden everyone with facts, but sometimes they get in the way of some of these ridiculous diversions from what our job should be. When senator biden was chairing the Judiciary Committee in 1991 and 1992, george w. Bushs term, we confirmed 120 judges. Certainly that hasnt been the case in the last few years because the republicans basically opposed all judges, and now this new direction toward making sure theres no confirmation of a Supreme Court justice is obstruction on steroids. But this is really a Pivotal Moment for the Republican Party and this republican senate. The Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt is transforming before our eyes, abandoning its last vestiges of decency and unconditionally surrendering its moral compass to donald trump and ted cruz. Gone are the days of levelheaded ness and compromise. The Republican Party turned bipartisan into a dirty word. Behind closed doors my republican colleagues like to express disappointment at the direction the party has taken but never, ever would they say anything publicly because these extreme elements in their party who seem to be running the party would criticize them. Republicans should think long and hard about this simple fact. If they follow the course set by the republican leader, every one of them will be responsible as trump and cruz for the debasement of the Republican Party. He will join them in what theyve done to the party. It will be a