Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 117 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 117 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 167 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 No. 55 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Friday, March 26, 2021, at 2 p.m. Senate WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 The Senate met at 10:30 a.m. and was The senior assistant legislative clerk under the provisions of rule XIV, I called to order by the Honorable BEN read the following letter: would object to further proceeding. RAY LUJA´ N, a Senator from the State U.S. SENATE, The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objec- of New Mexico. PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, tion has been heard. f Washington, DC, March 24, 2021. The bill will be placed on the cal- To the Senate: endar. PRAYER Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby f appoint the Honorable BEN RAY LUJA´ N, a fered the following prayer: Senator from the State of New Mexico, to GUN VIOLENCE Let us pray. perform the duties of the Chair. Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, a O Mighty God, our source of PATRICK J. LEAHY, week ago the Nation reeled in horror as strength, we magnify Your Name. President pro tempore. a deranged gunman shot and killed Guide our lawmakers during this chal- ´ Mr. LUJAN thereupon assumed the eight people at three different loca- lenging season. Inspire them to stay on Chair as Acting President pro tempore. tions across the Atlanta area. Six of Your path without wavering. f them were Asian-American women. Lord, give them such confidence in Just 6 days later, another shooting. You that, after You have tested them, RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME Ten people were shot and killed by a they shall come forth like gold. Help The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- gunman who entered a grocery store in them to understand that Your pore. Under the previous order, the Boulder, CO. Some were customers, thoughts and ways are higher than leadership time is reserved. some were employees. One was as theirs and to trust You to bring them f young as 20, and one was as old as 65. to Your desired destination. Empower One of the victims was merely walk- them to run without limping or stum- RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY ing through the parking lot after fixing bling because they are guided by Your LEADER the coffee machines at the nearby wisdom. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Starbucks, the son of Serbian refugees We pray in Your Holy Name. Amen. majority leader is recognized. and the shining hope of his family. f f One of the fallen was a local police PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE MEASURE PLACED ON THE officer, Eric Talley, an 11-year veteran CALENDAR—S. 937 The Presiding Officer led the Pledge of Boulder Police and a father of seven. of Allegiance, as follows: Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I un- You look at each of their faces—young, wise, older. You ache. Gone. You think I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the derstand there is a bill at the desk that United States of America, and to the Repub- is due for a second reading. of their families whom you don’t know. lic for which it stands, one nation under God, The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The They never will see them again, taken indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. clerk will read the bill by title for the so cruelly and so quickly. f second time. Today, flags around the Capitol will The senior assistant legislative clerk remain at half-staff in honor of the vic- APPOINTMENT OF ACTING read as follows: tims, and we all grieve with their fami- PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE A bill (S. 937) to facilitate the expedited re- lies. We also grieve with the commu- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The view of COVID–19 hate crimes, and for other nity of Boulder and the people of Colo- clerk will please read a communication purposes. rado. And we grieve with the people of to the Senate from the President pro Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, in Georgia and all people across the tempore (Mr. LEAHY). order to place the bill on the calendar United States whose lives have been ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S1723 ® Pdnted on recycled papfil. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 25, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A24MR6.000 S24MRPT1 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with SENATE S1724 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 24, 2021 forever marred by the plague of gun vi- Cabinet Secretary of any Agency. The voting rights, and, in fact, the Con- olence. confirmation of Rachel Levine rep- stitution explicitly says that the Con- COVID–19 is not the only epidemic resents another important milestone gress has the ability and right to do it. claiming innocent lives in America. for the American LGBTQ community. And yet Republicans who lost the elec- Last year alone, 20,000 Americans were She will be the first openly transgender tion, instead of doing what we should killed by gun violence, the highest official ever confirmed by the U.S. Sen- be doing in a democracy—when you number in almost two decades. Most of ate. The arc of history is long, but it lose, you are supposed to figure out these incidents never reached the head- keeps bending in the direction of jus- why you lost and win over the voters lines, but we cannot allow ourselves to tice. you didn’t, but they would just deprive become numb to their devastation. As transgender Americans suffer the voters who voted against them of After one of the most difficult years in higher rates of abuse, homelessness, the right to vote. That is eerily remi- American history, we all want our lives and depression than almost every other niscent of what dictators like Erdogan and our country to return to normal. group, it is important to have national in Turkey or Orban in Hungary would But not this normal—oh, no, not the figures like Dr. Levine, who, by virtue do. normal that accepts everyday gun vio- of being in the public spotlight, will Our Republican Party has sunk so lence as a matter of course, an inci- help break down barriers of ignorance low that they have a Republican leader dental risk to living in these United and fear. who is over in the Rules Committee de- States of America. We cannot, we must Pennsylvania’s political leaders say fending these actions by State legisla- not accept that as normal. We must Dr. Levine has forced people in their tures. not shrink from our moral obligation State to better understand the I asked him and all the Republicans to act. transgender community. One State leg- to give us a reason. Why did the Geor- Two years ago, the Republican lead- islator said: gia Legislature only pick Sundays to er, then in the majority, promised that She has robbed people of the false premise say there should be no early voting on this Chamber would have a real debate that they don’t know any trans people and Sunday? We know why. It is because on gun violence in this country. It therefore don’t need to be respectful of trans that is the day African Americans vote never happened. Even the former Presi- people. in the ‘‘souls to the polls’’ operation, dent made some noises about sup- The historic nature of her nomina- where they go from church to vote. It porting commonsense gun safety meas- tion should not be lost on anyone, but is despicable. ures before quickly retreating, the re- Dr. Levine thoroughly deserves to be Every time you think the country sult, once again, of bitter, reflexive op- confirmed on the strength of her quali- has moved a long way, you see steps position by the NRA to any progress fications. taken backward. Let’s make no mis- and fear among so many Republicans of Despite several attacks on her gender take about it, the shadow of Donald what the NRA might do to them if they identity over the past year, Dr. Levine Trump—his big lie, his incessant focus spoke truth to power. has stayed laser-focused on helping the on doing anything that benefits him, Well, now we don’t have a Republican State of Pennsylvania manage and re- no matter if it is the truth or not, if it majority. We have a Democratic one. spond to COVID. The quality of her is constitutional or not, if it is racist This time is going to be different. A public service is reflected in the fact or not—has now fallen over this party, Democratic majority in the Senate is that she was confirmed not once, not and they are not even standing up to going to act. I have committed to put twice, but three times by the Repub- protect the sacred right to vote. legislation to expand background lican-led State senate to serve first as Shame, shame, shame on all of them. checks on the floor of the Senate. We physician general and then as health Shame. How can you defend these ac- will debate it. We will vote on it. secretary. tions throughout legislatures, which Just yesterday, my colleague Sen- The U.S.