Senate Section
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 116 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020 No. 171 Senate The Senate met at 12 noon and was for dodging a question about the peace- Your ballot can be tracked on the called to order by the President pro ful transfer of power. Instead, Trump secretary of state’s website. Check out tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). criticized mail-in ballots and rejected where your ballot is. f the premise that he will lose. I have great faith in Iowa’s election officials and our postal workers. PRAYER No, that doesn’t mean that he is planning some sort of coup, but it is Iowans who vote in person or absentee The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- important for any President to choose can be assured that your vote will fered the following prayer: their words very carefully. count—the same as any election. Let us pray. The same is true for partisans on the I yield the floor. Eternal God, our heavenly Father, we I suggest the absence of a quorum. cry to You, but sometimes You seem so other side whipping up fear that our The PRESIDING OFFICER. The far away. In our despair, You some- democracy is in jeopardy or that the clerk will call the roll. times seem distant, and we are tempt- ballots will not be counted. Even worse The senior assistant legislative clerk ed to surmise that we are all alone. is the rhetoric setting the stage to proceeded to call the roll. When we shout, we seem to hear the delegitimize any future Trump victory. Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, echoes of our anguish. Nonetheless, we We now hear full-blown conspiracy I ask unanimous consent that the order know that You are holy, mighty, and theories. Let me mention a few. A for the quorum call be rescinded. good. We have trusted You too long to group of Biden supporters conducted a The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without let go. war game speculating that the Presi- objection, it is so ordered. Empower our Senators for these chal- dent will not leave office without a f lenging times. Remove from their Biden landslide, questioning what the minds all bitterness and contempt for military would do. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY LEADER one another. Keep their hearts clean, The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of their spirits courageous, and their Staff stepped in with a simple civics The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- minds clear as they face these daunting lesson. The U.S. military has no role in jority leader is recognized. times. the elections, he said. f We pray in Your omnipotent Name. Democrats have doubled down on this Amen. NOMINATION OF AMY CONEY debunked theory that the Postal Serv- BARRETT f ice is plotting with Trump to disrupt Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE the election mail. The Postal Service at this time last week, the Nation did The President pro tempore led the does not answer to the President of the not know whom President Trump Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: United States. It has plenty of capacity would be nominating to the Supreme I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the to deliver election mail. Plus, the Fed- Court, but, amazingly, we did know United States of America, and to the Repub- eral Government doesn’t run elections; what kinds of false attacks the far left lic for which it stands, one nation under God, the 50 States run those elections. would deploy against whoever it was. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A key goal of Russian ‘‘active meas- Democrats and special interests have f ures,’’ dating back to the Cold War, has been telling the country for 45 years— RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME been to get Americans to doubt their 45 years—that every Supreme Court va- government, its leaders, and demo- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. cancy under a Republican President cratic institutions. Let’s not do Rus- was going to bring about the apoca- FISCHER). Under the previous order, the sia’s dirty work for them. No American lypse. John Paul Stevens, they said, leadership time is reserved. should be questioning our free and fair The President pro tempore. was anti-woman. David Souter, they Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I elections. said, wanted to hurt vulnerable people. ask unanimous consent to speak for 1 Now to my State of Iowa. Our people John Roberts was out to get health in- minute in morning business. who have requested absentee ballots surance. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without will have ballots mailed to them start- And wouldn’t you know, the Presi- objection, it is so ordered. ing on October 5. Remember to fill it dent had barely finished saying Judge f out completely, including your driver’s Amy Coney Barrett’s name before the license or voter PIN number, and mail same old attacks began rolling in. Our ELECTION SECURITY them to your county auditor well be- 77-year-old male former Vice President Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, fore election day but not later than the and our 69-year-old male Senate Demo- President Trump was rightly criticized day before. cratic leader have tried to inform ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S6009 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Oct 02, 2020 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A01OC6.000 S01OCPT1 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE S6010 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 1, 2020 American women that this 48-year-old anti-religious discrimination are you want to hold public office? In working mom wants to roll back her ‘‘manufactured hysterics.’’ I didn’t ex- America? own rights as a woman—roll back her pect that. The Democratic leader says these are own rights as a woman. I do not expect we will hear the lead- manufactured hysterics. He says people Democrats have tried to fearmonger er of the Democratic conference stand who call this out are hysterical. Frank- around a 4-year-old academic paper on the Senate floor and say that Amer- ly, it would be better for our country if that reinforced one unfair penalty in ica’s freedom of religion is ‘‘an imagi- that were true, but that is not the case. ObamaCare, which Congress, by the nary issue.’’ Just yesterday, 24 hours after the way, already eliminated 3 years ago. The Democratic leader claimed indig- Democratic leader swore that Demo- As an aside, if the American people nantly that his fellow Democrats crats would not make this an issue, the are interested in which Senators are would never—never—make an issue out junior Senator from Hawaii tried to serious about protecting Americans of a nominee’s personal religious be- say Judge Barrett’s faith is ‘‘irrele- with preexisting conditions, they can liefs. He took great offense that such a vant’’ but immediately proceeded to simply look up the vote Senators took thing would even be suggested. question ‘‘whether her closely held last night—just last night. Every sin- But the whole country knows that, 3 views can be separated from her ability gle Democrat voted against legislation years ago, when the Judiciary Com- to make objective, fair decisions.’’ No from Senator TILLIS that would have mittee was considering this very nomi- one—no one—should be deceived by cemented protections for these vulner- nee—this one—for her current position, these thinly veiled euphemisms. able Americans. Senate Democrats did precisely that, This is the exact form that religious Democrats voted to block protections exactly that. The senior Senator from discrimination had taken in America for preexisting conditions just like California literally implied in front of for decades—for decades—especially they voted to block hundreds of bil- the entire country that Judge Barrett when it comes to public service. lions of dollars for coronavirus relief was too Catholic—too Catholic—to be a We do not often hear people say they and just like they voted to block police judge. Here was the quote: ‘‘The dogma simply dislike a particular religion al- reform—and a thousand other things lives loudly within you,’’ she said. together. Thank goodness we are most- they tell Americans they support but ‘‘And that’s of concern.’’ ly past that kind of bigotry. No, going vote against to block bipartisan The senior Senator from Illinois all the way back to Jack Kennedy, the progress. asked Judge Barrett in the official more common accusation has been So here is another one of the made- record—listen to this—‘‘Do you con- something a little more subtle—that up attacks: Democrats are demanding sider yourself an ‘orthodox Catholic?’ ’’ people of deep faith or certain faiths that Judge Barrett commit in ad- The junior Senator from Hawaii felt are incapable of being fair or objective; vance—in advance—to recuse herself compelled to tell the nominee—listen that they are incapable of doing cer- from entire categories of cases for no to this—‘‘You would be a Catholic tain jobs well; that such Americans are reason. This is another totally in- judge.’’ ‘‘You would be a Catholic torn between divided loyalties and not vented standard. Nobody has ever sug- judge.’’ to be trusted. gested that Supreme Court Justices No one imagined these exchanges, Here is what the left is trying to say: should categorically sit on the side- but they happened on video before the Oh, we have no problems—no prob- lines until the President who nomi- entire Nation.