Congressional Record—Senate S6554
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S6554 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 25, 2020 was totally her decision; and it was their own. I encourage them to listen liness, and civility, waiting for the day lifesaving. because I guarantee people across the when You will return to establish Your But if Judge Barrett were Justice country know what Republicans have Kingdom on Earth. Lord, prepare us all Barrett, if the right to abortion were a been saying, know exactly what Repub- to stand before You in peace without thing of the past, Madeline’s pregnancy licans are voting for, and they are spot or blemish. would have been a death sentence. As speaking up about it. We pray in Your powerful Name. she put it, ‘‘This isn’t a right vs. left I am here sharing their stories on the Amen. issue for a lot of us, it’s life or death— Senate floor, and Democrats brought The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- and knowing [that] is at stake . is their stories to the committee room so ator from Utah. terrifying.’’ that Republicans have no choice but to NOMINATION OF AMY CONEY BARRETT Madeline isn’t the only person who is hear them. Mr. LEE. Mr. President, it is an terrified. If Republicans win their law- When we vote, Republicans will have honor and a privilege to speak on be- suit, over 130 million people with pre- no excuse to pretend they do not know half of the confirmation of Judge Amy existing conditions like Madeline could exactly what is at stake. Instead, every Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of be charged more for their health insur- one of them will have a simple choice. the United States today. ance, have benefits excluded, or be de- Will you listen to the families who are One of Judge Barrett’s familiar nied coverage entirely. speaking up, the people who are saying themes, one that she has invoked in Over 20 million people like Mays and to you, in no uncertain terms, that if speeches when speaking about the Con- Rhiannon could lose coverage for Med- you put this judge on the Court, if you stitution and about the role of the Fed- icaid expansion, the exchanges, or their win this partisan lawsuit, it could kill eral judiciary, involves a line from parents’ plans. Insurance companies me or will you ignore them? Odysseus. It involves a reference to the could exclude essential health benefits If Republicans truly want to reassure ‘‘Odyssey.’’ She says: countless other patients rely on, like their constituents and want to show prescription drugs or maternity care or they are listening, the choice is simple: The Constitution is like when Odysseus ties himself to the mast to resist the song of therapy or wheelchairs or much more. Vote no on this nomination. For those the Sirens. And he tells his crew, ‘Don’t Half the country could be charged who choose to put this President and untie me no matter how much I plead.’ more for health insurance just because the profoundly lost Republican Party That’s what we’ve done as the American peo- they are a woman. Seniors could face above anything else, to those Repub- ple with the Constitution. We’ve said . thousands more in healthcare costs licans who are capping these brutal it’s the people sober appealing to the people with the return of the age tax and the last 4 years off with such a staggering drunk, [that when you are tempted to get Medicare doughnut hole. Lives of peo- show of fealty and partisanship and untied], that when you are tempted to get ple with disabilities could be upended if carried away by your passions and trample callousness, know the consequences of upon the First Amendment rights or minor- they lose access to home- and commu- this vote will be felt long after this ity rights, this document will hold you back. nity-based services that help them live President is gone from office, regard- Judge Barrett points out a very crit- independent lives or if insurance pro- less of the outcome of this election. ical matter here, an absolutely essen- viders can discriminate on the basis of People of this country will not forget tial matter, which is, first of all, that disability by denying coverage or and neither will your Democratic col- the whole point of having a Constitu- charging more. leagues. tion involves restraining and restrict- And people with expensive healthcare I yield the floor. ing government. As it relates to the ju- needs—cancer diagnosis, a medically I suggest the absence of a quorum. diciary, it involves acknowledging the complicated pregnancy, a fight with The PRESIDING OFFICER. The necessarily limited, finite, and con- COVID–19—could be left with an enor- clerk will call the roll. fined role of the judiciary. mous bill since insurance companies The bill clerk proceeded to call the Sometimes when people refer to the won’t have to cap patients’ out-of- roll. three branches of the Federal Govern- pocket costs but will be able to place Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, I ask ment, they will get it backward. Some- annual and lifetime limits on their unanimous consent that the order for times people will refer to the judicial benefits. the quorum call be rescinded. branch as if it were the most powerful. And we cannot forget the commu- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without This gets it exactly backward. It was nities of color who already face worse objection, it is so ordered. designed to be—and, in fact, is—the outcomes due to systemic racism in Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I ask least dangerous branch of the three our healthcare system who would be unanimous consent that the order for branches. That is not to say it is not hit hardest by so much of the damage the quorum call be rescinded. the most dangerous of all. Government, of the Republicans’ healthcare lawsuit. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without generally, is something that while nec- Healthcare isn’t all that is at stake objection, it is so ordered. essary is also dangerous just like water for families—far from it. Fundamental Pursuant to rule IV, paragraph 2, the or fire or wind or oxygen or any of the rights and protections and opportuni- hour of 12 noon having arrived, and the things that we depend upon for our ties for workers are on the line. The Senate having been in continuous ses- day-to-day existence. fate of immigrants and refugees and sion since yesterday, the Senate will Government, including the power of asylum seekers—families and Dream- suspend for a prayer from the Senate the judiciary itself, has to be managed ers who came to our Nation in search Chaplain. carefully, and it has to be channeled. If of a better life and brighter future are it is not, we become dangerous. So that on the line. And hard-fought victories PRAYER is why we have a Constitution. It is to for the LGBTQIA+ community are on The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- restrain government because govern- the line. fered the following prayer: ment is force. Government is nothing Matthew, in my home State of Wash- Let us pray. more or nothing less than the collec- ington, and his husband were able to Holy God, as our lawmakers strive on tive, coercive use of force. We use it to marry, to adopt, and fortunate to be this decisive day in history to accom- protect life, liberty, and property. We able to form a loving family. But that plish Your purposes, show them how to use it to make sure that people don’t might not be possible for LGBTQIA+ discern Your will. May they renew harm each other and to make sure that couples like them in the future if the their minds through the nourishment we are protected from our adversaries highest Court in the land turns back of Your Holy Word. Lord, prepare them within and without our borders, our the clock and refuses to see them as to be sober-minded and filled with Your boundaries. Yet, if we lose sight of equal under the law. Spirit, accomplishing the tasks that what government does and what it The bottom line is that this Supreme receive Your approval. Keep them from doesn’t do, what it can and cannot do, Court fight is not about politics. It is conforming to worldly impulses as they what it may or may not do, or what about the lives of hundreds of millions strive to ensure that their behavior any branch of the government may do, of people. If Republicans don’t believe will rightly represent You. May they we find ourselves in troubled, troubled my constituents, I invite them to ask conduct themselves with holiness, god- waters. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Oct 27, 2020 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 4637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G19OC6.375 S25OCPT2 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE October 25, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6555 The reason I say that the judicial most part, gets things right. In fact, it This, in my view, was wrong. It was branch is the least dangerous of the is something that may come as a sur- a problem. It was a political dispute three is that it doesn’t possess the prise to many Americans that of all of that was becoming increasingly com- power to say what should be, only what the decisions that the Supreme Court mon as the Progressive Era was gain- is.