E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 116 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020 No. 181 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Friday, October 23, 2020, at 11:30 a.m. Senate THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020

(Legislative day of Monday, October 19, 2020)

The Senate met at 12 noon, on the ex- man, of , to be United States Dis- haven’t made the same tough decisions piration of the recess, and was called to trict Judge for the Southern District of and weren’t ready before the pandemic. order by the President pro tempore Ohio. Now Democrats want Iowans’ Federal (Mr. GRASSLEY). The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. tax money to bail out irresponsible FISCHER). The President pro tempore. f State governments and somehow this Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I is worth holding up relief for strug- PRAYER ask to speak for 1 minute as in morn- gling families. Come on. The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- ing business. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without fered the following prayer: RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY LEADER objection, it is so ordered. Let us pray. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY Lord of Heaven’s Army, we find our jority leader is recognized. Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, joy from trusting You. Today we are what we have seen over the last week ELECTION SECURITY trusting Your promise to supply all our are attempts to get COVID relief up Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, needs from Your celestial riches. and Democrats won’t let us bring it up, yesterday evening the Directors of Na- Lord, as we differ in faces, so we are even though there is widespread agree- tional Intelligence and the FBI updated different in our needs. Provide for the ment on the need for more COVID re- the public on foreign efforts to influ- myriad needs of our Nation and world. lief for families, for small businesses, ence our election and our government’s Bring healing to the sick, comfort to for farms, for schools and colleges, and work to prevent them. They announced those who grieve, and wisdom to those for additional funding for testing and that Iran and Russia exploited voter who seek to meet the challenges of a vaccines. These are all noncontrover- information to send misleading emails. global health crisis. sial items being held up by Democrat This is just another reminder that mul- Lord, give our lawmakers Your leaders’ all-or-nothing negotiating po- tiple different adversaries with mul- strength. We claim Your promise that sition. tiple different objectives want to fuel You will not withhold any good thing One controversial item they insist on divisions among Americans and create from those who do what is right. is bailing out irresponsible State gov- chaos. Iran, China, Russia, and other We pray in Your great Name. Amen. ernments. adversaries may have different goals, f Iowa’s years of sound governance and but they all share the same primary fiscal responsibility, including a rainy objective of undermining America’s PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE day fund that is full, has paid off in confidence in our democracy, and they The President pro tempore led the times like this. A study for the Council are thrilled when their disinformation Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: of State Governments ranked every causes us to point fingers at each other I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the State’s ability to weather the eco- rather than at them. United States of America, and to the Repub- nomic impact of the pandemic. It found The good news is that we have spent lic for which it stands, one nation under God, my State of Iowa to be fiscally sound— the last 4 years gearing up for this. Un- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the most resilient State in the coun- like the Obama-Biden administration, f try. on whose watch even Democrats admit In addition to the Council of State we were caught flatfooted, the Trump EXECUTIVE CALENDAR—Continued Governments, the CATO Institute administration has worked overtime The Senate resumed consideration of ranked our Governor’s fiscal policy sec- with Congress and other actors to get the nomination of Michael Jay New- ond out of all 50 States. Other States us ready.

∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.

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VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Oct 23, 2020 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A22OC6.000 S19OCPT4 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE S6384 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 22, 2020 The White House has imposed harsh serves in a Supreme Court Justice were John Adams already lost reelection. new sanctions on Russians who inter- on full display. We saw why legal peers, John Adams appointed Chief Justice fered in 2016. The Department of Jus- fellow scholars, nonpartisan eval- John Marshall after he had already lost tice, Department of Homeland Secu- uators, students, and clerks from the election. President Lincoln got rity, and the intelligence community across the political spectrum have someone confirmed in 1 day. have led efforts to strengthen and co- praised this nominee in the very high- Obviously, it is completely false to ordinate our defenses. Here in the Sen- est terms. say that this has been anywhere close ate, the Intelligence Committee spent In just a few days, she will receive a to the fastest process ever. It is just years studying what went wrong in 2016 vote on this floor. I anticipate we will disinformation. and published a 1,300-plus-page report have a new Associate Justice of the Su- Here is another nonsense claim: that with recommendations. preme Court of the United States. That Judge Barrett is somehow the most In the last 2 years alone, we passed is exactly what the American people partisan or politicalized nominee ever. more than $800 million to fund and sup- want to happen. Clear majorities of Really? Andrew Jackson nominated a port secure elections. The Iranian and Americans want Judge Barrett con- political operative to the Court at the Russian operations described last night firmed. Of our fellow citizens who end of his Presidency. Lincoln put his are being combatted by the Federal formed an opinion, roughly two out of own campaign manager on the Court. Government in close coordination with three want confirmation. Eisenhower nominated Earl Warren State and local officials and the pri- The Democratic leader’s histrionics after Warren had stopped competing vate sector. Details are being shared are proving just as unpersuasive out- with him in the 1952 election and cam- with Congress and the public, as appro- side the Chamber as they have proven paigned for him. priate. inside it. His anger and false state- But this professor from Indiana who This is precisely how the process ments failed to persuade the Senate got multiple Democratic votes for con- should work. We are literally miles and failed to persuade the American firmation to her current job just 3 ahead of where we were. people. Day after day, our colleague years ago is going to be the most polit- Even the Washington Democrats who from performs the same ical confirmation ever? In the previous spent years talking up the threats to angry speech with the same falsehoods century, they put their campaign our election infrastructure are now ad- and forces a vote on some pointless im- chairman on the Supreme Court. That mitting that we have made huge permissible motion. is pretty political. Eisenhower put the strides. Just a few days ago, the junior The Democratic leader is just lashing Governor of California who ran against Senator for Connecticut admitted: ‘‘We out in random ways. A few weeks ago, him for the nomination on the Court. are going to have a free and fair elec- he torpedoed a bipartisan counterintel- That is pretty political. I will give you an example. tion . . . because we have spent signifi- ligence briefing for no reason. This cant money from the Federal Govern- The great , week, he blocked a pandemic rescue ment, and through States, to beef up from , had a partner who was package and tried repeatedly to ad- protections of our voter lists and our a Cabinet member in the Grant admin- journ the Senate for multiple weeks. istration—a guy named Benjamin voting systems.’’ Today, I understand he stood outside It is a separate question whether Bristow. Bristow was sort of thought of the Senate to shout that Democrats Democrats’ ability to express basic pa- as ‘‘Mr. Clean’’ in the Grant adminis- would be boycotting the committee triotic confidence in our institutions tration, which had a lot of scandal vote, and the committee vote had al- should be so contingent on whether problems. The GOP convention in 1876 their preferred candidate seems to be ready ended. was going to be in . In those Look, I understand that some outside up in the polls. But, regardless, that is days, of course, if you wanted to be pressure groups have been badgering the truth. President, you couldn’t admit it. You I will close with one point I keep the Democratic leader to act more sort of had to act like you were being making. The work of protecting our de- angry. I am just sorry for the Senate drafted. So John Marshall Harlan, the mocracy is not just the job of experts that he obeys them. I am sorry our col- largely unknown partner of the better and government buildings. This is also league felt the need to publicly brag known Benjamin Bristow, went to Cin- a duty that falls upon every one of us, that he had scolded the senior Senator cinnati, to the GOP convention, to get every single citizen. At this point, it is from California for being too civil. his law partner, Mr. Clean, the nomina- a patriotic duty for Americans to be Scolding somebody for being too civil, tion—the perfect choice after 8 years of educated consumers of information. one of our colleagues? It is not a good scandal in the Grant administration. Citizens who need information about idea to be civil? It became clear after a few rounds of voting should look to their local offi- Really, I am sorry that he feels the voting that he wasn’t going to be able cial sources, and all of us on all sides need to constantly say things that are to pull it off for his partner, Benjamin should take a deep breath and realize false. The American people know that Bristow, so Harlan threw Bristow’s division, disinformation, and chaos are we disagree. They do not expect votes to the Governor of Ohio, Ruther- exactly what our adversaries want. We ‘‘kumbaya,’’ but they deserve an adult ford B. Hayes. Amazingly enough, right are all in this together. All of us Amer- discussion. after President Hayes was sworn in in icans are in this together. Let’s review some facts. First, the March of 1877, it was John Marshall NOMINATION OF AMY CONEY BARRETT timeline. The Democratic leader’s Harlan, not Benjamin Bristow, who Madam President, this morning, the claims this process has been rushed are ended up on the Supreme Court. Judiciary Committee reported the simply false. Sixteen days passed be- He served for 30 years with great dis- nomination of Judge Amy Coney Bar- tween President Trump’s announce- tinction and was the sole dissenter in rett to the floor. Their recommenda- ment and the start of the hearings. In Plessy v. Ferguson. He was the one tion was that she be confirmed. It was the last 60 years alone, eight Supreme Member of the Court in 1896 who got it actually unanimous. As one CNN jour- Court confirmations moved faster. right with regard to desegregation and nalist stated last week, ‘‘Let’s be hon- Only eight moved faster in the last 60 public accommodations. That actually est, in another [political] age . . . years. Then 1 week elapsed between the became the majority opinion 58 years Judge Amy Coney Barrett would be end of Judge Barrett’s hearings and to- later in Brown v. Board of Education. getting 70 votes or more in the U.S. day’s committee vote. Half of all the Talk about a political appointment. Senate because of her qualifications.’’ confirmations since 1916 have moved That was a political appointment. Amy It is supremely ironic that our Demo- faster than that. Half of all the con- Coney Barrett is not the most political cratic colleagues delivered through a firmations since 1916 have moved faster appointment ever to the Supreme temper tantrum what they should have than that. Court by any objective standard. So delivered through a fair appraisal: a Justice John Paul Stevens was con- these are not really arguments. They unanimous endorsement. They, of firmed in 19 days from start to finish. are just kind of angry noises. course, were not there. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor took just The Democratic leader said: ‘‘Abra- All last week, the legal brilliance and over a month. Chief Justice John Mar- ham Lincoln, when [he] had the oppor- judicial temperament our Nation de- shall was confirmed in 1 week after tunity to fill a Supreme Court seat,

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