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S3038 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 17, 2020 The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk read as follows: EXECUTIVE SESSION The legislative clerk called the roll. CLOTURE MOTION Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. MAR- We, the undersigned Senators, in accord- EXECUTIVE CALENDAR KEY) and the Senator from Washington ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the The PRESIDING OFFICER. Cloture (Mrs. MURRAY) are necessarily absent. Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby having been invoked, the Senate will The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. move to bring to a close debate on the nomi- proceed to executive session to con- nation of Justin Reed Walker, of Kentucky, LANKFORD). Are there any other Sen- to be United States Circuit Judge for the sider the following nomination, which ators in the Chamber desiring to vote? District of Columbia Circuit. the clerk will report. The result was announced—yeas 73, Mitch McConnell, Tom Cotton, John The bill clerk read the nomination of nays 25, as follows: Boozman, Joni Ernst, Todd Young, Justin Reed Walker, of Kentucky, to be [Rollcall Vote No. 121 Leg.] Steve Daines, Cory Gardner, Jerry United States Circuit Judge for the YEAS—73 Moran, James E. Risch, Shelley Moore District of Columbia Circuit. Capito, David Perdue, Ben Sasse, Kevin Alexander Gillibrand Roberts The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. ROM- Cramer, Tim Scott, Lamar Alexander, Baldwin Graham Rosen NEY). The Senator from Vermont. Bennet Grassley Rubio Mike Rounds, Pat Roberts. Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this Blumenthal Harris Sanders The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unan- morning, the Senate narrowly invoked Blunt Hassan Schatz Booker Heinrich imous consent, the mandatory quorum cloture on the nomination of Justin Schumer Walker to the DC Circuit. Within the Boozman Hirono Scott (SC) call has been waived. Brown Hoeven Shaheen week, the Senate is expected to con- Burr Jones The question is, Is it the sense of the Sinema firm, by the thinnest margins, both Cantwell Kaine Senate that debate on the nomination Smith Judge Walker and a separate nominee, Capito King of Justin Reed Walker, of Kentucky, to Cardin Klobuchar Stabenow Cory Wilson, to the Fifth Circuit. That Carper Leahy Sullivan be United States Circuit Judge for the fills the final two available seats on Tester Casey Loeffler District of Columbia Circuit, shall be the circuit courts. In one case, there Collins Manchin Thune brought to a close? Coons McConnell Tillis isn’t a vacancy yet, but he is preemp- Cortez Masto McSally Udall The yeas and nays are mandatory tively filling it. This will complete Cotton Menendez Van Hollen under the rule. Leader MCCONNELL’s rush to pack our Cramer Merkley Warner Daines Murkowski Warren The clerk will call the roll. appellate courts with President Duckworth Murphy Whitehouse The bill clerk called the roll. Trump’s nominees. Durbin Perdue Wicker I want to speak about this because I Ernst Peters Wyden Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the have had more experience on nomina- Feinstein Portman Young Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. MAR- Gardner Reed tions, only because of tenure, than KEY), and the Senator from Washington anybody else in this body. I note that NAYS—25 (Mrs. MURRAY) are necessarily absent. both Judge Walker and Judge Wilson Barrasso Hawley Risch The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there are partisan ideologues who have given Blackburn Hyde-Smith Romney no indication that they will leave their Braun Inhofe Rounds any other Senators in the Chamber de- Cassidy Johnson Sasse siring to vote? politics outside the courtroom. This Cornyn Kennedy Scott (FL) has become par for the course under Crapo Lankford The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 52, Shelby nays 46, as follows: this President—choosing nominees not Cruz Lee Toomey Enzi Moran for their judicial qualifications and in Fischer Paul [Rollcall Vote No. 122 Leg.] spite of their political leanings but be- NOT VOTING—2 YEAS—52 cause of those partisan leanings. Ex- treme partisanship has become a quali- Markey Murray Alexander Gardner Portman Barrasso Graham Risch fier, not a disqualifier. It is a pre- The bill (H.R. 1957), as amended, was Blackburn Grassley Roberts requisite. passed. Blunt Hawley Romney My Republican friends may consider Boozman Hoeven AMENDMENT NO. 1618 Rounds these confirmations a great achieve- Braun Hyde-Smith Rubio The PRESIDING OFFICER. Mr. Burr Inhofe Sasse ment; however, I fear that the damage President, I ask unanimous consent Capito Johnson Scott (FL) left in the wake of their effort—to the Cassidy Kennedy that the title amendment No. 1618 be Scott (SC) courts, to the Senate, to the country— Cornyn Lankford Shelby considered and agreed to and that the Cotton Lee is going to remain with us for years to Sullivan motion to reconsider be considered Cramer Loeffler come after most of us have probably Crapo McConnell Thune made and laid upon the table with no Tillis left this body. Cruz McSally Let us consider the backdrop in intervening action or debate. Daines Moran Toomey The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there Enzi Murkowski Wicker which we consider these nominees. We objection? Ernst Paul Young are in the throes of a global pandemic Without objection, it is so ordered. Fischer Perdue that has taken almost 120,000 American The amendment (No. 1618) was agreed NAYS—46 lives. It has plunged our economy into to, as follows: a deep recession. It has deprived nearly Baldwin Harris Sanders (Purpose: To amend the title) Bennet Hassan Schatz 45 million Americans of their jobs, Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘An Act to Blumenthal Heinrich Schumer something I have never seen in my amend title 54, United States Code, to estab- Booker Hirono Shaheen years here in the Senate. Yet are we lish, fund, and provide for the use of amounts Brown Jones Sinema here today considering legislation that in a National Parks and Public Land Legacy Cantwell Kaine Smith Cardin King further assists Americans struggling Restoration Fund to address the mainte- Stabenow Carper Klobuchar Tester during this pandemic? Indeed, we have nance backlog of the National Park Service, Casey Leahy Udall done nothing to respond to COVID–19 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Collins Manchin Van Hollen for months even though the House the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Coons Menendez Warner Cortez Masto Merkley passed $3 trillion in further assistance Service, and the Bureau of Indian Education, Warren and to provide permanent, dedicated funding Duckworth Murphy last month. Durbin Peters Whitehouse The Senate today is not working to- for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, Wyden Feinstein Reed gether to find bipartisan meaningful and for other purposes.’’. Gillibrand Rosen f ways to address the plagues of racial NOT VOTING—2 and social inequality, despite the fact CLOTURE MOTION Markey Murray that we see millions of Americans of The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant all backgrounds, ages, creed, and color to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this who flood our streets and squares with Senate the pending cloture motion, vote, the yeas are 52, the nays are 46. protests in the wake of the murder of which the clerk will state. The motion is agreed to. George Floyd. VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jun 18, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 4637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G17JN6.017 S17JNPT1 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE June 17, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S3039 What are we doing to respond as a Judge Wilson has a long record of un- tial justice, as I said, changing every body? We are busy processing and con- dermining minority voting rights and day under President Trump. firming an endless stream of partisan dismissing the scourge of voter sup- I have to hope that the Senate can ideologues, such as Justin Walker and pression, which we saw again last week rediscover its better angels. I can hope Cory Wilson, to our Federal courts. I during primary elections. He dismisses that we can again reassert ourselves as think it has to be noted, again, that that as ‘‘phony,’’ even though every- the crucible in which the great issues Judge Walker, who is a protege of Sen- body watching the news, from the right of the day are debated heatedly but re- ator MCCONNELL, has been nominated to left, can see it happening. solved amicably, across party lines. I to a seat that isn’t even vacant until What message do these nominees of hope that one day the Senate will September. President Trump send to the country again serve as the conscience of the It would be one thing if we were com- in this moment? Well, it says that the Nation, as it has during so many mo- ing together in the Senate across party Republicans in the Senate are fast- ments of upheaval and uncertainty in lines to confirm mainstream nominees, tracking nominees who are eager to our history. something we have done so many times overturn the Affordable Care Act in the Today, more than any other time in years past, but nothing about Judge midst of a public health pandemic. since I have been here, when we should Walker and Judge Wilson is main- They are fast-tracking nominees who be the conscience of the Nation, we are stream. Judge Walker is not shy about are dismissive of racial injustices in keeping that conscience locked up be- his overt partisanship. He is openly the midst of a national reckoning on hind closed doors. hostile to the Affordable Care Act, racial injustices. I hope, one day soon, the Senate will even though the Affordable Care Act The Senate has a constitutional duty again demand—as it has under Repub- has provided a critical lifeline to mil- to provide advice and consent to a lican and Democratic leadership in the lions of Americans during this pan- President’s nominee.

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