Richard Durbin

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Ana Reyes, who has been nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Ms. Reyes first immigrated to this country when she was 5 years old. At the time, she could not speak any English. That quickly changed through her hard work and with the help of her first-grade teacher, Pat Harkleroad, who came to Ms. Reyes' Louisville, KY, elementary school an hour early each morning to provide one-on-one English lessons. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Ms. Reyes built off of this foundational experience to earn her B.A. summa cum laude from Transylvania University in 1996 and her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2000. After clerking for the Honorable Amalya Kearse on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Ms. Reyes joined Williams & Connolly as an associate in 2001. Promoted to partner in 2009, Ms. Reyes has spent her career specializing in complex litigation and international arbitration, trying 10 cases to verdict, judgment, or final decision. Although she has been in private practice for her whole career, Ms. Reyes has illustrated her commitment to public service by devoting over 3,300 hours to pro bono work. While her pro bono work spans several fields, including criminal defense, a significant amount of her efforts has been directed towards representing asylum seekers fleeing political persecution, torture, and gender-based violence. The American Bar Association has unanimously rated Ms. Reyes as ``well qualified'' to serve on the D.C. District Court and, if confirmed, she will be the first Hispanic woman and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to ever serve on the D.C. District Court. I look forward to supporting this highly-qualified nominee and urge my colleagues to join me in doing so.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) and the Senator from California (Mrs. Feinstein), are necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) is necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Cardin) and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) are necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Justice Adrienne Nelson, who has been nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. If confirmed, she will be the first Black woman to serve on the District of Oregon. This will be just one in a history of firsts Justice Nelson has accomplished. Born in Kansas City, MO, Justice Nelson was the first Black valedictorian at her Arkansas high school post-integration in 1985. She went on to earn her B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1989 and her J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. Justice Nelson began her legal career at Multnomah Defenders, Inc., a public interest law firm in Portland, OR, representing indigent defendants charged with State crimes for 3 years. She then joined a Portland-area law firm as an associate, where she represented a wide- range of clients, from individuals to private businesses and labor unions, for 5 years. In 2004, she became the coordinator and senior attorney for the student legal and mediation services at Portland State University. During her time in practice, she tried more than 40 cases, including 25 jury trials. In 2006, Justice Nelson was appointed to serve as a circuit court judge for the Multnomah County Circuit Court. She presided over approximately 315 cases over 12 years of service on that court. In 2018, Justice Nelson became the first Black justice to serve on Oregon's highest court. Since then, she has authored 33 majority opinions. Senators Wyden and Merkley strongly support Justice Nelson's nomination, and the American Bar Association has unanimously rated her ``well qualified'' to serve on the District of Oregon. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this highly- qualified nominee.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman) are necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) is necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today is Valentine's Day and a day we set aside to celebrate love, but far too many American families this day have haunting memories and unfathomable pain. They are the families of Americans killed by gun violence. Last night, the families of three Michigan State University students joined the heartbroken ranks. Five additional victims were wounded. It was the 67th mass shooting in the United States of America in this calendar year. February 14, the 67th mass shooting--more than 1 mass shooting every day this year. What is a mass shooting? When four people or more are injured or killed. No other nation on Earth accepts this wholesale slaughter that we have now become so inured to in the United States. We shouldn't be. Americans have seen too much carnage from guns. I am sick of it. This Nation is sick of it. Five years ago today, a 19-year-old gunman murdered 17 people and wounded 17 more at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL--the fifth anniversary of it, and we are observing the madness and slaughter that took place in Michigan. The gunman fired indiscriminately at Parkland, at students and teachers, and used a Smith & Wesson AR-15 assault rifle. The dead included 14 students and 3 staff members who died trying to protect them. The Parkland shooting horrified our Nation. It cut especially deep at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL, 65 miles outside of Chicago. You see, exactly 10 years ago on Valentine's Day 2008, a gunman armed with a shotgun and three semiautomatic pistols kicked open the door of an auditorium-style classroom at Northern Illinois and walked up and down the aisle, shooting people indiscriminately. The shooting lasted just under 6 minutes. When it ended, 5 students had died at Northern and more than 20 were injured. Six weeks into the year 2023, and already this year, at least 5,127 Americans have died from gun violence according to the Gun Violence Archive. They died in homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings. Last year, Congress passed and President Biden signed the most sweeping gun safety law in 30 years--the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Among other things, it toughened background checks for gun purchasers under the age of 21 and cracked down on the trafficking and straw purchasing of firearms. It also included funding to help States implement red flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a danger to themselves or others. Just today, my home State of Illinois was awarded $9\1/2\ million in funding under the new law to help carry out Illinois' red flag law. That is progress. But the majority of Americans support even stronger gun safety laws, including closing the gaps in the background check system for gun purchases. I believe that Congress should also restore the ban on assault weapons, including AR-15-style rifles--increasingly the weapon of choice for mass shooters. These military-style weapons have no place in schools, neighborhoods, or college campuses. One month after the Parkland school massacre, student survivors of that slaughter organized a rally called March for Our Lives. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the march in Washington. One of those powerful speakers that day was a young woman named Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of Parkland. She warned Americans that day, ``Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job.'' In America today, gun violence can strike any family, anywhere, anytime. Today on this grim anniversary, we must recommit ourselves to a better America, to do more to protect our kids, our schools, our communities, and our country from the scourge of gun violence.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) is necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) is necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennyslvania (Mr. Casey) is necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennyslvania (Mr. Casey) is necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) is necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the confirmation of Matthew Garcia to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. Mr. Garcia is an experienced litigator with deep ties to the New Mexico legal community. He received degrees from the University of New Mexico, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the University of New Mexico School of Law before establishing a career in civil rights litigation. Mr. Garcia represented plaintiffs in religious liberty, unlawful discrimination, and wage theft cases. He also gained experience in multistate antitrust actions and personal injury matters. In 2019, Mr. Garcia left private practice and joined the New Mexico State government as general counsel to New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. He now serves as her chief of staff and advises on issues related to State constitutional questions and statutory interpretation. Throughout his career, Mr. Garcia has appeared frequently in State and Federal court. His breadth of experience in government and the private sector will make him ready to serve on the District of New Mexico from day one. The American Bar Association unanimously rated Mr. Garcia ``well qualified,'' and he has the strong support of his home- State Senators, Mr. Heinrich and Mr. Lujan. I supported his nomination and was glad to see him confirmed.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the confirmation of Lindsay Jenkins to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Born in Cleveland, OH, Ms. Jenkins received her bachelor's degree from Miami University of Ohio and her J.D., summa cum laude, from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. After clerking for Judge Solomon Oliver, Jr., on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and working in private practice for 2 years, Ms. Jenkins spent the majority of her legal career--15 years--as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ms. Jenkins prosecuted a range of cases, including violations of drug and firearm laws, fraud, gang- related activity, civil rights violations, and corruption. In addition to her caseload at the U.S. Attorney's Office, she took on supervisory responsibilities, rising to become chief of the Criminal Division. In that role, she oversaw all criminal prosecutions in the Northern District of Illinois, supervising nearly 150 prosecutors across 9 prosecution sections. In 2021, Ms. Jenkins returned to private practice, primarily working on internal investigations and white collar cases. The American Bar Association rated Ms. Jenkins as unanimously ``well qualified.'' Given her qualifications and her deep knowledge of the Northern District, Senator Duckworth and I strongly support Ms. Jenkins. I thank my colleagues for confirming her.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the confirmation of Judge Gina Mendez-Miro to the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. Judge Mendez-Miro is an experienced jurist and dedicated public servant. A graduate of the University of Puerto Rico and Princeton University, she spent several years in private practice before devoting the rest of her legal career to public service. Judge Mendez-Miro has served in all three branches of the Puerto Rico government. She served as Assistant Attorney General for Human Resources for the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, as director of judicial programs and general counsel and director of legal affairs in the Puerto Rico judicial branch's office of courts administration, and as chief of staff for the Puerto Rico Senate. In 2016, Judge Mendez-Miro was appointed by the Governor of Puerto Rico and unanimously confirmed by the Puerto Rican Senate to serve on the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals. The American Bar Association unanimously rated Judge Mendez-Miro as ``qualified.'' I supported her nomination and was glad to see her confirmed.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich), and the Senator from California (Mr. Padilla) are necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. I annnounce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich), the Senator from California (Mr. Padilla), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I don't know what is up in the skies, what is going around, flying around, being spotted, and I think there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. If it is a threat to the United States in any way, shape, or form, it is absolutely unacceptable, and I think we all agree--both political parties. But when we start giving advice to this President and the Department of Defense in these matters, we have to stop and reflect on the manager of my local car wash in Springfield, IL. I went there about a week ago when the first balloon was spotted. He said: Senator, what is going on up there? I said: I don't know. I think China is responsible for it. He said: What are they trying to tell us? I said: Whatever it is, we better answer them and answer them decisively. We don't need anybody from China or any other country flying in our airspace and endangering Americans in the process. Then he said to me: But what about those cowboys in Congress who want to shoot it down wherever it is? Are they thinking about what is going to happen if the debris from that--whatever it is--falls on a city, hospital, school playground? They don't want to do that, do they, Senator? Well, I hope they don't. But I wonder, when I listen to the comments of some people here who argue that we should have shot down that balloon when it was going across the United States, if they reflect on what might have been the collateral damage. We didn't know what was on that balloon. We knew it was the size of three schoolbuses. That is not a small operation. And whether it included anything that was dangerous to us, radioactive or some sort of explosive, we just didn't know. I think we did the right thing. We waited until it was off the coast, the Atlantic Coast, still near our own territorial waters, and shot it down, and now we are recovering what was in it. As for the other elements, we are going to be briefed this week on China, and I believe those questions are certainly going to be asked and should be asked. I will be there on a bipartisan basis, as I was last week. It is serious, and we ought to take it seriously. But the notion that we would shoot this down over Louisville, KY, or Springfield, IL, or Chicago--that is not responsible. I trust our military to make that decision and to understand where the debris field might be that would endanger people.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Cindy Chung to a Pennsylvania seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Chung has worked in public service for two decades and is an accomplished litigator. She received degrees from Yale University and Columbia Law School before clerking for Judge Myron Thompson on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. Ms. Chung began her career as a prosecutor handling public corruption and other matters in the New York County District Attorney's Office before joining the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, where she prosecuted human trafficking and criminal civil rights violations, including the first case prosecuted under the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act. She then joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania where, for more than 7 years, she handled a range of criminal matters. In 2021, President Biden nominated Ms. Chung to serve as a U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the Senate unanimously confirmed her to that role. As U.S. Attorney, Ms. Chung has prioritized the prosecution of hate crimes and violent crimes. As a practicing attorney, Ms. Chung has appeared in both State and Federal court and has tried 24 cases to verdict. She has significant experience in the courtroom and was unanimously rated ``well qualified'' by the American Bar Association. Ms. Chung has deep ties to the Pennsylvania legal community and enjoys bipartisan support, having received positive blue slips from her home State Senators for her nomination in the 117th Congress, and a bipartisan vote out of committee. When confirmed, she will make history as the first AAPI judge on the Third Circuit. I strongly support her nomination and urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I rise to speak on the confirmation of DeAndrea Benjamin to a South Carolina seat on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Benjamin has had a prominent career as both a litigator and as a jurist. She received degrees from Winthrop University and the University of South Carolina School of Law before clerking for Judge L. Casey Manning on South Carolina's Fifth Judicial Circuit. She then joined the South Carolina Fifth Judicial Circuit's solicitor's office as a State prosecutor and also served as a county juvenile drug court liaison. She later joined the South Carolina Attorney General's Office and was named the State Violence Against Women Prosecutor. In this role, she prosecuted cases statewide where violence was perpetrated against women and children. Judge Benjamin entered private practice after 3 years of public service and focused on employment law, including workplace discrimination claims. In 2004, she became a municipal judge for the city of Columbia, South Carolina. Seven years later, the South Carolina General Assembly elected her to serve as a circuit court judge in South Carolina's Fifth Judicial Circuit. As a practicing attorney, Judge Benjamin appeared in both State and Federal court and tried 21 cases to verdict. In her time on the bench, she has presided over thousands of matters involving both civil and criminal issues, including over 300 trials. Judge Benjamin has significant experience in the courtroom and was unanimously rated ``qualified'' by the American Bar Association. In addition, she has deep ties to the South Carolina legal community and enjoys bipartisan support, including from her Republican home-State Senators. I strongly supported her nomination and was glad to see her confirmed.

Mr. DURBIN

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.