Patrick Leahy

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Will the Senator yield for a question

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, one factor that helps make someone a strong representative of their constituents is the body of experience they bring to their job. Mike Enzi has spent his life representing his constituents, first as a mayor, then in the Wyoming Senate, and ultimately in the U.S. Senate, a post to which the people of Wyoming have elected and reelected him four times. While our States are quite different geographically, Wyoming, like Vermont, is State of close-knit communities, and it is easy to see how deeply Senator Enzi cares for his fellow Wyomingites and how firmly he prioritizes his constituents. As a Senator, he has worked to expand resources for vocational and technical education programs nationwide, and he has worked to protect and create jobs in Wyoming and across the United States as a strong advocate for domestic energy production from a diverse array of sources. Mike has been a longtime member and top Republican of the Senate Budget Committee and, before that, of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Although we certainly have not agreed on many policy issues and priorities over the years, I have greatly appreciated working alongside Senator Enzi to fund and define many other legislative priorities to meet the needs of the American people. I will miss my fellow Italian-Irish friend. We were a proud caucus of the only two Irish-Italian American Senators. Upon his retirement from the Senate, I would like to thank Senator Enzi for his service, and Marcelle and I wish Mike and his wife Diana all the best.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, when Lamar Alexander came to the Senate in 2002, he brought with him a wealth of experience and years of service to the State of Tennessee. As a Senator, he has remained a strong advocate for his State and its citizens, and as a colleague, he has shown a willingness to work across the aisle for the good of his constituents, of the Senate, and of the Nation. Our partnership is one that I will miss when he leaves the Senate. Throughout his career--as Governor of Tennessee, as president of the University of Tennessee, and as the Secretary of Education for President George H.W. Bush, and as a U.S. Senator--Lamar has dedicated himself to improving education quality and access for Tennesseans and all Americans alike. He has continued and advanced that work as the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Senator Alexander has a proven record of working across the aisle to develop solutions to our country's most pressing healthcare and education challenge, and we know there are many. I have had the privilege of working with Senator Alexander for many years on the Appropriations Committee. Senator Alexander has been a trusted partner on the committee, striving to reach bipartisan compromise, which I believe has long been the hallmark of the Appropriations Committee. His work as the current chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee has helped make investments in clean and renewable energy initiatives, which in turn have brought about economic development and investment. I have long appreciated the work he has done to support agencies, programs, and initiatives that improve the lives of all Americans. In a body as divisive as the Senate has come to be in recent times, Lamar has become more than a fellow Senator; he has become a friend. Lamar, Honey, and their children and grandchildren deserve all the best that the coming years have in store for them.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. Pesident, there are some for whom public service simply isn't a choice; it runs through their veins as a calling and a force that draws them to answer an undeniable call. Tom Udall is one of those people, and when the curtain closes on this 116th Congress and on Tom's service in the Senate, it will bookend a career in Congress in which the Udalls, a family steeped in public service, can take great pride. The Udall legacy will live on in its benefits for generations of Americans to come. First as a Representative to the U.S. House and later as a U.S. Senator, Tom has consistently fought for the interests of New Mexico and his State's people. He has been instrumental in the passage of legislation that has not only brought important resources to the people of New Mexico, but has protected and preserved our environment. For his constituents at home, this has meant more conservation of public lands and significant expansions of access to education, healthcare, and land tenure rights for Native Americans in New Mexico and across the United States. Tom fought hard to protect the environment and invest in a more sustainable future. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and as the ranking member of the Interior and Environment Subcommittee, he advocated strongly for continued financial assistance for Federal, State, and local programs that focus on environmental conservation and work to address climate change and its effects. Critically, he fought against draconian budget cuts to such entities as the Environmental Protection Agency and fought to protect our clean air and clean drinking water laws. Working with Tom on the Appropriations Committee, it has been easy to see his clear dedication to his constituents, and his devoted service to country. I was saddened when Tom announced his retirement, but I believe Tom will never close the door on his public service. Marcelle and I wish Tom and his wife Jill, and the rest of their family, all the best in the coming years. It was a privilege to be on the floor of the Senate when Tom gave his farewell address. Such honesty, patriotism, wisdom of how we can and must restore the workings of the Senate--all current Senators and future Senators should listen.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have had the privilege of serving with many, many Senators of both parties and with very many whom I have applauded. Some stand out specially--some for their longevity and some for who they are. Doug Jones stands out for who he is. I think, in listening to his work as a prosecutor--of course, that is near and dear to my heart in my having been a prosecutor--I had never faced what he had. I think of his discussion of the summation he gave in the trial of the people involved with the bombing of the church in Alabama and the killing and maiming of youngsters. In fact, I had a chance to meet one of the survivors of that with Doug, and I saw how she had felt about him all these years later because he had had the courage to stand up and do something that may not have been popular with some in his State, but that had been the right thing to do. In all of the years I have known him here, what he has done has been the right thing to do. Now, I have only had one objection about him. He showed me a picture that was taken when this young man, Doug Jones, was working for Howell Heflin--Judge Heflin, as I recall. They were standing there with these gray beards, and this Senator from Vermont asked: Who is the youngster in the picture? Senator Jones, thank you for bringing that. I know Ann Berry, in my office, got a kick out of that because she had the opportunity to work with you. We have done things that we have been able to joke about, like being in an airplane, where he was sitting in the front and I was sitting in the back. Fortunately, it was on the ground. Senator Jones hollered out to somebody, one of the military people there: Where is the button for the ejection seat for the back? It caught my attention. I have also seen this man sit there and try to discuss legislation. He would ask: How will that help people? I don't want this because it is politically beneficial to me. How will it help people? I have heard about towns now in Alabama that I had never heard about. I have also heard things he would tell me about that would make me think of towns in Vermont and make me realize we were talking about the same problems. Never once would he say: These are Republicans or these are Democrats. He would say: These are people in Alabama who need help. So we would work on that. I will speak further about this, but, Senator Jones, I think of you and your wonderful family. I think of the trips you and your wife and my wife and I have taken together, and I feel that I have been a better Senator for knowing you and traveling with you and listening to you. I will miss you, my friend, and I will speak further on this. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I know we are about to vote, and I will speak further at another time about Senator Udall, but I just want to tell him what I told you--all of you--what I said to him when he finished speaking: In my 46 years here, it is one of the finest and most moving, heartfelt, honest speeches I have heard. I have also sent a note, I say to Senator Udall, to Jill Udall to tell her how great you are, but I think she probably knew it. But I will speak further at another time. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEAHY

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

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, speaking both as a Senator from Vermont and as vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I am speaking with concern about what has been happening in the Senate. It has been 321 days since the first COVID-19 case was reported in the United States--321 days. It has been 282 days since the first COVID-19 death was reported in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate in November was 6.7 percent, nearly double the rate in November of last year. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the country have closed permanently, all due to COVID. As of today, there are more than 14,800,000 reported cases of COVID- 19 in the United States. To put that in perspective, that is 1 million more than just a week ago. More than 282,000 Americans have died, and it has been 256 days since the Senate passed the CARES Act--256 days since the Senate acted in a comprehensive, meaningful way to address the real and mounting concerns and needs of our constituents. My State of Vermont is like everywhere else. Healthcare workers, caregivers, business owners, employees, teachers, and students are all in need of support during these difficult and uncertain times. We have families wrestling with heightened food insecurity. People for the first time in their lives cannot feed their children and they cannot feed themselves. They have the threat of eviction from their homes hanging over them. We have States that are strapped by budget shortfalls and are forced to lay off thousands of employees, people who have worked so hard for the people of their State. It has been 205 days since the House first passed the Heroes Act, and it has been 65 days since they stepped forward to offer a substantial compromise on the Heroes Act and passed it again. And where does it sit? It sits on my friend the Republican leader's desk. It is collecting dust. It is the largest and most significant bill in the McConnell legislative graveyard. Why aren't we voting? Look what happens. We can't even bring ourselves to actually vote on something to help Americans, to help the people of our own States. They are being thrown out of their houses, their apartments, and out of their jobs, and we come in for a few days and then get on an airplane and fly back home, and the taxpayers pay for it, taxpayers paying our salaries and all and nothing happens. Now, like millions of Americans, I am encouraged by the news of recent weeks that pharmaceutical companies are making significant progress on vaccine development. I am encouraged that some of these vaccines may be available as early as later this month. Let's not forget why we were able to develop vaccines so quickly. It is because of longstanding Federal investment in cutting-edge research at the National Institutes of Health--research that has been backed by so many of us in both parties for years in this body. NIH funded research in genetic and genomic sequencing and enabled the research of COVID-19 that led to the vaccine. This is the power of Federal dollars when it is targeted to solve a national--a national--problem. We need more of that today. The development of several promised vaccines is great news, but if you don't have a comprehensive plan in place and resources implemented, how can we be sure the vaccination is safe, effective, widely available, and free? Can anybody stand up and say that every part of their State will have vaccination? No, the money is not there yet, and we haven't done anything on that. It is a complete abdication of our responsibility as elected Representatives that we have simply failed to act. Now, I know that my friends across the aisle will probably rush to the floor, and they will blame Democrats for stalling on their inadequate, face-saving proposal that they went through the motions to bring before the elections. Remember what it was. It was a give-away to insurance companies, and they didn't even have the courage to allow amendments for people to actually have to vote up or down. It is easier to make a face-saving gesture knowing it would not go anywhere. Sure, it made some investments in small businesses. It provided some employment relief, albeit at a significantly reduced level. But it also tied educational relief to forcing kids back into the classroom, even if it is an area where it was not safe to accommodate those children. It failed to deliver on relief to State and local governments, which are continuing to try to provide essential services to their communities, as our government is in Vermont. It included nothing for Low Income Home Energy Assistance, or LIHEAP. And it was snowing in our State and in a lot of other northern States this weekend. It had no funding for mental health services. Can you imagine what is going on-- no funding for mental health service? There is no funding for nutrition assistance. There wasn't a dime for NIH research. And it didn't have a plan--a vigorous plan--or an investment in vaccination production and distribution. It is one thing to say we have these supercold things on an airplane. Wonderful. When are you going to be able to bring it to our factories, our schools, our hospitals, and our senior citizens and actually vaccinate them? So what was the legislation brought up here? It created a shield for corporate misconduct. And what it said is that my friends, the Republicans, are more keen to shield corporate cronies than to work on behalf of the American people. That is a sham. It is a shame, especially when you find that at least in one of those corporations that want a shield, the managers were betting on who would get COVID first. In my home State of Vermont, our Governor and our State legislature, our mayors, and our town leaders across State have taken bold moves to slow the spread of COVID. Our Governor is Republican, and I am a Democrat. I praise him for what he did. I talked with him again today about the steps he has taken--difficult steps, hard steps, but steps to keep Vermonters safe. And these moves taken in my State of Vermont resulted in lower instances of the virus than anywhere else in the country. But as the Governor said and what I have said and everybody else has said, they have come with a cost. We have kept people safe, but not without a cost. Unemployment remains. Small businesses continue to struggle, if they are even able to stay in existence. That says nothing of the personal hardship families are facing across our small State One elderly woman called my office. She expressed frustration with the President. She told may staff that she has only been able to visit her husband, who is in a medical rehab facility, a couple of times during this pandemic due to COVID restrictions. That is not an anecdote. That is a personal tragedy. In Vermont, the State and local governments are worrying about how to clear the roads this winter if COVID hits the plow crews. Snow removal isn't a luxury in Vermont in the winter. It is a necessity. We sometimes have 7, 8, 9, 10 inches of snow overnight. But we expect our businesses and our schools to open that day. I don't know how many times, at home, on a snowy night, I wake at 4:30 in the morning as I hear the snowplows going by on the road, and I know I can get to my office a couple of hours later--and we have had nearly a foot of snow. My staff spoke with one Vermont mother--not unusual. She is raising a son with autism. With school systems strained to their limits, special education services have been sharply reduced. That is going to have a lasting impact on these students, both educationally and socially. For those who are facing challenges like addiction, depression, or mental health issues--and that can be any one of our States--or who were simply down on their luck before COVID hit earlier this year, access to vital resources like counseling or intervention has been made more complicated by COVID restrictions, often with tragic results. I heard of one Vermonter who passed away alone in a motel room in Rutland in October. Battling mental health issues, he had become homeless just as COVID struck earlier this year. And due to the risks of the virus, family and friends were unable to take him into their homes. This isn't just a story. It is a man's life. And there are so many more people out there facing the same struggles. We are seeing images of car lines at food banks stretching for miles, as an unprecedented wave of food insecurity is washing over our country. In my State alone, one in every four Vermonters are now food insecure. Before this pandemic, it was already an unacceptable 1 in 10. We are asking children to learn without providing the necessary resources their teachers need. We are asking families to pay rent without their jobs and for people to deal with their chronic illnesses while our hospitals are still stretched to capacity. All of this is while an unacceptable amount of people are unsure how they will put food on the table through the end of the week in the wealthiest Nation on Earth. That is unconscionable. I must say that the leadership across the aisle has got to bring up these bills. Stop stalling. You know, they say we only need a targeted approach, and they point to the stock market as proof. These people who are out of jobs aren't looking at the stock market. These people who can't feed their children aren't looking at the stock market. For these people whose rent has come due and they can't pay it, to them that is nonsense. The economy is not going to recover until we have vanquished the virus. It is that simple. It is that basic. And people are suffering now. That is the cost of inaction--inaction on real, comprehensive, COVID relief legislation. Now with our backs against the wall with a funding deadline looming, we are racing to accomplish what should have been done months ago: annual appropriations bills to keep our government running. We were ready on this side of the aisle to vote on those back in June and have a couple of amendments up or down. Republicans, in the majority, if they didn't like a Democratic amendment, they could vote it down. We could have done it back then. Now the deadline is this week, months later. We have to pass these bills before Congress adjourns this year so there is no disruption in our government, in our services during this difficult time in our country. It will only exacerbate the growing problems facing many Americans today. But our annual appropriations bills are no substitute for the significant investment we need to confront this national and international emergency. We need a comprehensive COVID relief bill. It is time to get serious. Instead of flying off every weekend back home, stay here. Vote these things up or down. Bring up amendments on both sides of the aisle. Have an agreement on the amendments and vote them up or down, because time is wasted. How many hours have we spent racing to confirm nomination after nomination at the expense of everything else, including dealing with the emergency of this pandemic, while COVID cases soar and more and more people succumb to this virus? How much more time will the Senate waste while American families and communities suffer? It is time for us to do our job. We are elected for 6-year terms. Let's stay here for 6 days during the week, if need be. Let's get it done. The American people are suffering enough. We shouldn't be adding to that strain by playing politics with these essential priorities I am hearing from Vermonters every day, worried about unemployment benefits, their children's education, their health or for that of their loved ones, about food security, about keeping their homes and paying their bills. The Senate, when it has been at its best, has been the conscience of the Nation. It is long past time that we started acting like the conscience of the Nation. It has been 256 days since the Senate took meaningful action on this COVID epidemic. We shouldn't wait a day longer. Let's set everything else aside. Let's have votes on these programs. Let's vote up or down. This Senator is ready to do that. I see the distinguished leader on the floor. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I see nobody within 15 or 20 feet of me, so I will take the mask off, and I appreciate the fact the distinguished Presiding Officer recognized who it was even with the mask. I have a couple of things that concern me. I was going through the history and looking at transitions between Presidents. I was struck by--even Presidents who did not like their successor--how hard they worked to make sure that everything was done properly for the good of the country. No matter how they might feel about themselves personally, they set the country first and foremost. I contrast that with what is happening now. Former Vice President, former U.S. Senator--I served with him--Joe Biden, got the most votes of any Democratic nominee for President in the history of this country--millions more than what President Trump got. He has an insurmountable lead in certified electoral votes. Yet the President, for weeks, refused even to carry out the law that we all voted for--Republicans and Democrats alike--to provide for transition whenever there is a transition, a law that was used quickly when President Trump was elected. Even though Hillary Clinton had millions more votes than he did, she conceded the election, and within a day, the transition began. The idea is, whoever is President must know what is going on. Certainly, the distinguished Presiding Officer, like all of us, has access to and gets intelligence briefings on what is happening around the world. I think it discloses nothing to say we live in perilous times, and there are decisions any President must make, even if it is 5 minutes after they are inaugurated, as was the potential when President Obama was inaugurated the first time. He actually had talking points to alert people to clear the malls in case there was an attack. Instead, today is only the first day that President-Elect Biden is getting the Presidential briefing. Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, of course, has the advantage as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee to have a lot of that material anyway, but now they both do. But we look so foolish in the eyes of the rest of the world. We lecture dictatorships when they have rigged an election so they can stay. We lecture them for doing that. We lecture those people who refuse to give up their office. Yet now they see the United States, the leading democratic country in the world, the country that always espouses democracy, saying: Well, we are not going to follow our Constitution. We are not going to follow our laws. We will allow a lot of tweets from the incumbent, but we are not going to follow our law. What kind of example is that? Then the President does even worse by saying: Well, I am getting these calls from all these world leaders saying to stick it out. But, of course, when asked ``Well, who were they?'' suddenly he can't seem to remember who it was who called--if there were any such calls; I suspect there weren't. Let's stop the charade. Let's make more of an effort to have a smooth transition. There are enough things that face this country. We should not have, for the first time in our history, this kind of foolishness. I applaud those few members of the Republican Party who have been honest enough to say: It is over. We know it is over. I think when you go back in history, when Richard Nixon faced impeachment and ultimate conviction here in the Senate, some of the most respected Republican Senators went down to see him quietly--people like Hugh Scott, the Republican leader, whom I got to know well, and Barry Goldwater, ``Mr. Conservative,'' whom I got to know well. They went down--not with any happiness in doing this, as one of them told me subsequently there was actually sorrow in their hearts--to tell the President he had to leave; the time had come. The President did, and the Republicans and Democrats came together to help install the next President, Jerry Ford, and the next Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller. The two of them became the first President and Vice President never to have been elected. Jerry Ford and Nelson Rockefeller were the first President and Vice President never to be elected but to be appointed. That was about the time I came to the Senate. I remember hearing Republicans and Democrats alike saying: We might not like to say what happened, but we knew the government had to keep going, and we had to show credibility to the rest of the world. So long as we pretend that we have a Presidency by tweet, we don't show that integrity to the rest of the world. I was there for the inauguration of President Trump. Even though I had a different candidate and voted for her, Secretary and former Senator Hillary Clinton, I was there--as was Secretary Clinton and her husband, former President Clinton, and outgoing President Obama and outgoing Vice President Biden--to show the world that we have continuity. Even though there is a vast difference of opinion, we have continuity. That is not the image we are showing now. With everything that is happening, whether it is in Iran or, economically, with Brexit and the United Kingdom or a COVID epidemic around the world, we, the United States of America, should show unity, at least under our Constitution. Of course, Republicans should be supporting Republicans and, of course, Democrats should be supporting Democrats. But the one thing we should all be supportive of is our Constitution and our laws. We stand down there--the proudest moments of my life were standing down here and taking my oath to uphold the Constitution as United States Senator, just as I did when I became President pro tempore. I did it to uphold the Constitution of the United States, not the Constitution of the Democratic Party, not the Constitution of the Republican Party, but the Constitution of the United States of America. Let's get on with the transition. Let's make America strong again. Let's do what is necessary to be done to fight this COVID epidemic. In that regard, we have two matters that should be the most important matters before us. One is getting an omnibus because, after all, in a couple of weeks, funding for the United States of America will run out, and we don't want to have one of those foolish shutdowns that we had before that cost the taxpayers billions and billions of dollars. Only four of us--Senator Shelby and myself and our counterparts in the House just down the hall--met in my office and worked out a bipartisan resolution and passed the spending bill so that we could put the government back in order. Ironically, it was exactly what we had offered weeks before. For some reason the White House didn't want to accept it, and billions of dollars of taxpayers' money were lost. Now we have a life-or-death issue that goes beyond even the spending, and that is COVID. The House of Representatives, back in June, I believe it was, passed the Heroes Act to have money, equipment, and so forth for those who are suffering because of the COVID epidemic, like the small stores, inns, restaurants, and so forth in my State, to say nothing about our hospitals that are overwhelmed. We had money in there. The Republican leader refused to even bring the bill up for a vote. I can't say why. The Republicans are in the majority. Bring it up. Have four or five amendments on both sides. Have four or five Republican amendments and four or five Democratic amendments. Vote them up or down. What are we afraid of? Why would we refuse to vote? If the Republican leader doesn't like the bill, instead of blocking it and not even having a vote on it, vote it up or down. The Republicans are in the majority. They could vote down any aid for the States that are suffering with COVID, but vote it up or down. I have heard some Senators say: But they are nervous. Whichever way they vote, it might be uncomfortable back home. It might not be politically good for them back home. Balderdash. The fact is that we were sent here to vote. I have voted more than any Senator in the history of this country, save one. I have cast well over 16,000 votes. If people were to go back to those votes and ask: ``What were you thinking on this vote in 1978 or 1986 or 1995,'' I would probably look at it and say, ``Hmm. In retrospect, I think I probably screwed up.'' Yet I was willing to vote. I was willing to vote. When I was the key vote in the Armed Services Committee to stop the war in Vietnam, I knew that our State's largest newspaper would attack me mercilessly, and it did for months after that. It would be hard today to find anybody who would be in favor of continuing that war in Vietnam, but we had five votes in a row in the Armed Services Committee, and each one failed by one vote. I was its newest member, but I was there to vote, which is what we have to do. I look at some of my friends on the Republican side who have joined me on some very tough votes. I don't want to embarrass the senior Senator from Texas, but he is on the floor. With regard to the Freedom of Information Act, we stood up against both Republicans and Democrats and said: No, we are standing up for the people of America, and we are going to have votes on this so they can see what their government is doing. That is what we have to go back to. We have to go back to the time when we could do that. What I would urge of the Republican leadership is to bring up a COVID bill--a real COVID bill. Have a few amendments on both sides. Vote them up or down. If you don't like an amendment somebody has, vote against it. If you like it, vote for it. Let the American people at least have some hope that we are doing something for them. Too many businesses are going out of business. Too many families don't know what they are going to do when the schools close. Too many small hospitals, especially in rural areas, wonder what they are going to do as COVID sweeps through. Let's give them some hope. Let's say to the people: No, you are not going to be kicked out of your home. No, you are not going to be living in your car. We will give you money to get through this, knowing that the economy can be much stronger afterward if you do. Certainly, it is going to be much stronger for those in our labor force if they are still in their homes, as the jobs open back up, than if they are homeless. So let's do that. Let's bring it up and vote. Senator Shelby and I have worked very, very hard on bipartisan legislation for the omnibus. We probably have, maybe, 95 to 98 percent of it agreed on. Bring it up. Then, on the 2 or 3 or 4 percent, bring votes up. Vote it up or vote it down. After all, the Republicans are in the majority. If they don't like it, vote it down, but let's get the vast bulk of it through, which is something that both Republicans and Democrats have worked together on. My staff has worked together with the Republicans' staff, and we have something we can do there. So vote it up or vote it down. Let's just vote on it. Then let's let people leave here. Let our staffs, the people who work in the hallway, and the people who are here on the floor go where it is safe. I am glad to see the distinguished Presiding Officer has gotten over his own bout of COVID. He and everybody else here who has suffered from it have been in my prayers, but there are millions of others who are suffering from it, and in the highest number we have ever had, they are dying from it. Let's get together. Let's do what the American people want. Let's do what we were elected to do. Let's not be afraid to vote. Don't be afraid to vote. Certainly, I may have thought long and hard about some of those 16,000 votes I have cast, but I have never been afraid to vote. I have never been afraid to vote. I see my colleague and friend waiting for the chance to speak, so I yield the floor.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, there is no question that 2020 has been a year of challenges, difficulty, and concern. It is in these more challenging times that it is especially important to shine a light on those individuals and institutions that are doing good work, work that inspires the next generation of leaders to think bigger and create a brighter future. It is no surprise that Georgetown Law, where I earned my law degree, is doing precisely that, living up to its timeless motto: ``Law is but the means, justice is the end.'' This fall, Georgetown Law has offered a unique course entitled ``Lawyers as Leaders'' for the first time. Far from a staid black letter law class, this course is styled as a series of candid, introspective conversations between Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor and faculty members who have been prominent leaders in the law and public service. These conversations seek to confront law students with the pressing issues of the day--the COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustices, the fragility of our democracy's norms, to name a few--and give them a sense for what, as future attorneys, they can do to address them. In a time of unprecedented uncertainty, the course is a reminder, as one enrolled student put it, ``that there is hope.'' Lawyers as Leaders centers students in the values that inspired them to study the law and reminds them of their own agency to make measurable change. It is no wonder that over 300 students have enrolled in this course, the largest class enrollment in Georgetown Law's 150-year history. I hope this course is offered for many semesters to come. I have often highlighted the achievements of Georgetown Law both on and off the Senate floor. The education I received there was central to my decision to dedicate my career to public service. It is exactly courses like Lawyers as Leaders that will help encourage this and future classes of Georgetown Law students to pursue their passions as attorneys. Georgetown Law should be commended for offering this course and reminding students that the law is most exciting and transformative when it is viewed not just as a career, but as a calling. I ask unanimous consent that an article from the Washington Post, published on November 6, 2020, titled ``Most popular course ever at Georgetown Law? How to fight for justice,'' be printed in the Record.

Mr. LEAHY

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

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am struck by the fact, as I call people around my State of Vermont, which, like your State and every State, has suffered from COVID--although I compliment our Republican Governor, who has kept the numbers down lower than practically any other State in the country. But we are facing winter, and even today, the outgoing President does not seem to be willing to acknowledge the huge mistake he made in not accepting the fact that we had a COVID pandemic coming to this country. We lost too much time preparing for it. We are still not adequately prepared for it. We could take some hope in the news of new vaccinations, but even that is going to take months before than can be fully implemented. The reason I mention this is that the Senate time and again is voting on judicial nominees who have been recommended predominantly by a special interest group or a couple of different special interest groups. We have to vote on these special interest judges for lifetime appointments, but we can't do a single thing to help the average people who are suffering because of COVID. It should not be a Republican or a Democratic issue. In my State, I hear from business people who have small B&Bs, may have a restaurant and a small business--they don't identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats; they just say: We can't open. What are we going to do? I hear from parents who say: What is being done so our kids can go back to school? The schools say they could probably do something, but they need the money to set up various COVID protections. Small hospitals are overwhelmed. We have seen this in States all over the country. The hospitals are being overwhelmed, and the people working there are being overwhelmed. The U.S. Senate hasn't done a single thing. We had a bill before us from the House in June and July. We could have voted on it. The Republican leader said: No, we can't, because there are some parts we Republicans may not like. Well, that is why you vote. Bring it up. Vote it up or vote it down. Bring up amendments. Vote for them or vote against them, but do it. Instead, we spend our time day after day after day voting on special interest judges--people who have been proposed by special interests groups, who are picked because they feel they would vote with these special interests groups. What we should be doing is taking a little time off from that and voting for the American people. In my State, we have Republicans and Democrats. We have a Republican Governor who is doing an excellent job. He has just been reelected. We have a wonderful Democratic woman who has been elected as the new Lieutenant Governor. They both want to work together to get people back to school, back to work, protect their health. They keep saying: When is the help coming from Washington I think that instead of spending all of this time talking about fanciful thoughts--I saw one of the Trump supporters on television saying that she was there to rally for Donald Trump, to resist those millions of votes that came in at the last minute from China, into these voting booths. She thoroughly believed it, and she seemed like a really intelligent person. But let's talk about reality. The reality is that COVID did not go away in the spring, as the President said. The reality is that you have to wear masks. The reality is that you have to take steps to keep from getting COVID. The reality is that our schools are suffering, our families are suffering, our small businesses are suffering, our government agencies are suffering-- America is suffering. I think about a few years ago when we had the Ebola plague, and the Obama administration put in place, with strong bipartisan support, a special unit at the White House to react to plagues or serious novel diseases coming here. As a result, America was protected. But what we also did, as America does best, is we helped other countries to handle the question of Ebola. What did we do when this administration came in? Well, because President Obama set up that infectious disease unit, they quickly disbanded it. For months, as these reports were coming in making it very clear we were facing a serious threat to the United States, they ignored it and refused to acknowledge it. Now at least they have acknowledged it somewhat but are unwilling to take the steps necessary to fight it. So I suggest that the U.S. Senate do its job. Hold off for a while on these special interest judges and actually vote for the things that help people who don't have special interests--the vast majority of Republicans and Democrats, men and women, families throughout the United States of America. Do something to help them. Bring up the bills. Bring up the COVID bills. Bring up the appropriations bills. Certainly, Senator Shelby and I are prepared to bring them to the floor. If people don't like a particular bill, then bring up an amendment. Vote it up or down. What are we afraid of? Why are we afraid to vote? Vote it up or down. Let the American people see what we are doing. Certainly, I do not know a single person, Republican or Democrat, in my State who would tell me: Well, I would much rather have you vote on these special interest judges than to vote on things that might actually help us keep our businesses from closing, help us be able to afford our kids going to school, help us put food on our table. That is what we should be doing. Let's vote on real things. Let's vote on the COVID appropriations. Let's vote on the help. Let's bring up our appropriations bills. After all, in just a few weeks, all funding for the government stops. Bring it up and vote on it. Vote up on down. If people don't want to fund the government, then vote no. If they want to fund the government, vote yes. If they don't like a particular part of the funding package, bring up an amendment and have the courage to put your name on it and then vote up or down. I will speak further on this as we go on. I see one of my colleagues on the floor. I think he wants to speak. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEAHY

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

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I see the majority leader on the floor, and while I have the floor, of course, as a matter of courtesy, I will yield to him if he has some comments he wants to make and ask that I then be recognized.

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, before I do yield, I understand Senator Schumer is coming. So I will yield the floor to accommodate our two leaders, but then I would ask I be recognized.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I believe under our original agreement, I am recognized next. Is that correct?

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I appreciate what the Democratic leader has said. I was willing to step aside earlier when I had the floor because I understood the two leaders were coming to speak. It was a matter of courtesy to them, and I know the Democratic leader, at least, appreciated that. Let me agree with what he said. You know, when I came here, the President of the United States was an unelected President, and there was an unelected Vice President. It was Jerry Ford. And then, under the change in our law since President Kennedy's death, he was able to pick an unelected Vice President. I remember Democrats and Republicans alike welcoming him and saying: Let's go forward. I have been here with each President--some reelected, some not--and, in every instance, I see the outgoing President welcoming the incoming President, Republican or Democrat, and they have done it to try to make as smooth a transition not for their own political purposes but for the good of the United States of America. Everyone has done that. I think it was George H.W. Bush welcoming Bill Clinton, who defeated him. I remember Al Gore had more votes than George W. Bush, but after the Court had ruled, he graciously conceded to George W. Bush. I remember Hillary Clinton, with well over 2 million more votes than Donald Trump, but saying that here is what the electoral college is and conceded. Now we see Joseph Biden, with more votes than anybody has ever gotten in the history of the United States for President, and the incumbent President goes off golfing again and again and pretends he doesn't have to step back, and, in fact, actually does everything possible to make it difficult for the new President to handle the transition. That is wrong. Just as I have encouraged both Democrats and Republicans as President, you help the incoming President with transition, not for your political reasons or their political reasons but for the good of all of us as Americans. They are saying: Oh, no, we are going to hold the key to the door of the transition office. Every Republican and every Democrat voted for the money for that transition office so that whoever is President could step forward and not hurt the country by coming in without doing the necessary preparation. They are like a little child in a playground: No, we got the key; we got the key. We are not going to share the key. Oh, come on. Do you know how this makes us look to the rest of the world? Do you know how it makes us look in my State of Vermont, where some Republicans voted for Donald Trump and some voted for Joe Biden? The majority voted, in this case, for Joe Biden. But I have been hearing from Vermonters all over from both parties: What is going on? It is over. It is done for the country. In that regard, let me just speak briefly about the President-elect and the Vice President-elect. When I came to this body, I was the most junior Member of the U.S. Senate and the second youngest. The youngest was a Senator from Delaware who had been elected just 2 years before, Joe Biden. I think of the fact that we were the two youngest, and we bonded over that, and I got to know his family. I knew of the tragedy he had when his first wife and daughter were killed. He would go home every day to make sure that he could put his sons to bed and be there with them. I don't know how many times we would be standing down there in the well, and he was looking at his watch, and he said: What time do you think the last votes are going to be, because the next train to Delaware is at such and such time? He was like a marathon runner going out the door to make sure he got the train, which he did, to be home to take care of his children. I remember how happy Marcelle and I were when we met Jill--what a wonderful woman. Dr. Biden was everything you would want in a First Lady in this country. We had the privilege of traveling with both of them and seeing the love and the joy they had in each other's company, the love and the joy they have shown in their children and grandchildren, and continue to. I watched Joe Biden, with a sense of dignity, as he ran for election to the Presidency, an office he had hoped to hold and probably thought he never would. I know that he wanted to run 4 years ago, but it was too close to the time of losing his son Beau. I had the privilege of knowing Beau. In fact, the last time I talked to him was on one of the battlefields in Iraq where he was serving in combat for our U.S. military. I told him at that time: You know, when I get back on the plane, I am going to call your father. I always do this when I meet a Vermonter in a war zone. I call their family and say they are doing well. I will call your dad and tell him. When I got on the plane and connected with the White House operator, I remember then-Vice President Biden coming on. After a ways, he said: I know what you are going to say. I got an email from Beau. I remember when Marcelle and I stood there and tears went down her face listening to President Obama eulogizing Beau at his funeral. We all felt as part of that family. So there was joy in the Leahy household when he was elected--not just a joy for the good of the country but the joy of seeing a person whom we know, love, and respect elected as President. And added to that is the added advantage of Kamala Harris, one of our Senate colleagues here. I remember when Senator Harris came to the Senate, and I was so happy to see her going on the Judiciary Committee because she had been such a good prosecutor and such a good attorney general. She was a woman who didn't need to have much of an orientation. She knew exactly what she was doing. We have gotten to know her and her husband and admire her so. Then, when she spoke--as they accepted the fact that they were President and Vice President-elect--she said how proud she was to be there with President-Elect Biden and how proud she was to speak about her background and her immigrant parents coming here, the different races shown in her background, and what she was saying, as she said, to ``women everywhere.'' But I would say also what she shows to young women, those not old enough to vote, like my granddaughters, and they can look at that and say: That shows everything is open. You know, I come from a State where it is unusual to be elected the first time because, well, I am the only Democrat ever elected to the U.S. Senate in Vermont's history, and the youngest also. I wasn't supposed to win. We were overwhelmingly a Republican State then. We have become now one of both parties. In the last election, for example, there was a Republican Governor. This year, in the last few days, our Republican Governor won overwhelmingly, and Molly Gray, a young woman that started out as an intern in my office and went to the University of Vermont, won comfortably and by a comfortable margin as a Democrat. But also, our Republican Governor said on election day that for the good of the country, to stop the dissension, to lower the kind of rhetoric we were hearing, he was going to vote for Joseph Biden. Now, I mention that just as a microcosm in our State. But to go back to just a purely personal thing, Marcelle and I prayed for that day. We were so happy to see our friends. We were so happy to know they were there. And, as one who has known Joe Biden from the day I came into the Senate, I still remember, to this day, his coming over to greet me on the floor and saying: I am glad to see us young people here. I was about a year or so older than he, and we were sitting kind of in the junior role, and that friendship has lasted ever since. I know Joe Biden. I know Jill Biden. I know the United States of America, and at a time when we are so torn apart, these are two people who can bring us back together. I know Kamala Harris. We know her wonderful husband. And here, my goodness, what a broad spectrum right there. In one way, it is unique. In another way, it is not the least bit unique. It is the face of America. It is the face of America. The diversity in our country of race, religion, everything--it is reflected in this ticket. It couldn't be better for the beginning of this century to have such a wide spectrum shown in the President and Vice President of the United States. I think of what the mayor of Paris said. She issued a statement sort of to the effect of ``Welcome back, America.'' Well, this is an America that represents all of us. We should all get together to try to make it successful. If Senators disagree on a particular issue, vote up or down, but have the courage to vote. Have the courage to vote. Don't do what we have done this past year, refusing to vote on COVID as thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people die in our country. Have the courage to get up and vote. Vote yes or no. We are here with 6-year terms. We ought to at least have the courage to vote yes or no. And then let's take a pause and say that these are the two who will be the face of America from noon, January 20. From a personal point of view, that face reflects very much our family--our children and our grandchildren. I can see them in these four people, and I am proud of that. I will admit that I have gotten a few emails from my Irish friends to say how much they are looking forward to a President Biden coming to Ireland, and they have forgiven me my Italian half with that. But I know that when I heard Joe Biden quoting Seamus Heaney during his campaign, I remember that he knows those Irish roots. But he, like his family, are first and foremost Americans. Like his late, wonderful son Beau, they are first and foremost Americans. Kamala Harris speaks of her family, her ancestors coming here, her mother and father coming here, coming not to be anything other than Americans. They are as American as she is. She is as American as any of us. I will close with this. Isn't it time the United States of America--a country that has become as diverse as you can imagine--can show their face to the rest of the world and say: This is who we are. And my grandchildren--my White grandchildren and my Black grandchildren--can look and say: Yes, that is who we are. Joe and Kamala, in a few days I will call you Mr. President and Madam Vice President, and I will do it with great pride. But I say today to my dear friends Joe and Kamala: Congratulations. This Vermonter is very, very happy. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I would like to recognize Nancy Everhart on the occasion of her retirement from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. Nancy Everhart has been a true Vermont leader in agriculture and conservation, dedicating her decades-long career to the protection of farmland and the viability of the farmers who rely on it. She retires with an extensive list of accomplishments. The passion she applies to her work has had a tremendous impact on the Vermont landscape, as well as our Nation's agricultural future. Nancy was a farmer first. As a strong pioneer of Vermont's organic movement during the 1980s, she was among the first Vermonters to sell organic milk to her community. Her work and that of other like-minded farmers in Vermont were catalysts in the early organic movement that ultimately led me to introduce the Organic Food Production Act as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Enacted as part of the 1990 farm bill, that bill created the first-ever standards and label for what is now a $50 billion industry. Even as she became a national leader in conservation, Nancy has still maintained a small, diversified, organic farm at her home in Marshfield, VT. Her personal experiences as a farmer have afforded her a unique perspective and credibility to bring to each phase of her career. As the conservation director for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Nancy has led or contributed directly to the conservation of more than 77,000 acres across nearly 500 parcels of Vermont farmland. These projects have helped to keep Vermont farms viable by allowing farm owners to access substantial capital and benefit from their most valuable asset, their land. Those benefits, however, do not stop at the fence line. Nancy knows that investments in preserving working landscapes benefit the rural communities that surround them and contribute greatly to the tourist and outdoor economies of rural States like Vermont. They can be a bridge to the next generation, often providing young and beginning farmers the opportunity to overcome their biggest hurdle: accessing affordable farmland to start and grow their enterprise. When that succession of stewardship is broken and working lands fall out of production, it can exact an immeasurable price from the community. Nancy's decades of work have exemplified and brought home to Vermont exactly the outcomes that I envisioned when I worked to establish the Federal role for farmland protection in the 1990 and 1996 farm bills. Since that time, Nancy has drawn on her vast experience to provide counsel on how to expand that role and continually improve farmland conservation provisions, including most recently in the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program --ACEP--provisions of the 2018 farm bill. Those provisions greatly enhance the delivery and flexibility of farmland conservation programs, not just for Vermont but across the entire United States. As a farmer herself, Nancy Everhart understands the challenges that farmers face, and she has dedicated a portion of her work to improving farm viability, increasing diversification, and providing opportunities for young Vermonters to realize their own farm dreams. As she retires, Nancy's enthusiasm and commitment to Vermont agriculture will continue to be reflected in our State's working landscape and resilient farmers.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, just 4 weeks ago, Members of the Senate gathered just down the hallway in Statuary Hall. We gathered to honor Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. Justice Ginsburg was a trailblazer, a woman who may have stood at just over five feet tall but was nonetheless a giant of the law. The nation grieved for her, not simply because she wasa a brilliant lawyer and Justice, but because she was a fighter. And she fought for those who needed fighting for most--Americans for whom the promise of America was still just a promise. I have spoken at length about what Justice Ginsburg meant to the struggle for equality for millions of Americans. I will not repeat those words today, except to say that Justice Ginsburg's life's work left our nation a more perfect union. We will forever be in her debt. A day after we gathered in Statuary Hall, with the nation in mourning--and days before Justice Ginsburg was laid to rest with her husband in Arlington Cemetery--the President held a celebratory ceremony to nominate her replacement. The masks were off at that Rose Garden ceremony, in more ways than one. Republicans made it clear they would stop at nothing to confirm Justice Ginsburg's replacement before a Presidential election just weeks away. Yes, the masks were off. From that moment, the confirmation process for Judge Amy Coney Barrett has been a caricature of illegitimacy. I will not dispute that it is the responsibility of this body to consider Justice Ginsburg's replacement to the Supreme Court. But this is not how we should do it. Not during such a polarizing time for our country, just one week from a Presidential election after more than 57 million Americans have already voted. Not at the expense of every precedent and principle this institution once stood for. Not when doing so requires that half of the United States Senate go back on their word, contradicting every argument they once made about Supreme Court vacancies during an election year. Not when this sprint to confirm Judge Barrett gave the Judiciary Committee just 2 weeks to prepare for her hearings, when the Committee has afforded itself three times as long to vet other modern nominees to our nation's highest court. Not when records of Judge Barrett's undisclosed speeches and materials have continued to pour in, even after her hearings, revealing what a slipshod process this has been from start to finish. And not when the Senate is doing nothing--nothing--to pass a desperately needed COVID relief bill. Every Senator knows in their heart this is wrong. Senator McConnell ramming this nomination through no matter the cost, while worrying about the politics of providing relief to millions of Americans suffering during this still-worsening pandemic--which has left 225,000 Americans dead--says everything one needs to know about the priorities of today's Republican Party. Yes, the masks are off. It is far from a secret why President Trump and Senate Republicans are hell-bent on confirming Judge Barrett before Election Day. All you have to do is look at the calendar: On November 10, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in California v. Texas, the Republican-led lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act. And Republicans see a Justice Barrett as an insurance policy to ensure there will be a five-vote majority to finally strike down the law. Judiciary Committee Republicans spent last week crying foul, complaining that it is fearmongering to claim that they see this vacancy as an opportunity to overturn the ACA. But fear mongering implies that we're not talking about the facts. So let's review some basic facts. It is the Republican Attorneys General who are asking the Court to throw out the entire ACA. Not just part of it--all of it. It is the Trump Justice Department that has sided with the Republican-led lawsuit. And it is this Republican-led Senate, in a vote just weeks ago, that gave the green light to the Trump Justice Department to take this position--a position that, if successful, would terminate health insurance for more than 20 million Americans, terminate the Medicaid expansion for 15 million more, and terminate protections for 130 million Americans with preexisting conditions. While disappointing, this Senate vote was hardly surprising. Republicans in Congress have now voted to repeal or gut the ACA at least 70 times--seventy, as in seven-zero. As if Republicans could not be clearer about their intentions, just days ago President Trump was asked on national television about the fate of the ACA before the Supreme Court. He said: ``I hope that they end it. It'll be so good if they end it.'' Like Captain Ahab of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Republicans have been single-mindedly obsessed with killing the ACA--their great white whale--since the moment the law was enacted. Having failed thus far in both Congress and the courts, they see Judge Barrett as the final harpoon to once and for all end the law. So when Republicans plead innocent and claim they have no intentions of taking away people's health care protections, Americans will remember that their actions speak much louder than their words. And Republicans have yet another horse in this race--that is, the actual race for the White House and Congress. Always one to say the quiet part out loud, President Trump has repeatedly stated his expectation that his nominee will side with him in any election-related dispute. Baselessly claiming that Democrats have ``rigged'' the election and falsely labeling mail-in ballots as a ``scam,'' President Trump promises to challenge any election loss in the courts. That's why he says ``it's very important that we have nine justices.'' Another Republican on the Judiciary Committee has echoed the President, claiming that the ``entire reason'' they need Judge Barrett confirmed now is to ensure that no election-related dispute is deadlocked in a 4 to 4 decision. Mind you, I do not recall Republicans making this argument when they blocked Judge Merrick Garland from receiving a vote for 8 months prior to the last presidential election. Just this week, we have seen why Republicans are all of a sudden so anxious to have a ninth justice seated before Election Day. The Republican Party is waging an all-out war on voting in the courts right now, with the goal of disenfranchising as many minority, poor, elderly, vulnerable, and young voters as possible. Knowing that voters are relying on mail-in ballots in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans are unapologetically fighting State and local attempts to make absentee voting easier. And it's clear that Republicans believe having Judge Barrett on the Court will help them to suppress the vote. Last week, deadlocked 4 to 4, the Supreme Court left in place a Pennsylvania supreme court order requiring officials to count absentee ballots received within 3 days of the election. Yesterday, anticipating Judge Barrett's imminent confirmation may tip the scale, the Pennsylvania Republican Party asked the Supreme Court to review the case again--less than a week after losing the first time. Unfortunately, for her part, Judge Barrett said nothing during her hearings last week to assuage the American people that she would be anything but a green light for the deeply harmful, unpopular objectives of President Trump and Republicans. First and foremost, Judge Barrett repeatedly declined to distance herself from her litany of anti-ACA comments and writings. She also repeatedly declined to confirm whether she would follow Supreme Court precedent upholding the ACA. Judge Barrett once wrote: ``However cagey a justice may be at the nomination stage, her approach to the Constitution becomes evident in . . . [what] she writes.'' Using Judge Barrett's own standard, then, one cannot escape the conclusion that she will view the ACA as a Justice the same way she has always viewed the ACA: unconstitutional and unsalvageable. My concerns only grew when Judge Barrett refused to commit to recusing herself from any election-related disputes. President Trump has put Judge Barrett in an unenviable position by making it impossible for Americans not to question her impartiality should she vote in his favor in an election dispute. If a Justice Barrett votes to throw the election for President Trump, I fear not just the Court but our democracy itself would suffer an existential blow to its legitimacy. My concerns grew into alarm when Judge Barrett refused to affirm even the most basic tenets of our democracy. She would not affirm to me that a president must comply with a court order and the Supreme Court has the final word. She would not state whether the President can unilaterally postpone a Presidential election, despite the law clearly stating he cannot. She would not affirm to me whether our Constitution contemplates a peaceful transition of power, despite the 20th Amendment laying out the procedures for precisely such a transition. And she would not state whether it is illegal to intimidate voters at the polls, despite federal law explicitly making voter intimidation a criminal offense. I've never seen a self-described originalist so hesitant to merely restate the plain text of our Constitution and laws. In fact, Judge Barrett refused to say much of anything about pretty much everything. She refused to answer over 100 questions during her hearings and over 150 written questions. She did so by spuriously invoking the so-called ``Ginsburg rule,'' which falsely purports that the late Justice Ginsburg avoided answering any and all substantive questions during her confirmation hearings. Well, I participated in Justice Ginsburg's hearings. Justice Ginsburg gave detailed answers on a number of constitutional issues, including unequivocally affirming her belief that a woman's right to choose is central to her dignity. In all, Justice Ginsburg took clear positions on dozens and dozens of cases during her hearings. In stark contrast, Judge Barrett wouldn't even restate--not even comment on or discuss, but just restate--black letter law. I have never seen such top-to-bottom refusals to answer basic questions in the 16 Supreme Court confirmation hearings I have participated in. But in some ways, it was only fitting that a confirmation process that has been a caricature of illegitimacy concluded with such hearings-hearings in which the nominee wouldn't even acknowledge that masks inhibit the spread of COVID-19, or that climate change is real, or that voter discrimination exists. I fear for what this means for the future of the Judiciary Committee's confirmation process, now that Republicans have reduced our committee's role to a mindless rubberstamp of a President's nominees, just as they have diminished the Senate to a subordinate arm of the executive branch. The Republican argument for proceeding in this way, just 1 week from a Presidential election, boils down to this: We have the votes, so anything goes. Yet, having the power to do something does not make it right. The damage that will be left in the wake of this confirmation will stain this body for generations. When the word of a senator is rendered meaningless, when the words ``Advice and Consent'' are rendered meaningless, then this institution will be rendered meaningless. Justice Ginsburg left us with a more equal and more perfect union. She stood up for the right to vote. She stood up for the environment, and for holding all those in power accountable. She stood up for the rights of women to be free from discrimination, to control their own bodies, and to be equal to men. She stood up for the rights of minorities, the rights of the LGBTQ community, and the rights of all those who have been marginalized. Judge Barrett, if confirmed, will not. Based on my review of her record and based on her testimony, I believe a Justice Barrett would set the clock back decades on all of the rights that Americans have fought so hard to achieve and protect. I have said that Justice Ginsburg would have dissented from this process. The least I can do is join her. I will vote no. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit all news organizations and hit them hard at a time when they have rarely been so essential to the American people and our communities. News organizations have had to severely trim their staffs, while coping, as we all have had to do, with the pandemic's health threats and uncertainties. It is a great credit to our Fourth Estate that so many news organizations nonetheless have managed to produce such heroic work in meeting this vital challenge. Most news outlets have had to transition to an online distribution model in distributing their reporting during this pandemic. These valiant efforts have included those by online-only news organizations such as ``Vermont Digger,'' in Vermont. The New York Times recently recognized the vital work of such Vermont news outlets as ``Vermont Digger'' and ``Seven Days'' in the face of these unprecedented challenges. Vermont stands almost alone in the Nation in our State's successful efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. Much of that can be attributed to the bold steps taken by State and local communities and leaders at all levels, including Governor Phil Scott, to follow the science in promoting mask wearing and social distancing. Sensible and responsible leadership, and strong and steady reporting by Vermont's news organizations, have produced ``a high degree of social trust,'' as the Washington Post has reported. Recently ``Vermont Digger'' was recognized by the Local Independent Online News Association for its local coverage of COVID-19, and that recognition is richly deserved. Vermonters know that in troubling times like these, we fare best when we make the difficult but important decisions to protect our families, our neighbors, and our communities. This pandemic continues to rage, but I am proud that my fellow Vermonters are once again leading the Nation in our efforts to conquer out this virus.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I would like to call attention to the important work done by the Children's Literacy Foundation--CLiF--a Waterbury Center, VT, based organization that was established in 1998 to address children's literacy in Vermont and New Hampshire. CLiF's founder, Duncan McDougall, set out to improve access to books and other learning resources for children in low-income, at-risk, and rural communities through a diverse set of programs, from story-telling events with authors to partnerships with elementary schools to distribute books to students. Over the last 22 years, the foundation has touched the lives of thousands of children in Vermont and New Hampshire. As schools in Vermont have opened their doors in a more limited capacity this fall, learning has become more difficult for many students, and access to books at home has become even more critical. Luckily, CLiF quickly moved to address this new challenge. Since March, the foundation has partnered with schools and libraries to fill some of the gap left by remote learning, distributing 40,000 books across our two States, and facilitating remote and in-person literacy workshops and story-telling events. Not only has this been beneficial for children, but it has helped parents as well, many of whom are simultaneously juggling teaching, and working full-time. As a father and a grandfather, I truly understand the importance of access to books in the home, and I am truly grateful for the efforts made by Mr. McDougall and the rest of the team at the Children's Literacy Foundation to make books more available for students in Vermont and New Hampshire. Reading is, as they say, fundamental, and I often think of my days visiting Kellogg Hubbard in Montpelier when I was growing up. Providing children the resources and tools to grow in their reading journeys is providing them a lifelong tool for success. The Children Literacy Foundation was recently featured in an article in Vermont's ``Seven Days.'' I ask unanimous consent that the article, ``Waterbury Literacy Nonprofit Distributes 40,000 Kids' Books During Pandemic,'' be printed in the Record.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, 150 years ago, Georgetown Law convened its first class in Washington, DC, where 25 students from 12 States began what has now become a century and a half long legacy of learning. While Georgetown Law's entering classes look quite different now--over 500 students from nearly all 50 States and from countries around the world--the institution's dedication to justice and service remains the same. Since opening its doors in 1870, Georgetown Law has educated generations of bright, driven, and passionate future lawyers who embody the school's motto: ``Law is but the means, justice is the end.'' I had the great fortune of attending Georgetown Law and received my juris doctorate in 1964. While laptops may have replaced legal pads since my law school days, Georgetown Law's commitment to producing competent, fiercely principled attorneys has never changed. The education I received at Georgetown Law had a profound, indelible impact on me and the way I view the world. Georgetown Law furthered my inspiration to become a U.S. Senator. Attending classes just blocks away from Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court, I and many others were constantly reminded that the law is not just an academic endeavor, but a very real one, impacting the lives and rights of millions. It filled me with awe to be learning the law in the city where laws are being made. It is no wonder that so many alumni of Georgetown Law dedicate their lives to public service and government. Georgetown Law stands out among our Nation's law schools for ensuring that students are not just learning the law, but putting it into practice. The law center offers top-ranked clinical programs and practicums, in which law students learn the art and science of lawyering. From asylum seekers to victims of domestic violence, from appellate arguments to criminal defense proceedings, Georgetown Law students learn what it truly means to zealously advocate for real clients in need. Georgetown Law also boasts world-renowned centers and institutes that push the legal profession to be both introspective and innovative. A special place of pride for me is the school's Center on Privacy and Technology, which trains the next generation of lawyers who will carry on a cause that has been one of my top priorities as a U.S. Senator: fighting for Americans' privacy rights. During these difficult times, it is steadying to know that Georgetown Law still embraces one of its oldest but most timeless traditions: imbibing the spirit of service in its graduates. That, without a doubt, is the lasting legacy of Georgetown Law, educating generations of lawyers who believe that the law is an instrument for good. My congratulations to Georgetown Law on this milestone. Here is to 150 more.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I concur with everything that our distinguished assistant leader has said. We are in the middle of the most devastating health crisis in modern history, and the American people are paying a terrible price. Nearly 220,000 Americans have died in just 10 months. To put that in perspective, that is significantly more than the number of Americans who died in the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars combined-- all of them. Remember President Trump calling himself a ``war President''? President Trump said he was a ``war President.'' Well, has he acted like one? No. He called the virus a hoax. He has been AWOL ever since. Millions have lost their jobs. They are struggling to make ends meet. People are being evicted from their homes. They are living in their cars and in shelters or on the street. They are relying on the generosity of others, and the virus is still not remotely under control. The need for another comprehensive emergency funding bill to address the COVID crisis is obvious. It is urgent and has been for 5 months. And what is the Senate doing? Staging show votes on COVID relief bills that the majority leader knows will go nowhere. And then they go back on their word--both the majority leader and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee--on what they said a year ago, and they try to rush through the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice less than 2 weeks before the election, after millions of Americans have already voted. So where are their priorities? I know where mine are. They are with the families of the 220,000 Americans who have lost their lives to this virus. They are with the thousands of Vermonters and millions more across the Nation who lost their jobs during this pandemic. They are with the small business owners trying to stay afloat during this crisis. They are with the fathers and mothers wondering if they will be able to pay next month's rent or put food on the table, and they are with the children struggling to learn through Zoom calls and online classes. It is a national disaster, and it requires real solutions. We need a comprehensive bill to address this problem. We can't do it with fig leaves or do it piecemeal, like Senator McConnell wants to do. We can't pass an inadequate bill today on the chance that maybe we will come back later and do what we should have done to begin with. That is not how it works. Everyone knows that. We have one chance for the remainder of this year to get it right, and we owe it to the American people, everybody--I don't care if they are Republicans, Democrats, Independents--everybody--to try. The majority leader staged a show yesterday. He didn't bring up a comprehensive proposal for COVID relief and open it for debate. He called for a process vote and only one part of it, the Paycheck Protection Program. Well, I support that program. We all do. It is critical in keeping literally thousands of small businesses afloat. But take a look at this proposal. It falls flat. It ignores critical improvements to the programs that would be made by considering the Heroes Act--expanding access to all nonprofits, making critical-access hospitals eligible for PPP, and addressing arbitrary caps on various loan programs to help small businesses. More importantly, it is providing more funding for these programs, and nothing else would even remotely solve the problems facing our country. The economy will not come back until the American people have confidence that the virus has been vanquished. We need more funding for the PPP program. We all agree with that. We need to fix that program and do so much more. We have to invest more in testing. It needs to be based on a national testing and contact tracing strategy so we can quickly identify cases and isolate those who have been exposed. How many times do we have to say it? We need to develop a vaccine distribution program now so it can be up and running as soon as the vaccine is available. We have to provide personal protective equipment to those on the frontlines. We have to ensure our hospitals have the resources they need to take care of the ill. We need to keep our nursing homes safe and virus-free. Doing targeted bills aimed at one sector is the way to avoid doing what is really needed. It picks winners and losers at a time when everyone is struggling. No matter how much aid we give to small business or airlines or to our struggling restaurant industry, our economy won't come back until the virus is under control. We need a comprehensive bill, not the so-called McConnell ``skinny'' bill we are voting on today, which provides only $500 billion of COVID relief, less than half of even what the Trump administration proposed just a month ago. Look at the lines at food banks. They are skyrocketing during this crisis, but there is nothing in this bill for nutrition assistance. Look at the millions of Americans who are struggling to pay next month's rent or to keep up with their mortgage payments. Notwithstanding the wishful thinking of the President, this is a massive problem, and either the President doesn't know it or he doesn't care. Maybe it is both. Today there are over 25 million Americans unemployed, compared to just 2 million at the end of January, and the unemployment assistance in this bill is totally inadequate. There is nothing in the bill for State and local governments that are on the frontline fighting this virus. There is inadequate money for testing, education, and childcare; no funding for community health centers; no funding to fight this on a global level. We are not going to defeat this pandemic if we ignore what is happening outside of the United States. Americans can't safely resume international travel and commerce. I can go on. There is so much that is missing. So what do they put in? They turn something over to the well-paid lobbyists of corporations by providing sweeping liability shields for corporate wrongdoers who have failed to do their part to keep employees, consumers, and patients safe. That tells you everything you need to know about what is in it. A special earmark for big corporations comes ahead of struggling American families. We know it is not going to pass. It shouldn't pass. Let's start working and getting something that can be passed instead of this. The House passed the Heroes bill over 5 months ago, and they passed it again 3 weeks ago. Why don't we take it up and vote it up or vote it down? Let's have some votes. Let's make people stand up and see what they are really for. If we don't, then, democracy has failed the American people. I remain hopeful that Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Mnuchin's talks will result in a comprehensive deal on COVID relief that will solve real problems in America. Speaker Pelosi has already shown a willingness to compromise, and the other side must do the same. If it does, Senator McConnell must commit to bring it to the floor for a vote immediately, even if he personally opposes it, or the majority of his caucus opposes it. That is the way democracies are supposed to work. The American people have waited long enough. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Rabbi Michael Cohen is a longtime friend of Marcelle and me. He occasionally sends me a Sunday sermon, which I thoroughly enjoy and share with family members. Following a week of mourning the passing of Justice Ginsburg, it was comforting to have this sermon to read after church this last Sunday. I ask unanimous consent that this sermon be printed in the Record.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, today, we in the Senate will vote on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through December 11, 2020. It is the last day we can do that. I strongly urge all Members to vote aye. The last thing our country needs is a government shutdown in the middle of a global pandemic and an unprecedented economic crisis. Now, the bill we are considering passed the House by a wide margin to show they were doing their job--sometimes a rarity in Washington. It provides funding for the government through December 11 at fiscal year 2020 funding levels and under the same terms and conditions contained in the fiscal year 2020 appropriations bills. It also includes several authorization matters to extend programs that otherwise would expire, including important health and transportation and veterans programs. Now, I am pleased the bill includes the emergency USCIS Stopgap Stabilization Act. This will help prevent furloughs of Federal employees at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, many of whom work in my home State of Vermont. Now, these are dedicated Federal employees. They perform critical work, helping immigrants apply for citizenship and visas and asylum, and they have come to work every single day living under the threat of furloughs for months now, in the middle of a global pandemic, and all the while continuing their important work. While I believe more fiscal year reforms and stronger oversight are needed at USCIS, this legislation will help stave off the immediate crisis while we work on a longer term solution. I am also glad the bill includes nearly $8 million for child nutrition programs, especially the extension of the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer. That is the P-EBT Program. That is important because it provides millions of children with additional monthly benefits for food purchases while schools are closed. And this assistance is desperately needed as families across the Nation struggle to make ends meet and to put food on the table. Now, I support the continuing resolution. It is what I do in my role as vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. But I cannot help but note the reason we need this is because of a dysfunctional Congress. It is a symptom of that. It is a senseless and entirely avoidable, made-in-Washington crisis. The Senate Appropriations Committee should have been allowed to do its work. We could have completed all 12 appropriations bills months ago, and the majority of those bills would have had overwhelmingly bipartisan support of both Republicans and Democrats. Apparently, the Republican leader did not want to allow that to happen, so we are left with a continuing resolution. It simply kicks the can down the road. Not only did we not complete our work on the fiscal year 2021 appropriations bills, the Senate has not acted on a much needed COVID relief bill to address the impacts of the pandemic found in every town across America--every single town, represented by every single Senator in this body. Look what is happening across our country. Schools are struggling to safely educate our Nation's children, in both the classroom and, where necessary, remotely, without enough funding to do so. More than 9 million children do not have access to the internet in their homes. In normal times, this would set these children far behind their more affluent peers who can access online educational resources. By doing nothing--by doing nothing, at a time when much of our Nation's children are remote learning, Senate Republicans and President Trump are choosing to leave these children behind, and these children are all over the Nation, in every single State, and they are being left behind. Inaction is a choice, and that choice is to actively prop up the cycle of poverty for yet another generation. Look at the lines at our food banks. They are at a historic level during this enormous economic downturn. Today, in America, the wealthiest country in the world, one in four households are experiencing food insecurity during this pandemic. Nobody in this room has looked their child in the eyes with the knowledge that you do not know where the next meal will come from. Think of those people who do, day by day, have to look at their children, knowing that they don't know where their next meal is coming from and how they are going to feed these children. Inaction here and at the White House is a choice to let that child go hungry and force their parents to live with that terrible pain that comes when you cannot put enough food on the table for your family. Families are struggling to pay rent and eviction moratoriums have expired across the country in every State. In July, it was reported that, in this economy, more than 43 million Americans--one-quarter of the adult population of this country--either missed a rent or mortgage payment or had little to no confidence they could make the next payment. That was two rent or mortgage payments ago, with no relief. More than 31 million Americans were unemployed in August; 163,735 businesses have closed, and 97,066 of those have closed permanently. States don't have the money they need to safely carry out an election that is only 34 days away and in the middle of a pandemic. Without a legislative change extending critical deadlines, our ability to achieve a fair and accurate count in the 2020 census remains a risk--a census that is required under the Constitution of the United States, a Constitution we all have taken an oath to uphold. American people are suffering, and politics are being played to keep that suffering continuing. But it is infuriating that the Republican leadership refuses to acknowledge this reality. Instead of doing their job and considering and passing full-year appropriations bills and a desperately need a COVID relief bill, Senate Republicans have focused this year almost entirely on packing the courts with rightwing, extreme judges. Faced with an unprecedented health and economic crisis, does this spur Republicans to action? No. But what does? Aha. A Supreme Court vacancy in an election year that under their own precedent--under Republican precedent--should not be filled until the American people have their say in November. All of a sudden, they are ready to go to work. That is shameful. At least on that, wait until the election. Let the American people speak. You know, it is frustrating because we could have passed every one of those appropriations bills and not be faced with this. And I bet they would have passed overwhelmingly. So if Senate Republicans want to keep the Senate in session during October, I say do it. There is plenty of work left undone. The Senate could act on the fiscal year 2021 appropriations bills, a COVID relief bill, or any one of the hundreds of bills the House has passed that are currently bottled up in Senator McConnell's legislative graveyard. But these pressing needs--pressing needs of people going hungry, being thrown out of their homes, not getting the medical care they need, facing the danger of COVID, something the President said would go away in the spring--their needs are being ignored while Republicans focus on filling a vacancy to the Supreme Court that should rightfully remain vacant until a month from now when the people have spoken at the polls. Congress is failing the American people because Republicans, led by President Trump, care more about securing a hyperpartisan Supreme Court than the health and safety of the American people--all people. It doesn't matter their politics in this country. It is that simple. Now, I remain committed to completing the fiscal year 2021 appropriations bills. I want to produce bipartisan bills before the CR expires on December 11. I think Chairman Shelby shares this commitment. I look forward to working with him to complete our work. When he was not blocked by his own party's leadership, we passed, by overwhelming margins, all of the appropriations bills. Let's work to complete our work. But for now, let's remove the threat of any more chaos in this country--prevent a government shutdown by passing this bill. I urge all Members of both parties to vote aye on the continuing resolution. I suggest the absence of a quorum.