Chuck Schumer

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Executive Calendar No. 773.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, May 5, be waived.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. OK. My colleagues, we have seven votes left; three look like they will be voice, so there are four votes. If we stay in our seats and try to stick as close as we can to the 10-minute vote, we can finish very soon. So please do that. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, this is our last vote, and I want to thank Members on both sides of the aisle for their cooperation. If you would have told me at noon today we would finish this by 10:20, I would have said we never could do it. Thank you. Last vote.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I thank the always gracious, always thoughtful, always perspicacious, always persistent--and many other good adjectives--Senator from Pennsylvania for yielding. Now, Mr. President, there is only one way--only one way--to describe the Supreme Court's reported decision to overturn Roe v. Wade: an abomination. Such a decision, if it comes to pass, would be an utter abomination. Women across America would suffer irreparable harm to their rights, their health, and their dignity. It would go down as one of the worst and most damaging opinions that the Court has handed down in modern history, and the Court would suffer a mortal blow to its reputation that I fear will last forever. Yesterday, I pledged that Senate Democrats will act on legislation to codify Roe into law. It is vital that we act quickly because this is no longer an abstract exercise. This is as real as it gets, America--as real as it gets. Every single American is going to see where every single Senator stands on protecting a woman's right to choose. And rest assured, Americans will be watching. Now, we must be clear. This week's draft decision didn't come out of nowhere. It didn't materialize in a vacuum. Indeed, the blame for the end of Roe lies primarily right across the aisle here with Senate Republicans. The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe would never have been possible without Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans spending years packing our courts with hard-right judges, judges who came from a list under the Trump years that the Federalist Society approved. And the Federalist Society's purpose, when it was put into action, from what I have read, is to repeal Roe. And the Republicans on this side of the aisle, right there, were willing--willing--accomplices in that deed. Let me say it again. The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe would have never been possible without Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans spending years packing our courts with hard-right judges. Now, Republicans are twisting themselves into pretzels, trying to distract from this truth. Yesterday, Leader McConnell said that the real story was somehow the leaks and not the end of Roe. Can you believe that? The leaks are more important than the rights of 100 million American women? Give me a break. And when Leader McConnell evidently was asked at his press conference yesterday: Are you glad Roe would be repealed, he wouldn't even answer that, even though he had worked years to do it, because they know where history is going. They know where the American people are. They know they are on the wrong side of both so they are trying to ``low key'' it. Republicans have spent decades trying to achieve the end of Roe, and now that they are about to succeed, they are flailing around, talking about a leak instead of owning up to their own actions. We won't let them. We know, all of us, why Republicans are spending all their focus on the leak. It is because they don't want to focus on Roe, where, again, they are on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of the American people. Their hypocrisy and refusal to own this decision is utterly shameful. The end of a constitutional right to choose is not some small or inconsequential subject; it is huge. It touches on one of the most personal, most private, most important decisions a woman can make regarding her body. So it is worth saying again: Without Senate Republicans working years to pack our courts, without them changing the rules of the Senate to confirm three ideological Justices, Roe would not--would not--be on the brink of being overturned. And don't take my word for it. Leader McConnell himself expected and hoped for this outcome. When asked in 2019 what confirming President Trump's Justices meant for the antiabortion movement, he said: There are a number of [States] who have enacted new legislation [that] would be winding its way up through the courts and [it] gives us an opportunity to begin to pick away at Roe v. Wade. ``Pick away at Roe v. Wade.'' So what the Court did was not an aberration; it was a plan, a plan by Senate Republicans, a plan by Leader McConnell. Senate Republicans spent years rubberstamping one radical Trump judge after another onto the Federal bench in order to ``pick away at Roe.'' Many of these judges were wildly unqualified. Many of them were out of step--far out of step--from the American mainstream. What is more, every single Republican also changed Senate rules to confirm not one, not two, but three Trump Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, assuring a 6-to-3 conservative majority. Some of these Justices lied to the Senate by misrepresenting their views on respecting precedent when it came to decisions like Roe. And, of course, after the death of Justice Scalia, Leader McConnell took the unprecedented and truly destructive step of preventing the Senate from considering the nomination of Merrick Garland. So nobody here should be fooled. Nobody in America should be fooled. The Republican leader might not say it, but the end of Roe is a culmination of actions taken by the Republican leader and the Republican Party writ large to skew our courts with hard-right, ideological, vehemently anti-choice judges. And now that they are close to succeeding, they can't even bring themselves to own up to their own actions because they know--they know--just how strongly the American people oppose restricting the right to choose. But this is not the end of the story. Republicans cannot hide from the American people and cannot hide their role in bringing Roe to an end. They will have to answer to the people this month, this year, and especially this November, when American voters go to the polls. And we are going to vote here in the Senate to make clear where every single Member stands on the right to choose. Few issues--few issues--are as personal, as private, and as important to Americans as whether or not to have an abortion. The Nation will be watching to see who in this Chamber will defend this precious right to choose and who will stand with the Roberts Court to destroy this right in one fell swoop.

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that at 2:30 today, the Senate resume legislative session and resume the House message to accompany H.R. 4521; further, that the previous order be modified to allow Senator Murkowski to offer the motion to instruct that is at the desk in lieu of the motion in the previous order; that Senator Bennet or his designee be permitted to make the Bennet motion; and that the Senate vote on the motions in the order listed without further intervening action or debate, with all other provisions in the previous order remaining in effect, and that all votes after the first be 10-minute votes.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I understand there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I now ask for a second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 6023, which was received from the House.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I know of no further debate on the bill.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration and the Senate proceed to S. Res. 604.

Mr. SCHUMER. I know of no further debate on the resolution.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 613, submitted earlier today.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 614, submitted earlier today.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this is a dark and disturbing morning for America. Last night, a report disclosed that a conservative majority of the United States Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade and uproot decades of precedent affirming a woman's right to an abortion. If this report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past 50 years--not just on women, but on all Americans. Under this decision, our children will have less rights than their parents. The Republican-appointed Justices' reported votes to overturn Roe v. Wade will go down as an abomination--one of the worst, most damaging decisions in modern history. Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution, and defiled both precedence and the Supreme Court's reputation, all at the expense of tens of millions of women who could soon be stripped of their bodily autonomy and the constitutional rights they have relied on for over half a century. The party of Lincoln and Eisenhower has now completely devolved into the Party of Trump. Every Republican Senator who supported Senator McConnell and voted for Trump Justices, pretending that this day would never come, will now have to explain themselves to the American people. I will have more to say later this morning, but I want to make three things clear. First, now that the Court is poised to strike down Roe, it is my intention for the Senate to hold a vote on legislation to codify the right to an abortion in law. Second, a vote on this legislation is not an abstract exercise. This is as urgent and real as it gets. We will vote to protect a woman's right to choose, and every American is going to see which side every Senator stands. Every American is going to see on which side every Senator stands. Third, to the American people, I say this: The elections this November will have consequences because the rights of 100 million women are now on the ballot. To help fight this Court's awful decision, I urge every American to make their voices heard this week and this year. I urge Americans to call their Members, to write their Members, to email their Members, to text their Members, and most of all, to cast their ballots. Make no mistake, the blame for this decision falls squarely on Republican Senators and the Senate Republicans as a whole, who spent years pushing extremist judges and spent years confirming far-right Justices to the Supreme Court but who claimed, somehow, this day would never come. But this day has come, and we will fight it all the way. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.