Chuck Schumer

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER

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 with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 409, submitted earlier today.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, good morning.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we have been negotiating all afternoon and all night, just until recently. We are making good progress. We are not there yet, but I hope we can come to an agreement tomorrow morning.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that, notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 1301, occur on Thursday, October 7, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Republican leader.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Now, in America, Mr. President, we have always kept a basic promise: We pay our debts on time without exception. It has been a key to our economic success and our standing in the global markets across the world. Today, it is time for us in this Chamber to do our jobs and make sure those promises remain unbroken. In order to preserve the full faith and credit of the United States, the Senate must act and, by the end of this week, send a bill to President Biden's desk suspending the debt ceiling and allowing our government to keep paying its bills and meeting our outstanding obligations. Later this afternoon, the Senate will vote on cloture on the House- passed message that would suspend the debt ceiling through December 2022. If cloture is invoked, the Senate will then vote to pass this bill on a simple majority basis. Democrats have been clear from the start: We are going to do the responsible thing and vote to allow the United States to keep paying its bills. Every single one of us is going to vote for cloture this afternoon. For months, Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans have insisted they want a solution to the debt ceiling but only if Democrats do all the work by themselves. We have already presented Republicans with numerous opportunities to do what they say they want, including offering a simple majority vote so Democrats can suspend the debt ceiling on our own, as Republicans have asked, but each time, Republicans have chosen obstruction and have kept us, unfortunately, on a path to default. Republican obstruction on the debt ceiling over the last few weeks has been reckless; it has been irresponsible. Nonetheless, today, Republicans will have an opportunity to get exactly what they have kept asking for. The first and easiest option is this: Republicans can simply get out of the way, and we can agree to skip the filibuster vote so we can proceed to final passage of this bill. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Wyoming, and I ask unanimous consent that he be able to resume as soon as I finish my remarks.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read three times and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4981, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Thursday, October 7; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; and that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, on Build Back Better, Democrats continue their work this week to iron out the details of our Build Back Better agenda--a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild ladders for working families to reach the middle class, to help people stay in the middle class who are already there, and to secure another century of American prosperity. Last night, I held another round of extensive talks with top officials from the White House, with the Speaker, and with my Senate colleagues. We made good progress, and we continue our talks later this week. There is more work to do, so we are going to keep at it. We are going to work at this every day until we can get it done. I want to thank my colleagues, the Speaker, and the White House for everything they are doing to finalize this important bill. It is a rare opportunity to do something big for the American people, and we will press ahead until we pass both a bipartisan infrastructure bill and our Build Back Better agenda into law.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, let me thank my friend, our chairman of the Judiciary, Senator Leahy, not only for introducing this legislation but for his dedication to voting rights over the many decades that he has served in this body. Few have done more to push voting rights to make sure people have the right to vote without some of the barriers that have always been placed in the way by people who want to discriminate against people--particularly people of color--when it comes to voting. So I thank him. Mr. President, the story of American democracy is a messy tale of starts and stops. For over 240 years, our march to establish the United States as a full democracy has always seemed to involve two steps forward, one step back. Today, I am proud to join my colleagues, Senators Leahy and Durbin, as they lead this Chamber in another bold step forward by introducing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a long-overdue update to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. No piece of legislation has done more to protect the franchise than the Voting Rights Act of the sixties. Its critical preclearance provision compelled jurisdictions with recent histories of discrimination to secure Federal approval before amending their election laws. For decades, the Senate reauthorized the VRA's preclearance provisions with bipartisan votes because both parties understood that this powerful Federal tool made our democracy stronger. Sadly, in 2013, a conservative majority on the Supreme Court gutted the VRA's preclearance and cleared the way for some of the most repressive voter suppression laws we have seen in generations. For those Supreme Court Justices who said this is not necessary, I think they should look at what as happened since preclearance was eliminated. It is just awful, and it was one of the lowest moments of the Supreme Court in recent memory: the Shelby decision. Now, because of that Shelby decision, in 2021, 19 States, just in this year, 2021, have enacted 33 laws that will limit Americans' access to the ballot, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. What we are seeing across the States today is nothing short of Jim Crow in the 21st century, aided and abetted and allowed by the Shelby decision, which so tied the hands of the Justice Department when discriminatory legislation was being enacted at the State level. The Senate must fight back. We must restore the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act and retailor it to meet the challenges of the 21st century. That is what the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will do. As an important complement to the Freedom to Vote Act, it will reestablish the VRA's preclearance coverage formula--based on an updated, robust catalog of modern-day voter suppression laws--while adopting new provisions to address the next generation of suppressive voting. This new bill also responds to the Court's troubling ruling in Brnovich earlier this year, which even further weakened the VRA's protections against State practices that hinder minorities seeking to vote. We have to be brutally honest. This country has to look at itself in the mirror. Racial barriers to the ballot are, regrettably, part of our past, our present, and now, with some of these decisions, part of our future. When the Nation was founded, you had to be a White male Protestant property owner in many of the States to vote. Today, we have come a long way in our struggle to live up to our country's founding promise, and this bill takes the next step by restoring the proper role of the Federal Government to protect Americans' constitutional right to participate in our democracy. As Senator Warnock has so eloquently stated, we must put out the fire that is presently engulfing our democracy, and that is what the Freedom to Vote Act will do. We must build a state-of-the-art fire department to prevent future fires. That is what the reforms of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will do. This is a good bill. This is an urgent bill. As majority leader, it is my intention to hold a vote on this legislation in the near future. I am proud to designate this ``S. 4'' to mark its critical restoration of the section 4 preclearance formula. We hope that all of our colleagues will join us in good faith in advancing solutions to ensure all Americans have their voices heard in their democracy. If some of our colleagues on the other side have different ideas of how to protect free and fair elections, we urge them to put them forward. But we will not be deterred just because some of our colleagues choose to stand silent with their arms crossed, content to play politics with the health of our Republic. On this issue, the Senate must act, and we will act. I want to thank again my colleagues Senators Leahy and Durbin for their diligence and leadership on this important piece of legislation and for all they do to make sure this Chamber always works to strengthen our precious democracy.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, let me thank my friend, our chairman of the Judiciary, Senator Leahy, not only for introducing this legislation but for his dedication to voting rights over the many decades that he has served in this body. Few have done more to push voting rights to make sure people have the right to vote without some of the barriers that have always been placed in the way by people who want to discriminate against people--particularly people of color--when it comes to voting. So I thank him. Mr. President, the story of American democracy is a messy tale of starts and stops. For over 240 years, our march to establish the United States as a full democracy has always seemed to involve two steps forward, one step back. Today, I am proud to join my colleagues, Senators Leahy and Durbin, as they lead this Chamber in another bold step forward by introducing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a long-overdue update to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. No piece of legislation has done more to protect the franchise than the Voting Rights Act of the sixties. Its critical preclearance provision compelled jurisdictions with recent histories of discrimination to secure Federal approval before amending their election laws. For decades, the Senate reauthorized the VRA's preclearance provisions with bipartisan votes because both parties understood that this powerful Federal tool made our democracy stronger. Sadly, in 2013, a conservative majority on the Supreme Court gutted the VRA's preclearance and cleared the way for some of the most repressive voter suppression laws we have seen in generations. For those Supreme Court Justices who said this is not necessary, I think they should look at what as happened since preclearance was eliminated. It is just awful, and it was one of the lowest moments of the Supreme Court in recent memory: the Shelby decision. Now, because of that Shelby decision, in 2021, 19 States, just in this year, 2021, have enacted 33 laws that will limit Americans' access to the ballot, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. What we are seeing across the States today is nothing short of Jim Crow in the 21st century, aided and abetted and allowed by the Shelby decision, which so tied the hands of the Justice Department when discriminatory legislation was being enacted at the State level. The Senate must fight back. We must restore the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act and retailor it to meet the challenges of the 21st century. That is what the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will do. As an important complement to the Freedom to Vote Act, it will reestablish the VRA's preclearance coverage formula--based on an updated, robust catalog of modern-day voter suppression laws--while adopting new provisions to address the next generation of suppressive voting. This new bill also responds to the Court's troubling ruling in Brnovich earlier this year, which even further weakened the VRA's protections against State practices that hinder minorities seeking to vote. We have to be brutally honest. This country has to look at itself in the mirror. Racial barriers to the ballot are, regrettably, part of our past, our present, and now, with some of these decisions, part of our future. When the Nation was founded, you had to be a White male Protestant property owner in many of the States to vote. Today, we have come a long way in our struggle to live up to our country's founding promise, and this bill takes the next step by restoring the proper role of the Federal Government to protect Americans' constitutional right to participate in our democracy. As Senator Warnock has so eloquently stated, we must put out the fire that is presently engulfing our democracy, and that is what the Freedom to Vote Act will do. We must build a state-of-the-art fire department to prevent future fires. That is what the reforms of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will do. This is a good bill. This is an urgent bill. As majority leader, it is my intention to hold a vote on this legislation in the near future. I am proud to designate this ``S. 4'' to mark its critical restoration of the section 4 preclearance formula. We hope that all of our colleagues will join us in good faith in advancing solutions to ensure all Americans have their voices heard in their democracy. If some of our colleagues on the other side have different ideas of how to protect free and fair elections, we urge them to put them forward. But we will not be deterred just because some of our colleagues choose to stand silent with their arms crossed, content to play politics with the health of our Republic. On this issue, the Senate must act, and we will act. I want to thank again my colleagues Senators Leahy and Durbin for their diligence and leadership on this important piece of legislation and for all they do to make sure this Chamber always works to strengthen our precious democracy.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motions filed today, October 4, be waived.

Mr. SCHUMER. I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I thank my dear friend, our majority whip and the senior Senator from the State of Illinois, as well as someone who was my roommate for, well, decades, I guess.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on the day that this majority commenced its work, I promised that this Chamber would meet the challenges that face our Nation ``not with timid solutions but with boldness and [with] courage.'' Now the 117th Congress stands at a pivotal moment in our pursuit of this goal. Over the past few months, both Chambers have dedicated themselves to passing two transformative, once-in-a-generation pieces of legislation: the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better agenda. Doing big things in Congress is always hard, but we didn't choose elected office just to pursue the easy things. In the days and weeks to come, Senate Democrats will remain focused on passing the agenda we promised no matter how hard the task. All last week, I held extensive talks with the Speaker, the President, and my Senate colleagues to bring us closer to a final agreement on our Build Back Better agenda. We made important progress, but there is more work to do. So, this week, I will continue meeting with my colleagues in an effort to produce a bill that all of us can get behind. Last Friday, President Biden spoke to House Democrats about the path forward for passing our ambitious agenda into law. His message was simple: If we stick together, if we work to find a legislative sweet spot that we can all support, then we will succeed. He is right, and that is exactly what we are going to do. As I explained this morning in my ``Dear Colleague,'' our new legislative goal must be to get both the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better agenda done by the end of October. The reason is simple: The infrastructure bill, for all its historic investments, is also a reauthorization of the highway trust fund. We passed a 30-day patch over the weekend to keep vital programs going. But as it stands, the trust fund is set to run out of money by the end of October. If we are going to meet this deadline, Democrats must arrive at a final agreement on the details of the Build Back Better agenda as soon as possible, preferably within a matter of days, not weeks. It is the only way we can give committees enough time to draft legislation to ensure its privileged status in our Chamber and complete the reconciliation process before the end of the month. Now, none of this is going to be easy. It will require sacrifice, compromise, and finding common ground. Nobody is going to get everything they want. But no matter what, our final proposal will deliver the core promise we made to the American people: We will take bold action on climate change, while creating millions of jobs; we will expand healthcare opportunities and lower costs for working Americans; and we will cut taxes for the working and middle class, while asking the wealthy to pay their fair share. I am confident we will be proud of the end result: a bill that will dramatically improve the lives of every single American not just for today but for generations; a bill that will rebuild ladders for working people to get to the middle class, help people stay in the middle class who are there already, and rekindle--rekindle--that sunny American disposition so central to our national identity but seems to be fading a bit in the last while. This is worth a couple of hard days. This is worth many hard days. Again, we didn't come to Washington to take the easy way out. We came here committed to work every day, to reward the faith that the American people have placed in us. We came here to get big things done, and that is exactly what we will do in the weeks ahead.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, October 5; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Adams-Allen nomination, as provided under the previous order; further, that the Senate recess following the cloture vote on the Adams-Allen nomination until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings; that all postcloture debate time on the Adams- Allen nomination expire at 2:15 p.m.; finally, if any nominations are confirmed on Tuesday, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that S. Res. 357 be star printed with the changes at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Take your time. I am going to get settled.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, now, on the debt ceiling, before the end of this week, the Senate must--must--get a bill to the President's desk to address the acute crisis of the debt limit. President Biden was crystal clear in his speech this morning. If Republicans don't get out of the way and let the Senate take action now, our government will in all likelihood enter default for the first time ever. Sadly, the Republican position as the party of default has now become so extreme that they have blocked every single attempt to prevent a default from happening, putting our country in serious, serious danger. They have gone so far as rejecting their own requests for how the debt ceiling should be raised. Their own requests for putting those in action--they are now saying no. Why do you think? Why do you think? Now the Republican leader has repeatedly stated that the Democrats must raise the debt ceiling on our own, and he has directly cited precedents of 2003, 2004, and 2006 when the Senate voted to raise the debt ceiling by a majority vote. But what he conveniently and repeatedly ignores--and he knows better--he ignores that in each of those examples, the minority allowed an up-or-down vote without-- without--a partisan filibuster. In other words, the other side said: Get us to 50 votes, and we won't make you get to 60. That is just what we are asking for now. We are proposing the same offer now, which Leader McConnell has cited. Let us vote to raise the debt ceiling without a partisan filibuster. In fact, this was the thrust of my consent request last week, which would have resolved this Republican-driven default crisis with an up-or-down vote. Republicans could have gotten their chance to vote no, and we could all have put an end to this needless impasse. But given the easiest way out of the mess, the Republicans still refuse to take ``yes'' for an answer. Now our country is on the brink of a crisis whose consequences will reverberate around the world. The bottom line is, this Chamber must pass legislation to avoid a default. Accordingly, I will soon file cloture on the House-passed proposal that will suspend the debt limit until December of 2022. We aren't asking Republicans to support it when it comes time for a vote; we only ask that they get out of the way as Democrats pass it on our own, just as the majority party did in the early 2000s. It is really that simple. If Republicans want to vote to stop payments from going to Social Security recipients or veterans, then be my guest, but they ought to get out of the way and let the legislation pass the Senate. The fact is, we don't have the luxury of waiting until October 18 to extend the debt ceiling. Even a near miss can have dramatic consequences. Every single day we delay taking action, we increase the chances of doing irreversible damage to our global financial system, our economic recovery, and trust in our country's ability to pay its debts. So, again, we will need to get a bill extending the debt ceiling to the President's desk by the end of this week. We aren't asking Republicans to vote yes even though it is debt that they incurred; we are simply asking that they get out of the way. I yield the floor, and I thank my colleague for his courtesy.