Chuck Schumer

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask to dispense with further reading of the amendment.

Mr. SCHUMER. I move to commit H.R. 3935 to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask to dispense with further reading.

Mr. SCHUMER. I send a cloture motion to H.R. 3935 to the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar No. 572 and Calendar No. 573; that there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form on each nomination; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate vote without intervening action or debate on the nominations; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask 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 stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 8; 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 resume consideration of Calendar No. 211, H.R. 3935; further, that the Senate recess from 1 p.m. until 2:15 to allow for the weekly caucus meetings.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, after spending decades pushing for a national abortion ban, packing our courts with rightwing, extreme judges, and annihilating Roe v. Wade, hard-right Republicans have created a race to the bottom when it comes to reproductive rights. This week, Florida outlawed abortion after just 6 weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant. The Arizona Supreme Court recently upheld a Civil War-era law from 1864 banning abortion almost entirely, without exception for rape or incest. And 19 other States across America now have near-total bans or severe restrictions on abortions, beyond the standards set by Roe. Let's not forget how we got here, because the extreme abortion bans in Florida and Arizona didn't happen in a vacuum. They are the result of MAGA Republicans' decades-long campaign to annihilate Roe and plunge our country into chaos. Remember, Donald Trump boasted he was ``proudly the person responsible''--those are his words--for the disastrous decision to end Roe. The extreme abortion bans are also a direct consequence of the Senate Republican agenda to install rightwing, anti-abortion judges at every level of the Federal court system, including the hard-right Supreme Court Justices who voted to end Roe. Remember, most of the same Republicans are on record supporting a national abortion ban. The bottom line is that the extreme abortion bans are a direct consequence of Republicans getting into power. That is precisely what Republicans will do, given the chance to govern. They will try to take us back to 1864, with draconian abortion bans and attacks on Americans' personal freedoms. And, make no mistake, Republicans in Arizona will have to answer for their anti-abortion record in November. Republicans in Florida will have to answer for their anti-abortion record in November. Republicans across America will still have to answer for their anti-abortion record in November. Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Mr. President, on the FAA, today, the Senate will continue to move forward on FAA reauthorization. We just have 8 days to go before the current FAA authorization expires. So it will take bipartisan cooperation to get this done before the deadline. Both parties have every reason in the world to get FAA done as quickly as possible and as smoothly as possible to keep our skies safe, our airports safe, and our Federal employees taken care of. I hope the Senate can come together to get this important legislation finished. Federal Judiciary Mr. President, on judge shopping, the central principle of America's justice system can be boiled down to four words we all know so well: ``equal justice under law.'' When you go to court, a judge's personal preferences should make no difference in the outcome. But, recently, the hard right has turned ``equal justice under law'' on its head with the gross practice of judge shopping. Ideologues from across the country bring their cases to courts of their choosing, to pick and choose judges they know are friendly to their cause. Judge shopping is how the hard right successfully revoked the FDA approval of mifepristone nationwide a year ago. Yesterday, MAGA Republicans took aim at President Biden's new background check rules by flocking yet again to their favorite MAGA judge in the country, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in the Northern District of Texas. Judge Kacsmaryk has not even been a judge for 5 years--not for 5 years--and already he has heard cases with nationwide implications on things like reproductive care and Federal LGBTQ protections and the ACA. There is a very clear reason why this single Texas judge hears so many controversial cases. He is a living, breathing rubberstamp for the hard-right agenda, and MAGA extremists know he is friendly to their cause. As I said before, and I will say it again, judge shopping jaundices our legal system like few other abuses do. Picking and choosing a judge to get a predetermined outcome is the definition of unfairness, and Congress should fix this abuse with appropriate legislation. Even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, hardly a liberal, has acknowledged that judge shopping is a problem that ought to be addressed. A few weeks ago, I led a group of 40 Senators introducing a bill that would curtail judge shopping and restore fairness to the judicial system. I would hope both sides can work together on this bill to make sure nobody gets an unfair advantage in a court of law, simply based on a judge's personal preferences. Some of my colleagues on the other side have suggested that Congress shouldn't do anything to improve how our courts work. That is plainly ridiculous. When the Federal judiciary is being exploited by practices like judge shopping, it is both proper and appropriate for Congress to exercise its oversight authority. Congress has clear authority under the Constitution to exercise oversight of the courts. So we will continue weighing legislative options to ensure that the Federal judiciary is committed to equal justice under law. Farm Bill Mr. President, on the farm bill, again, I would like to applaud my good friend and colleague Chairwoman Stabenow of the Agriculture Committee, who yesterday released the substance of her farm bill. Chair Stabenow's farm bill supports our farmers, feeds our families, and bolsters our rural communities. By focusing on bipartisanship, rather than playing partisan games with our farmers and families like House Republicans, the bill she put together, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act, holds the broad coalition needed to pass the farm bill. I am proud of the chairwoman's dogged work on this legislation. The bill includes more than 100 bipartisan priority pieces of legislation, from improving rural healthcare and education to foreign ownership of farm land. It ensures that SNAP reflects the reality of how Americans buy and prepare food and keeps kids fed by making significant investments to end childhood hunger. And it defends the historic climate-smart agricultural investments that I fought so hard to secure on the Inflation Reduction Act last summer. We all know that about 10 percent of the carbon that is emitted into the atmosphere comes from agriculture, and the bill does a good job by reducing that amount, but still making sure farmers, particularly small farmers, don't pay the price. Tribute to Mike Kuiken Finally, Mr. President, I want to close my remarks with one of my least favorite words, but one which I say with immense gratitude: Farewell. I am sad, grateful, verklempt, happy, moved--all of the above--to pay tribute this morning to one of the best staffers I have ever had, Mike Kuiken, my national security adviser for over 5 years. He has been an invaluable adviser, an extremely gifted thinker, and a straight shooter for all the years he has been part of my team. I want to say thank you. Members from around the Senate, Democrats and Republicans alike, have come to rely on his knowledge and his judgment. And, in many ways, he has made the world a better and safer place--made America a better and safer place--by his dedication to this field, to intelligence, and to the military. He has done a great job. I will so badly miss him. But like when many of my staffers leave when they are going on to bigger and better things, I rejoice, as well. So it is with mixed emotions that I say goodbye to Mike, and an enormous thank you from me, the people of New York, and the people of America for being so strong and firm in protecting America's interests with balance, with care, with intelligence. Mike leaves the Senate with a legacy he can truly be proud of. If he did nothing else in his life, he can rest assured--he will do plenty more, I know--but he can rest assured that he has been a great, great contributor to this society. He has been on the forefront of every major national security event America has experienced in two decades. He joined Carl Levin's staff a few months before 9/11 and played a hand in legislation protecting our troops during deployment in the Middle East, expanding sanctions against Iran, responding to the Arab Spring, strengthening counterterrorism efforts, resisting Russian interference in the 2016 elections, outcompeting the Chinese Government, and so much more. Whether in a war zone or inside the SCIF, where he spends a lot of time learning all about classified information, he has been invaluable. Without Mike, I can say we would never have gotten the Chips and Science Act done. He--with several other of my staffers--was there shepherding this bill, all the way back to the days when I first called it the Endless Frontier Act. Without Mike, we wouldn't have gotten the NDAA done for so many years. Without Mike, we would be nowhere in preparing for the future of AI in the sphere of national security. So, for sure, as I said, he can be really proud of what he has done. Anyone who knows him well knows all these incredible things are secondary to what matters most to him: his two kids. The number of times I called him and he was at a swim meet or track meet or some event for one of his kids, just reveling in their successes, I can't count. He is always there. His wife Emily and his children, I am sure, are excited they will be able to see a little more of him around the House, at least for now. Mike, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much, and my best wishes on the road ahead. You will always have a place here in the Senate and in what we call the ``Schumer family.'' You are part of our family and always will be. He is not here. He is probably in the SCIF or in a swim meet for one of his kids. I yield the floor. Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now, on Senate business, a very busy period has just ended for the Senate, and another one begins. This morning, the Senate will vote on the confirmation of Georgia Alexakis to be a district judge for the Northern District of Illinois. Once confirmed, she will be the 195th Federal judge confirmed under President Biden. On the legislative front, the next deadline Congress faces is May 10. That is the date by which the President must sign the FAA reauthorization. The Senate will begin the work of FAA reauthorization this afternoon by holding our first procedural vote on this bill. Both parties have an incentive to work together to get FAA done as quickly and as smoothly as we can to keep our skies safe and our Federal employees well taken care of. Getting FAA reauthorization done will provide for more air traffic controllers, for more safety inspectors at manufacturing plants, and better customer service standards--all of which are so badly needed. So I hope the Senate can get this important piece of legislation done with as much bipartisan good will as possible.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, over the decades, millions of Americans--most often Americans of color--have had their lives derailed and destroyed by our country's failed war on drugs. The consequences of this harmful campaign linger on to this very day. So I was pleased by yesterday's news that the DEA, under the Biden administration, is preparing to take a truly historic step: rescheduling cannabis from a schedule I substance to a schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Reclassifying cannabis is a necessary and long overdue step, but it is not at all the end of the story. It is time for Congress to wake up to the times and do its part by passing the cannabis reform that most Americans have long called for. It is past time for Congress to catch up with public opinion and to catch up with the science. So, today, I am proud to join with my colleagues Senators Booker and Wyden to reintroduce the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, a comprehensive and necessary update to the Federal Government's approach to cannabis. I am proud to be the first majority leader ever to call for an end to the marijuana prohibition because I have seen both the consequences of outdated drug laws and the benefits of commonsense cannabis regulation at the State level, and it is time for Congress to follow suit. Support for cannabis reform is growing in the Senate. Our bill now has 18 sponsors, the most ever for this bill. We will keep working to build more support because when liberals and conservatives and activists and entrepreneurs and veterans groups can all come together on one issue, that is a clear sign the momentum is real. I am very proud of the bill we are releasing today. Our legislation will finally remove marijuana from the Federal list of controlled substances. It will expunge the criminal records of so many Americans with low-level marijuana offenses that haunt them--inhibit them--for decades. And it will help our country close the book, once and for all, on the awful and harmful and failed War on Drugs, which all too often has been nothing more than a war on Americans of color. In short, our bill is about individual freedom and basic fairness. We cannot tolerate any longer the tragedy of the young person getting arrested because they have a small amount of marijuana in their pocket. For years, that is all it took--getting caught with a little bit of marijuana--for you to get saddled with a serious criminal record that prevented you from getting a good job, buying a home, getting ahead in life. And, of course, this injustice happens predominantly in Black and Latino communities. That is unfair. It is un-American. And our bill will right this grave wrong. In place of the War on Drugs, our bill would lay the foundation for something very different: a just and responsible and commonsense approach to cannabis regulation. It would call for new guidelines on how marijuana products are labeled, require new standards to prevent impaired driving, require HHS and NIH to support research into cannabis's health aspects, and more. Our bill, if passed, would close the door on outdated and very harmful modes of thinking at the Federal level, while allowing for reform and sensible regulation to take root. So, again, I want to thank Senators Booker and Wyden for being terrific partners in putting this bill together. It has been a longstanding effort, one that has required a lot of feedback from the public and a lot of perseverance. As Senate majority leader, I will continue to push for every chance we get to bring cannabis policy into the 21st century, and passing our bill would be an excellent way to make that happen.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, over the decades, millions of Americans--most often Americans of color--have had their lives derailed and destroyed by our country's failed war on drugs. The consequences of this harmful campaign linger on to this very day. So I was pleased by yesterday's news that the DEA, under the Biden administration, is preparing to take a truly historic step: rescheduling cannabis from a schedule I substance to a schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Reclassifying cannabis is a necessary and long overdue step, but it is not at all the end of the story. It is time for Congress to wake up to the times and do its part by passing the cannabis reform that most Americans have long called for. It is past time for Congress to catch up with public opinion and to catch up with the science. So, today, I am proud to join with my colleagues Senators Booker and Wyden to reintroduce the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, a comprehensive and necessary update to the Federal Government's approach to cannabis. I am proud to be the first majority leader ever to call for an end to the marijuana prohibition because I have seen both the consequences of outdated drug laws and the benefits of commonsense cannabis regulation at the State level, and it is time for Congress to follow suit. Support for cannabis reform is growing in the Senate. Our bill now has 18 sponsors, the most ever for this bill. We will keep working to build more support because when liberals and conservatives and activists and entrepreneurs and veterans groups can all come together on one issue, that is a clear sign the momentum is real. I am very proud of the bill we are releasing today. Our legislation will finally remove marijuana from the Federal list of controlled substances. It will expunge the criminal records of so many Americans with low-level marijuana offenses that haunt them--inhibit them--for decades. And it will help our country close the book, once and for all, on the awful and harmful and failed War on Drugs, which all too often has been nothing more than a war on Americans of color. In short, our bill is about individual freedom and basic fairness. We cannot tolerate any longer the tragedy of the young person getting arrested because they have a small amount of marijuana in their pocket. For years, that is all it took--getting caught with a little bit of marijuana--for you to get saddled with a serious criminal record that prevented you from getting a good job, buying a home, getting ahead in life. And, of course, this injustice happens predominantly in Black and Latino communities. That is unfair. It is un-American. And our bill will right this grave wrong. In place of the War on Drugs, our bill would lay the foundation for something very different: a just and responsible and commonsense approach to cannabis regulation. It would call for new guidelines on how marijuana products are labeled, require new standards to prevent impaired driving, require HHS and NIH to support research into cannabis's health aspects, and more. Our bill, if passed, would close the door on outdated and very harmful modes of thinking at the Federal level, while allowing for reform and sensible regulation to take root. So, again, I want to thank Senators Booker and Wyden for being terrific partners in putting this bill together. It has been a longstanding effort, one that has required a lot of feedback from the public and a lot of perseverance. As Senate majority leader, I will continue to push for every chance we get to bring cannabis policy into the 21st century, and passing our bill would be an excellent way to make that happen.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I would like to begin today by saying a few things about the protests at Columbia University. Smashing windows with hammers and taking over university buildings is not free speech--it is lawlessness--and those who did it should promptly face the consequences that are not merely a slap on the wrist. Free speech, discussion, and even strong disagreement are fundamental American values, and campuses should be places where those values are cherished. Campuses cannot be places of learning and argument and discussion when protests veer into criminality, and those who commit such acts are doing nothing to convince others that their cause is just. It is also unacceptable when Jewish students are targeted for being Jewish, when protests exhibit verbal abuse, systemic intimidation, or glorification of the murderous and hateful Hamas, or the violence of October 7. As I said in my speech here on the floor last November and many times since: That is anti-Semitism. It is loathsome. It is unacceptable.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to refer H.R. 815 to the Committee on Appropriations with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask consent that further reading of the motion be dispensed with.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I have an amendment to the instructions at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture motion on the House message to accompany H.R. 815 be waived.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today, the Senate sends a unified message to the entire world: America will always defend democracy in its hour of need. We tell our allies: We will stand with you. We tell our adversaries: Don't mess with us. We tell the world: We will do everything to defend democracy and our way of life. In a resounding bipartisan vote, the relentless work of 6 long months has paid off. Congress is sending the supplemental to President Biden's desk. Getting this done was one of the greatest achievements the Senate has faced in years, perhaps decades. A lot of people inside and outside Congress wanted this package to fail. But, today, those in Congress who stand on the side of democracy are winning the day. To our friends in Ukraine, to our allies in NATO, to our allies in Israel, and to civilians around the world in need of help: Help is on the way. To our friends in Ukraine: America will deliver more ammo and air defenses and basic supplies that you need to resist Putin on the battlefield. To our friends in Israel: America will soon deliver aid to help you fight the scourge of Hamas and stand up to Iran. To innocent civilians in the midst of war, from Gaza to Sudan: America will deliver food and medicine and clothing. To our friends in the Indo-Pacific: We will stand with you to resist the Chinese Communist Party. And to the whole world: Make no mistake, America will deliver on its promise to act like a leader on the world stage, to hold the line against autocratic thugs like Vladimir Putin. A few months ago, Putin made a bet that American aid would sooner or later come to an end. We are showing Putin that betting against America is always--always--a grave mistake. Over the past few months, I have spoken repeatedly and at length about the supreme importance of getting this supplemental package done. Starting in October and through Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's and into the spring, I said again and again that we had to work in a bipartisan way, Democrats and Republicans alike, if we wanted to pass this bill. When we succeeded in getting the supplemental through the Senate the first time in February, it was for two reasons above all: persistence and bipartisanship. At certain points, it might have seemed hard to see how we would reach our goal, but we never lost hope that if we persisted, we could finish the job. Today, thank God, our persistence has been validated, and the bill sent to us by the House is largely the same as the bill in substance as what the Senate has championed all along. It wasn't easy to reach this point, but today's outcome yet again confirms another thing we have stressed from the beginning of this Congress: In divided government, the only way to ever get things done is bipartisanship. I am very pleased that in this moment, when it mattered most, both parties found a way to work together even when it wasn't easy. Again, persistence and bipartisanship are what saved the day. Leader McConnell and I, who don't always agree, worked hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder to get this bill done. Together, we were bipartisan and persisted. Now, it is troubling that a very small minority within the hard right tried desperately for months to prevent Congress from doing the right thing. These isolationists have now secured their ignominious place in history as the ones who would see America stick its head in the sand as our enemies sought to undermine us. Had they won, they would have presided over a declining America. I am glad that today we will see that effort fail. This is an inflection point in history. Western democracy faces perhaps its greatest test since the end of the Cold War. The conflicts we see right now in Europe, in the Middle East, and the tensions of the Indo-Pacific will go a long way in shaping the balance of power between democracy and autocracy in the decades to come, and the consequences for America's long-term security will be profound. If Putin is allowed to seize the territory of a neighboring sovereign nation, if the Chinese Communist Party is allowed to consume the Indo- Pacific, if Iran is allowed to dominate the Middle East, and if America were to stand by and do nothing, it is the United States that would suffer the consequences most of all in the long run. Failure to act now could not only undermine the legitimacy of our democratic values, it would have impacts across American life. It would hurt us politically, economically, militarily, and socially. It would harm the competitiveness of U.S. businesses, endanger the safety of our troops, cripple America's innovative potential, and make the world a more hostile place for our civic values--individual liberty, freedom of expression, equal justice under law, and opportunity for all. We always try to live up to these ideals, but they will not survive if autocratic powers like Putin and the Chinese Communist Party overtake America in this century. That is what is at stake in the war in Ukraine, where we face Putin. That is what is at stake in the Indo-Pacific, where we face Xi. That is what is at stake in conflicts in the Middle East, where we face Iran. Nothing less--nothing less--than the future of American security and the future of the democratic order that has survived since the end of the Second World War. So we have a choice. We can either make a downpayment on defending our security or find ourselves on the back foot, facing much graver threats in years and decades to come. The only answer is the right one: We must act now. We have learned in recent years that democracy is a fragile and precious thing. It will not survive the threats of this century--the new threats--if we aren't willing to do what it takes to defend it. And if America will not lead the way to protect democracy in this age, no other nation will. That is the burden, that is the duty of a nation as great as ours. There are so many people on both sides of the aisle who deserve credit for this immense accomplishment. I thank President Biden for his stalwart leadership. He never flinched or winced. He knew how important this was and was always working with us and importuning us to move forward. I thank Leader McConnell, as I have mentioned before, for working hand in hand with us, not letting partisanship get in the way. I thank Speaker Johnson, who rose to the occasion. In his own words, he said he had to do the right thing despite the enormous political pressure on him. I thank Leader Jeffries, who worked so well together in his bipartisan way with Speaker Johnson. Let me say this once again about my friend the Republican leader: We were of one mind to get this bill done. It was our bipartisanship, our linking of arms together, that got this large and difficult bill through the Congress despite many political ideologues who wanted to bring it down. Bipartisanship once again prevailed, and I thank him for his leadership. I want to thank my Senate colleagues, particularly in my caucus. The dedication and unity and strength you have shown have made this possible. I was able, as leader, to work with the Republican leader in the House, the Speaker, the minority leader in the House, and the President because I knew I had our full caucus behind us--strongly, fervently. The speeches that we heard at our Tuesday lunches, made by many who are sitting here, would make every American proud, and I thank you, thank you, thank you for that. For the past 6 months, our friends and allies across the world have been watching what has been going on in Congress and asking themselves the same thing: Will America stand by her friends to face down the forces of autocracy? Will America follow through on its commitment to be a leader on the world stage and safeguard the cause of democracy? Will America summon the strength to come together, overcome the centrifugal pull of partisanship, and rise once again to meet the magnitude of the moment? Today, with both parties working together, the Senate answers these questions with a thunderous and resounding yes. I yield the floor.