00:00Mr. President, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provision of Rule 14,
00:03I would object to further proceeding.
00:06Objections heard.
00:08The item will be placed on the calendar.
00:11Mr. President, before I begin, I want to mention longtime Supreme Court Justice David Souter,
00:15who died on Thursday.
00:17My thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.
00:21I also want to mention Cardinal Robert Prevost,
00:23who on Thursday became Pope Leo XIV.
00:27And I want to extend my congratulations on his election and my prayers for his service.
00:33I know that his election is particularly moving for American Catholics,
00:37who for the first time in history will be led by an American-born Pope.
00:41I am very happy for them.
00:43And I look forward to seeing what this sun of the Midwest brings to the Catholic Church and to the world.
00:51This President, on Thursday afternoon, Democrats abruptly ended extensive bipartisan work
00:56on the Genius Act and filibuster the Senate's attempt to move this bill.
01:02Democrats, I should say, who had voted for the bill in committee,
01:08inexplicably chose to vote against it here on the Senate floor.
01:13Mr. President, that's pretty difficult to understand.
01:16Providing a regulatory framework for stable coins is a bipartisan issue.
01:20The bill is the product of a bipartisan negotiation.
01:25And the vote in the banking committee was definitely bipartisan.
01:30Which leads you to wonder, of course, if this was really about the bill at all,
01:36or if this was about wanting to deny President Trump,
01:40or Republicans more generally, a legislative victory.
01:43Which might be nice for Democrats, but leave stable coin issuers and Americans who use stable coins
01:50in the same difficult spot that they're currently in.
01:54But unfortunately, it's pretty clear that obstructing, not legislating,
01:59is the Democrats' priority right now.
02:02Mr. President, until Democrats come to their census and allow us to proceed to the Genius Act,
02:06we're going to turn to nominations.
02:08Another area where, unfortunately, Democrats have made obstruction the name of the game.
02:16I certainly understand that Democrats are not going to support all the President's nominees.
02:20That's their prerogative as senators.
02:23But the way that they are drawing out this process on even non-controversial nominations
02:28is serving no one.
02:3257 out of the 58 of the President's civilian nominees have required cloture votes.
02:38An unprecedented number for recent administrations.
02:44And of those 57 nominees, 17 received 60 or more votes in support on their final confirmation vote.
02:50In other words, support from a number of Democrats, as well as Republicans.
02:56And yet, Democrats dragged out those nominations in the same way they dragged out the nominations
03:01of individuals that they universally opposed.
03:03Not a single one of President Trump's civilian nominees
03:08has been confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote.
03:11Again, something entirely unprecedented in recent years.
03:17Nor the President, since at least 1977,
03:21has failed to have civilian nominees confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote
03:27at this point of his administration.
03:30Except, except for President Trump in his first term in office.
03:36And as I said, this is serving no one, Mr. President.
03:40Nor is this going to prevent the President's nominees from getting confirmed.
03:44Democrats can drag out nominations all they want.
03:47But we're going to fill out the President's administration
03:50and ensure that his nominees get into place so that they can do the job
03:54and that he can do the job that he was elected to do.
04:00I'd like to do this the easy way and confirm non-controversial nominees expeditiously.
04:06In batches.
04:08For example, and maybe even by unanimous consent.
04:11That would give us more time to legislate and give members more time to spend in their states.
04:19But if we have to do this the hard way, we will.
04:22We're going to get the President's team in place.
04:25So I guess, Mr. President, Democrats have some decisions to make.
04:30I hope, I really hope, that they'll come back to the table on the Genius Act.
04:35And I hope that they will cease their pointless obstruction of bipartisan nominees.
04:44But I guess we'll have to see.
04:47Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
04:51The Clerk will call the roll.
