00:00Mr. President, it's 2.20 on a Saturday afternoon, not a usual time for the Senate to be in business,
00:14especially leading into the August state work period when senators are home meeting with their constituents,
00:21hearing their concerns, sharing news about what we've worked on.
00:24So you can say it's unusual for sure that we are here.
00:30I want to take a brief trip down memory lane to explain why we're here.
00:35For the benefit of senators, especially senators who haven't been here until recently,
00:40and for the benefit of our friends who are visiting in the gallery.
00:45We're here for one reason.
00:47We're here because of the actions of one man, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader.
00:54We're here voting, as you've probably seen and wondered about, on a series of nominees.
01:01These are not household names.
01:04For some of them, you may not even knew the job existed.
01:08No offense, I'm sure it's important to them and their parents.
01:10But for over 200 years, these kind of nominees didn't get a vote on a procedural question and then two hours of debate and then another vote on confirmation.
01:25They were voice voted or they were adopted by what's called unanimous consent of the Senate for over 200 years.
01:32You can see the evidence here in front of me in this chart.
01:38This is the percentage of civilian nominees who have been confirmed by voice vote or by unanimous consent going back to George Bush 41 and to today, President Trump's second term.
01:49Through about the first six months of the administration.
01:54George Bush 41, 98%.
01:56Bill Clinton.
01:58Some people thought Bill Clinton's presidency started a more polarized politics.
02:03Nope.
02:0498% for Bill Clinton as well.
02:08George W. Bush.
02:10George W. Bush, Bush 43.
02:12Well, it's a 5x increase in the number of record votes we needed, but still 90%.
02:19I would note that Senator Schumer was elected in 1998.
02:24So he showed up here about two years before George W. Bush did.
02:30Obama, despite the treatment of George W. Bush by the Democratic senators, stayed steady at 90%.
02:4090% of all of Barack Obama's nominees through his first six months were confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent.
02:46Look at this huge drop here, from 90% for Barack Obama to not even two-thirds for Donald Trump in his first term.
02:58And, yes, it does decline by another 8% to Joe Biden.
03:01As is often said, what goes around comes around.
03:05The shoe will be on the other foot, and you might not like how it feels.
03:08But look now at the unprecedented break from the customs of the Senate.
03:17Under these Senate Democrats and Chuck Schumer, from 57% to zero, zero, not a single one,
03:28not a single nominee of Donald Trump's have been confirmed by a voice vote or by unanimous consent
03:38in the first six-plus months of his administration.
03:44A totally unprecedented blockade.
03:47And we're not talking about the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the Treasury.
03:51Again, we're talking about jobs like the Chief Counsel for Advocacy at the SBA.
04:00I bet most of you didn't even know that job existed.
04:03They do important work, but does the Senate really need to spend two hours and two votes on it?
04:07I would suggest not, based on historical customs.
04:12So when did this all start?
04:16When did it happen?
04:16Did it happen when TV cameras got in the Senate
04:18and Senators could come down here and perform for the TV camera?
04:22No.
04:25In fact, there's ample examples and precedent
04:27of highly controversial nominations,
04:31not even requiring a 60-vote threshold.
04:36Think about Clarence Thomas, maybe the best example.
04:40Clarence Thomas in 1991.
04:42The most consequential nomination we consider
04:46a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States.
04:52One of the most, if not the most,
04:54controversial nominees in history
04:58because of the lies and calumnies
05:00that Democratic senators made against him, I would add.
05:05He was confirmed on a record vote
05:08of 52 to 48.
05:12Now you may say,
05:13well, how did he get confirmed?
05:15He didn't have 60 votes.
05:18And that's because, as late as 1991,
05:22it was considered unprecedented
05:24for a senator to require
05:27what we call a cloture motion,
05:30a motion to end debate
05:31at a 60-vote threshold on a nominee,
05:34on any nominee,
05:36to include a Supreme Court justice.
05:40Think about some of the senators
05:41who were here in 1991
05:43who could have,
05:45on their own accord,
05:48irrespective of the wishes
05:49of another 99 senators,
05:51demanded that Clarence Thomas
05:52get 60 votes before he be confirmed.
05:56Teddy Kennedy,
05:57Robert Byrd,
06:00Robert Byrd,
06:00Joe Biden,
06:03John Kerry,
06:06lions of the Democratic Senate,
06:08not a single one of them came down here
06:10and said,
06:12I want to demand a 60-vote threshold
06:17for Clarence Thomas.
06:19Maybe there were conversations about it,
06:21but maybe people like
06:22Teddy Kennedy and Robert Byrd said,
06:24we don't do that.
06:26That's not the way things are done here.
06:29Until 1999,
06:31when Chuck Schumer shows up
06:32and he and other liberals in the Senate
06:35and a bunch of liberal law professors
06:36begin circulating the idea,
06:39no, we should require
06:4060-vote thresholds
06:42for nominees.
06:44And then a couple years
06:47into the Bush administration,
06:49they began to demand it,
06:50most notably on nominees
06:53to the Court of Appeals
06:55for the D.C. Circuit,
06:56and most notably of all those,
07:00on Miguel Estrada,
07:01a young Latino lawyer
07:03that they were afraid
07:04George Bush was going to later elevate
07:07to be the first Latino
07:08on the Supreme Court.
07:11They took unprecedented actions
07:13and that,
07:16led by Chuck Schumer,
07:17is what brought us
07:18to this moment today.
07:20That's one reason
07:21why this says 90%
07:22and not 98%.
07:24By 2013,
07:28by 2013,
07:30Harry Reid,
07:31then Majority Leader of the Senate,
07:33voted to change the rules
07:34of the Senate
07:35and said there will no longer
07:37be 60-vote thresholds
07:39on any office
07:40other than the Supreme Court.
07:42He did it right there
07:44at that desk.
07:44Mitch McConnell stood
07:45at that desk.
07:46Then the Republican leader
07:47and said,
07:48what goes around comes around.
07:52The shoe may be
07:53on the other foot
07:54and it may be there sooner
07:55than you might think.
07:58And sure enough,
07:59four years later,
08:00in 2017,
08:01Republicans used
08:02the Harry Reid precedent
08:03and extended it
08:05to the Supreme Court.
08:07So now Supreme Court nominees,
08:08as was the case
08:09throughout history,
08:11only require
08:12a simple majority vote.
08:13And then the Democrats
08:14engaged in the
08:15dilatory practices
08:16that they're using now,
08:18which is why this number
08:19was at 65,
08:21to demand 30 hours
08:23of debate.
08:26And I say 30 hours
08:27of debate in air quotes
08:28because nobody comes down here
08:30in those times
08:31and debates the nominee
08:32pending on the floor.
08:33they talk about
08:34climate change
08:35or they recognize
08:37someone celebrating
08:38their 100th birthday
08:39back home.
08:40But nobody comes down here
08:41and has a serious debate
08:42on the merits of a nominee.
08:44So in 2019,
08:45Republicans used
08:46the Harry Reid precedent
08:48again to cut
08:49the time for debate
08:50for most offices
08:52in the sub-cabinet,
08:53not for courts of appeals,
08:55not for cabinet members,
08:56not for the Supreme Court
08:57from 30 hours
08:58to two hours.
08:59And that's why
09:01we spend two hours
09:02in between each one
09:04of these votes.
09:07But Democrats,
09:08having lost again last year,
09:10the White House
09:10and the Senate,
09:11have brought us
09:12to this point.
09:14Zero nominees
09:16confirmed by voice vote
09:18or by unanimous consent.
09:20An unprecedented blockade.
09:24All traced back
09:25to Chuck Schumer's
09:27decision when he got
09:28in the Senate
09:28to break the norms,
09:31the practices,
09:32the traditions
09:32of the U.S. Senate.
09:36Well, this is not going
09:37to stand for much longer.
09:39It's up to our
09:40Democratic friends
09:41to decide
09:42how they would like
09:43to proceed.
09:45Do they want to follow
09:46Chuck Schumer
09:47off the cliff?
09:49Because if so,
09:50we'll be happy
09:51to use the Harry Reid
09:52precedent again.
09:55We'll eliminate
09:56two hours of debate time.
09:58We'll eliminate
09:59motions to go in
10:01and out
10:01of executive session.
10:04We'll eliminate
10:04cloture motions
10:05entirely
10:06for nominees
10:08that currently
10:08take two hours
10:10of debate.
10:13For today,
10:14maybe we'll
10:15make a motion
10:17to adjourn.
10:18And when the House
10:19returns and votes
10:20on that motion,
10:20then Donald Trump
10:22can appoint
10:22this backlog
10:23of more than
10:24150 nominees
10:26in a recess appointment.
10:30It's the Democrats' choice.
10:32They have a third choice.
10:33They could return
10:34to historical precedent.
10:37They could agree
10:38to voice vote
10:39today,
10:41in the next few minutes.
10:44More than 150 nominees,
10:46at this point,
10:47most of whom
10:48came out of our committee
10:49on a bipartisan basis.
10:53Many of whom
10:54are nominated
10:54to offices
10:55that have literally
10:57never had
10:59a recorded vote
11:00on the floor
11:01of the United States Senate.
11:07The question
11:08is up to the Democrats.
11:09Do you want to do this
11:09the easy way
11:10or do you want
11:10to do it
11:11the hard way?
11:12Because Republicans
11:13are prepared
11:14to finish
11:16what Chuck Schumer
11:17started
11:1822 years ago.
11:23And what it will do
11:25is return
11:26the U.S. Senate
11:28to those practices,
11:31customs,
11:32and traditions
11:32that prevailed here
11:34from the 18th century
11:35to 2003.
11:40For both parties,
11:42for presidents
11:43of both parties,
11:45I think our republic
11:46was just fine
11:46from the 19th century,
11:50I'm sorry,
11:50the 18th century
11:51to 2003.
11:54But one way
11:55or another,
11:56I promise you,
11:58this is going to stop.
12:00I yield the floor.
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