For 45 years, 45 years that every Supreme Court vacancy under a republican president was going to bring about the apocalypse. John paul stevens, they said was antiwomen. David souter, they said, wanted to hurt vulnerable people. John roberts was out to get health insurance. And wouldnt you know, the president had barely finished saying judge Amy Coney Barrett before the same old attacks begin rolling in. Our 77yearold male for Vice President and our 69yearold male senatede democratic leader have tried to inform american women that this 48yearold working mama wants to roll back her own rights as as a woman, l back her own rights as a woman. Democrats have tried to fearmonger around a fouryearold academic paper tthat reinforced one unfair penalty in obamacare which congress by the way has already eliminated three years ago. As an aside, madam president , if the American People are interested in which senators are serious about protecting americans with existing conditions, they can s simply lk up the vote senators took last night, just last night. Every single democrat voted against legislation from senator tillis that would have similar protections for this vulnerable americans. Democrats voted to block protections for preexisting conditions just like they voted to block hundreds of billions of dollars for coronavirus relief. Just like they voted to block police reform. And 1000 other things they tell americans they support the vote against to block bipartisan progress. So heres another one of the made of attacks. Democrats are demanding that judge barrett commit in advance, in advance to recuse herself from entire categories of cases for no reason. This is another totally invented standard nobody has ever suggested that Supreme Court justices should categorically sit on the sidelines until the president who nominate them has left office. What an absurd suggestion. Justice ginsburg and briarwood confirm during resident clintons very first term. Justice sotomayor and kagan were confirmed during president obamas first term. All four of these justices were no differences but in election related proceedings while the president who nominated them was on the ballot. And Justice Breyer in ginsburg participated actively in clinton v. Jones, another matter that is connected to resident clintons eventual impeachment. In fact, they urged that and attempted to get the Supreme Court even more involved. This is a sideshow, a sideshow, madam president. If judge barrett if confirmed she will swear an oath. She will have a lifetime appointment. Nobody seriously suggesting she lacks any bit of the integrity which anyone trusted justice ginsburg, Justice Breyer, justice sotomayor, kagan, and countless others to exercise. In fact, for integrity and independence are precisely what judge barrett appears across the political spectrum, go out of their way to applaud. Judge barrett has no obligation to make any of the bazaar, bizarre prejudgment that her democratic colleagues are demanding. Like i said much of the script has been entirely predictable. Ill tell you one thing i did not predict. I honestly did not expect the democratic leader to come to the senate for and say that concerns about antireligious discrimination are quote, manufactured hysterics. Didnt expectdn that. I do not expect we will hear the lead of the democratic conference stand on the senate floor and say that americas leading of religion is quote, an imaginary issue. The democratic leader claimed indignantly that his fellow democrats would never, never make an issue out other nominees personal religious beliefs. He took great offense such as saying with even be suggested. But the whole country knows that three years ago when the Judiciary Committee was considering this very nominee, this one for her current position, Senate Democrats did precisely that, exactly that. Senior senator from california literally applied in front of the entire country that judge barrett was to catholic, to catholic to be a judge. Here was the quote. The dogma lives loudly within you, she said, and thats a concern. The senior senator from illinois asked judgment in the official record, listen to this, do you consider yourself an orthodox catholic . The junior senator from hawaii felt compelled to tell the nominee, quote, listen to this, you would be a catholic judge. You would be a catholic judge. No one imagined these exchanges, but they happened on video before the entire nation. Multiple sitting senators threatened in an open hearing that judge barrett religious views created doubt about her fitness to serve. Outside the senate, it was not imaginary when one faith group in which judge barrett and her from participate report mccain under cyber attack a few days ago. Theirrs membership directory was reportedly hacked just as judge barrett emerged as a front runner. Nobody had to imagine the ominous articles from ap, reuters, the washington post, and politico all implying there was something questionable, questionable or problematic about judge barretts faith practices. Nobody had to imagine politico sending a contributing editor to snoop around the Church Buildings and report what a youth group had written on their whiteboard. So, no, americans dont have to imagine this elite disdain. All they have to do is read it. Its not just this one nominee. Nobody imagined it when the junior senator from vermont accused a different nominee of hatred and islamophobia because he had previously expressed a personal view that christianity gets things right, which islam gets wrong. Its not imaginary when the junior senator from california cas dispersions on yet another nominee for, listen to this, belonging to the knights of columbus. At another democrat implied he should quit this mainstream Catholic Group if you wanted to hold Public Office. Quit the knights of columbus if you want to hold Public Office . In america . The democratic leader said these are manufactured hysterics. He said people who call us out our hysterical. Frankly, it would be better for our country if that were true. But thats not the case. Justc yesterday 24 hours at the democratic leader swore that democrats would not make this an issue, the junior senator from hawaii i to say judge barretts faith is irrelevant, but immediately proceeded to question whether her closely held views can be separated from her ability to make objective, fair decisions. No one, no one should be deceived by these thinly veiled euphemisms. This is the exact form of religious discrimination has taken in america for decades. For decades. Especially when it comes to public service. We do not often hear people say they simply dislike a particular religion altogether. Thank goodness, which i mostly passed that kind of bigotry. No, going all the way back to jack kennedy, the more common accusation has been something a little more subtle. That people of deep faith, or certain faiths, are incapable of being fair or objective. That they are incapable of doing certain jobs well. That such americans are torn between divided loyalties and not to be trusted. Heres what the left is trying to say. Oh, we have no problems, no problems with judge barretts faith in an abstract sense. We just think it disqualifies her from this promotion. Madam president , that is the definition of discrimination. About a century ago openly anticatholic cartoons picture the pope or the Catholic Church as an octopus wrapping its tentacles around the institutions of american government. Thankfully those displays are long gone, but the core attitude clearly is not. Americans of faith are not imagining the increasingly hostile climate that the political left and the media has spent literally years sewing. And no, there is no free press as some commentators have suggested, because many prominent liberal voices or prominent democrats themselves identified as catholic. You dont get a free pass just by calling yourself a catholic. More than onefifth of our country belongs to the same church as judge barrett, onefifth of our country. Tens and tens of millions of americans, all of them, like all americans, must be free to live their faith in diverse and different ways without being barred, without being barred from public service. These kinds of aspersions do not become any more acceptable if the call is coming from inside the house. Sadly, none of these problems are imaginary. The American Peoples concerns are not manufactured. The Little Sisters of the poor did not wake up thinking it would be good fun if the Obamabiden Administration tried to force them to violate their ownio consciences. These nuns did not manufacture their lengthy legal battle for the fun of it. It was the secularization, left, that went on offense. Churches all across america did not go looking for one of these cycles, this cycles democratic president to continue to suggest places of worship should lose their taxexempt status if they preach or practice traditional teaching. It was the secularization, left, that went on offense. If part of elite american left have become this out of touch with mainstream religious beliefs held by millions and millions of their fellow citizens, it will take more than victim blaming to dig out of it. They could start this week. They could start today. They could commit to evaluating judge barrett on her credentials and her qualifications, and they could stop gawking at deeply religious americans like they have encountered extraterrestrial life, or bought a ticket for a safari. The nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court has thrust the issue of healthcare back into the spotlight. Her confirmation to the highest court in the land could put healthcare for hundreds of millions of americans at risk. As you would imagine, taking away healthcare is deeply unpopular with the American People. So what seems the strategy from the republican majority is to invent some new distraction, a fresh outrage to talk about. My colleagues on the other side would rather talk about anything besides the fact that their president , their party, and their Supreme Court nominee poses a dire threat to Americans Healthcare. Today, the outrage from the republican leader was directed once again at the idea that democrats would attack the nominees religious beliefs, but, of course, in their zeal to manufacture this issue, Republican Center just begin telegraphing this line of attack even before a nominee had been named. One republican senator brought me a letter to warn against anticatholic attacks happen against the now had not been in. Thats a transparent this republican diversion roosts is. It appears that the republican majority will crank up the outrage machine to 80 level of absurdity to avoid talking about americas healthcare, healthcare so Many Americans desperately want and need. In fact, all week the republican leader has mocked the idea that a far right Supreme Court majority might strike down the Affordable Care act and that judge barrett might play a decisive role. Of course, President Trump nominated, promised to nominate Supreme Court justices who would terminate the Affordable Care act, eddie picked judge barrett. And said that if the Supreme Court read the statute the way she does, they would have to, quote, involume date it, President Trump terminated. Judge barrett invalidated. Guess what . President trump and republican attorneys general are in court right now suing to do just that, involume invalidate our Health Care Law heard one week, one week after the election. The threat to Americans Health care is very, very real and Senate Republicans are tying themselves in knots in trying to explain how its not. Leader mcconnell from the floor of the senate called it a joke, a joke that judge barrett and a far right majority might vote to take away health care or turn back the clock on womens rights. Maybe he didnt get that message around to his conference, because the republican senator from utah only a few days earlier claimed the an i fo n Affordable Health was tarnished if thats what she chose to do and nominee sdoo i hadded that roe was an act of imperialism and i do believe Amy Coney Barretts record bears that out. Thats his quote. The junior senator from missouri expressed confidence that judge barrett decided that roe could enforce that view. Which is it, republican leader . Is it absurd to think that judge barrett might strike down the Affordable Care act or a good thing that shouldnt tarnish her reputation. It is a joke that judge barrett could curtail womens fundamental rights or are republican senators rereceived that she thinks at that roe vs wade is imperialism. Americans are getting sick of the double standard and me mealymouthed talking points and they couldnt hear a democratic candidate in the early year or a nominee during an election thats already underway, pretty sick of republicans claiming they support protections for americans with preexisting conditions while at the same time supporting a lawsuit that would eliminate them. Well, we are about to put a few of these Senate Republicans on the record. Soon the senate will vote on a bill that if passed, would protect the health care of hundreds of millions of americans, and prevent efforts by the department of justice to advocate that courts strike down the Affordable Care act. I was able to move this measure to the floor, despite the fact that republicans didnt want it, and now well have a vote. Will republican senators vote to stop President Trumps Justice Department from spending taxpayer dollars trying to eliminate the taxpayers health care . We will see very shortly. If senators truly want to support protections for americans with preexisting conditions, they vote to damage President Trumps legal effort to eliminate them. Its simple as that. No amount of explanation is needed, yes or no . I ask you unanimous consent, i be given a chance to finish my remarks in the next few minutes. Without objection. Thank you, madam president. Its simple as that. Are they with the people who want protection 0 are not . Are they standing with President Trump who wants to destroy it . It is that simple. Because if the president if President Trump and republican lawsuit is successful, every single american stands to lose Vital Health Care protections or access to care. Millions of americans would see drug costs skyrocket. Tens of millions of families would Lose Health Care coverage during the worst Health Crisis in a century. More than 130 million americans with preexisting conditions would lose vital protection, including every american who contacted covid, to contracted covid, which would be treated as a preexisting condition. Women would see their country hurdle backward at a time when they would be charged more than men for insurance simply because they were women. This vote, which i was fortunate enough to obtain will show which party stands with protecting Americans Health care and protections for preexisting conditions and which Party Opposes it. Its plain and simple. Are you with leader mcconnell who wants to rip away peoples protections . Are you with President Trump, who wants to ruin our American Health care by eliminating aca . Are you with the American People who desperately needs protections, with the mother or father whose son or daughter has cancer and the Insurance Company says youre not getting any insurance, or youre going to require that company to give them the insurance that family so desperately needs . The eyes of america are on this body and on republican senators right now. Whose side are you on . President trumps or the American People who want health care. I yield the floor. Today house elect subcommittee is having a hearing where some members