People in Silicon Valley to do well. And by the way, those people dont need any more advocates in this city. Theyve got lots of them already. It is working people who need advocates here. And is working families who need a voice. You know, working folks dont ask for much. They work hard. They love their families. They love god. They love the place where they live. And they want the opportunity to build a home there and a way of life that is pos rouse and prosperous and is secure and is meaningful and that they can pass on to their children. Mr. President , that is not too much to ask. In the america of the 21st century, that is not too much to expect. It is not too much to stand for and to fight for because it is the working people of this country that built this nation, and theyre the ones who keep it going now. And they are the ones where this countrys strength is found. And it is the working people of this country, their future and their families that are going to define the future of our country. And i would just say in is what we should be debating. This challenge is what we should be confronting. This crisis is what we should be looking to and addressin addresg because this is what is going to define our time. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from alabama. Mr. Jones thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i have to admit i havent had a lot of sleep the last few nights and i dont think anyone has. If anyone has rested well the last few nights, its because theyre either not paying attention or theyre here for the wrong reason. Were in some troubled times. The events of the past two weeks have been nothing short of stunning. They have been stunning in the speed in which they have unfolded. They have been stunning in the disturbing and the allegations that have been made regarding the conduct of the president of the United States. Allegations that go to the heart of National Security, allegations that go to the heart of whether or not the president is upholding his oath to the constitution of the United States or abusing the power of the presidency. We have to remember in this body, though, we have to remind our colleagues, we have to remind the media, we have to remind the public that we are just now beginning this process. The facts have not come out. We are just now beginning to see facts and determine what happened over the course of this past summer. What happened, what was said, who said it . We have to determine the allegations whether or not they have merit based on facts that come out, not just reports in the media or even the allegations in a complaint. Allegations in a complaint are simply that. Theyre allegations made but they have to be proven but already and the reason i rise today is that already we are seeing this becoming political. People are going to their political corners. The partisan tribalism is taking over already. And that is unfortunate. It is a sad commentary when a process that is so rooted, so rooted in the constitution of the United States, something so fundamental to our democracy is almost immediately cast in political terms. My colleague and friend, senator sasse from nebraska, used the term partisan tribalism in todays world that is insts certain. No matter what you read, it doesnt matter because you are going to take a side. When we take sides, the American Public immediately takes side and no one listens to the facts. We are called as senators, we are called as members of the house, we are called as members of this body to a much higher duty than that, a much higher duty. Our duty is to carefully analyze and review the facts, facts, not mere allegations, facts, not reports or leaks. Facts, not what some political talking head on the television says their opinion might be. Our duty is so much higher than that. We have seen already what appears to be very disturbing facts. We have seen a summary of a telephone call between the president of the United States and the president of ukraine. Ukraine is a country dependent on countries like the United States, the balance of power between the United States and ukraine is not balanced at all. We have so much more power and in that call, that summary of that call, the president of the United States noted that to the president of ukraine. He said essentially you are dependent on us. No one else helps you. You can count on the United States of america. By the way, i need a favor. I need a favor. I need you to do me a personal political favor. And in that conversation he talked about not only having his personal lawyer but also utilizing the attorney general of the United States to help benefit that politically. Those are initially the facts and they are very disturbing. And for anyone to say that they are not is shirking their responsibility to their constituents, toe the public, to the public, to the constitution, to the very oath we took when he came into this body. But again it is but one piece of a puzzle. Weve now also seen the contents of the socalled whistleblower complaint. Whistleblower is a term of art. Whistleblowers are just simply somebody thats come forward but if their but theyre given the name whistleblower because they are given legal protections. What these people are that come forward with this are concerned citizens of the United States. And a concerned citizen of the United States saw something happening that disturbed him so much that he felt compelled to bring it to someones attention. Documented fairly well but again these facts have not come out. Theyre just statements in an allegation in a complaint that have to be determined. I have been asked over and over by the media in the last two days do you support the house doing this, do you support impeachment. Do you support this or that the . My comment is always the same. I want to know the facts. It doesnt matter to me what the house of representatives and their prerogative call their processes. I want to know the facts of the American People deserve to know the facts. This body deserves to know the facts whether or not anything comes over from the house o houf representatives. We deserve to know whether the president is abusing his office. We deserve to know whether hes placing our National Security at risk. Because remember, ukraine is under threat from russia every day. Every day. They are looking over their shoulder. And that puts us as risk as well. So we have got to make sure that we are deliberative, that we move forward with a process that is deliberate, that we owe it to the American People to be deliberate, to be somber, to be making sure that we know the facts before we make our judgments. It doesnt matter what side of the aisle youre on. This is not a republican process. This is not a democratic process. And for gods sake, its not a socialist agenda. Thats about the dumbest thing ive heard people say over the last two days. Good lord. Were talking about a process thats rooted in the constitution of the United States. Rooted in the constitution of the United States for a purpose. Part of that checks and balances that seems to be going out the window these days in our society and in our government and here in washington, d. C. This is an american agenda. To make sure that we know the facts, that we understand those facts so that people around here that are watching this today know and can be secure in the fact that their congress is doing their job, that the president is doing his job, that the courts are doing their job. This is not, this is not the time to circle the wagons around the president but likewise it is not the time to make a judgment already that this president should be removed from office or even articles of impeachment voted on by the house. That is not the time to do that. Were beginning a process that we have to take our time on. I say that knowing that when we say take our time, we just need to be deliberate, but we need to move. This is not something that needs to drag through. This is not something that the American Public needs to be drug through over the course of too long a period of time. This can be determined. If you look at cha whistleblower complaint at that whistleblower complaint that was filed, this is something that should easily be something that can be done in a relatively short period of time. In we can get that done, cooperate with us, do your duty and let us do ours. That is all that we ask. Thats all that anybody should ever ask of anyone in this body or anyone in the house of representatives. Let us do our job. As we move forward, as we move forward, were about to go on were about to leave this place for a couple of weeks. The house is leaving although they may still do a little bit of work. Well be leaving for two weeks. Well be going home to our states. Well be talking to the media, to our constituents. I guarantee you when i go back to alabama, a lot of people will already have made up their mind, when i go to a town hall, they will have made up their mind. Theyll be making up their mind based on the media. You know what . My friends in the media, you need to pay attention, too. Dont ask me whether or not this is going to affect my election in 2020. Dont affect me if its going to affect joe biden or donald trump. Dont ask me if its going to affect the president ial race. Ask me what is going to happen to the constitution . What is going to happen to the rule of law . Lets talk about the seriousness and not the politics of it, for goodness sake. But every time i turn around when i walk out these doors the first thing theyre going to ask me is how do you think this is going to affect your race. This is not my job. That is not my oath. That is not my duty. If we take if everything we do in this body we put our fingers to the political winds, we may as well not be here. That is we should not be able to live with ourselves. Unfortunately i think so many people do that. And i him hoping in this day, in this time, in these troubled waters were about to embark on, that people will see that higher calling, that they will once again return to that time and that place when the senate is a deliberative body and not a kneejerk reaction to a particular program or nomination or whatever that comes before it. We will return to the days of yesteryear where we actually deliberate and we talk and we talk among ourselves and we have a civil discussion about the important issues that we are faced with. I remember those days. I was here. I was sitting back there as a Senate Staffer watching those great debates, watching people change their mind on the floor of the senate because of the debate that someone gave and someone persuaded them. We dont have those anymore. Look around right now. Were all gone. Wive got staff here. But we dont have those debates anymore. We dont have that dlib we dont have deliberations anymore. We dont have to now. Were were going to have to now. Were going to have to because the public depends on it. The fate of this country will depend on it. We are so divided in this country right now. We are living in what Arthur Brooks has called that culture of contempt where we dont necessarily just disagree with each other. We hold each other in contempt if you disagree with each other. And weve got to change that, folks. Weve got to get back. Weve got to change that. Weve got to make sure that people understand their roles, their duties. Weve got to make sure that for this country to progress, for this country to survive, weve got to work together. Weve got to be one america. We captain be so divided, because thats exactly what our enemies have been trying to do to us for centuries, for two centuries or more. They want us divided. They came close during the civil war. They are going to come close now if we are not careful. If we dont stop folks on both sides of the aisle from continuing to pull us into our corners and start pulling people back to where we can have these discussions, we are in trouble. I hope that all my colleagues i hope that my colleagues, as we go forward, as we go into this recess, will remember their oath. I hope that people remember what they said when they stood right over there and the Vice President of the United States asked them to raise their right hand and they say, i do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Support the constitution of the United States. We didnt take oaths to support the president of the United States. We didnt take an oath to support the republican party. We didnt take an oath to support the democratic party. We took an oath to defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. An important part that our framers put in those oaths foreign and domestic. We said that we take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. We cannot evade. We took on oath not to evade while we were here. We have no purpose that is not what we go. And that we will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office of which we accepted. Our duties to discharge that office are to be fair, to be impartial, to be deliberative, not political. Our duties to this office are to our constituents, to do the very best that we can in making sure that we analyze whatever is in front of us because history will judge us. They will determine whether or not we acted with courage and conviction or whether we just simply tested the political winds, as some people are already doing. Mr. President , i often in my talks around the country and some even here i like to quote one of my favorite characters from literature, Atticus Finch. He gave an impassioned Closing Argument to a jury that he knew was likely not to give him the verdict that he sought. He gave out the case he laid hewitt case in defense of tom robeson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. He gave that defense and he went through the facts and everybody thats ever read the book, everybody thats ever watched the movie knows that tom robinson was innocent. But Atticus Finch knew that the likelihood of that jury finding that man innocent was slim and none. And the end of this Closing Argument, he talked about the solemn duty, the solemn obligation that jurors have to the system. He talked about the Justice System and the courts and jurors being the great levelers of society, where the pauper or the rich man are the same in the eyes of the law. He talked about the duty that they had to fairly, impartially judge the facts. And just before he sat down, knowing knowing you could see it, you could feel it if you read the book, you could feel that atticus knew what was going to happen. He sat down just before he dat sat down and he looked that jury in the eye. He said, gentlemen, for gods sakes, in the name of god, do your duty. Ladies and gentlemen and colleagues, in the name of god, we got to do our duty. We have to do our duty. We have to make sure that we fulfill our oaths, that we are not concerned about how many votes it might get us or how many votes it might lose. We have to fulfill that solemn obligation. Whether we know the outcome or not it whether we get pressure from a side or not, whether or not there are millions of dollars spent in tv and radio telling us to vote a certain way, in the name of god, we should do our duty and nothing less. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following nominations executive calendar 446, 447, 448, and 449. The presiding officer without objection. The clerk will report the nominations en bloc. The clerk nominations, department of justice, w. Steven muldrow of puerto rico to be United States attorney for the district of puerto rico. Michael d. Baughman of pennsylvania to be United States marshal for the Western District of pennsylvania. Fer nondough l. G. Sablan of guam to be United States marshal for the district of guam and concurrently United States marshal for the district of the mariana islands. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent the senate vote on the nominations en bloc with no intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc, that the president be immediately notified of the senates action, that no further motions be in order, and that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record. The presiding officer without objection. The question is on the nominations en bloc. All in favor say aye. All opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The nominations are confirmed en bloc. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of the following nomination executive calendar 423. The presiding officer without objection. The Clerk Department of defense, Brian Mccarthy of illinois to be secretary of the army. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent the senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc, that the president be immediately notified of the senates action, no