Advance the measure both for 11 30 a. M. Eastern. Now live to the senate floor here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Black, will open the senate with prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal father, our souls long for you, for we find strength and joy in your presence. Guide our lawmakers to put their trust in you, seeking in every undertakin to know and do your will. When they go through difficulties, may they remember that, with your help, they can accomplish the seemingly impossible. Give them a faith that will trust you even when the darkness is blacker than a thousand midnights. May they always find strength in your providential leading. We pray in your strong name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley 30 seconds for morning business, please. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley the senate will soon cross the milestone of 200 judicial confirmations since President Trump came to the presidency in 2017. These have been nominees in Justice Scalia just as the president promised nearly four years ago. They will strictly interpret the constitution and federal statutes. Their decisions will be driven by what the law actually says, not their own personal policy preferences. This landmark achievement is the result of the president keeping his word and the unwavering determination of leader mcconnell, chairman graham, and the republican conference. In the hands of these many strict constructionist judges, the future of american jurisprudence is very, very bright. I yield the floor. Mr. Mcconnell madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell in a few hours the senate will confirm judge cory t. Wilson to join the u. S. Court of appeals for the fifth circuit. Yet again President Trump has sent up an outstanding nominee for this important vacancy. Judge wilson holds degrees from the university of mississippi and yale law school. Hes held a prestigious clerkship, found success in private practice, and spent years in Public Service as a lawyer and a judge. The American Bar Association rates mr. Wilson well qualified. Once we confirm judge wilson today, the senate will have confirmed 200, 200 of President Trumps nominees to Lifetime Appointments on the federal bench. And following number 200, when we depart this chamber today, there will not be a single Circuit Court vacancy anywhere in the nation for the first time in at least 40 years. Not be a single Circuit Court vacancy anywhere in the nation for the first time in at least 40 years. As ive said many times, madam president , our work with the administrations to renew our federal courts is not a partisan or political victory. Its a victory for the rule of law and for the constitution itself. If judges applying the law and the constitution as theyre written strikes any of our colleagues as a threat to their political agenda, then the problem, i would argue, is with their agenda. Now on another matter, today was supposed to bring progress for an issue that is weighing heavily on the minds of americans. In the wake of the killings of Breonna Taylor and george floyd following weeks of passionate protests from coast to coast, the senate was supposed to officially take up Police Reform on the floor today. Instead our democratic colleagues are poised to turn this routine step into a partisan impasse. Frankly, to most americans, the situation would sound like a satire of what goes on in the senate, a heated argument over whether to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed to a proposal, a heated argument over whether to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed to a proposal. Were literally arguing about whether to stop arguing about whether to start arguing about something else. I can stand here for an hour and extol the virtues of senator tim scotts justice act. His legislation has already earned 48 cosponsors because its a straightforward plan based on facts, based on data, and lived experience. It focuses on improving accountability and restoring trust. Testimony addresses key issues like choke holds and noknock warrants. It expands reporting and transparency and hiring and training or deescalation. So im proud to stand with this legislation, but the reality, madam president , is nobody thought the first offer from the republican side was going to be the final product that traveled out of the senate. Whats supposed to happen in this body is that we vote or agree to get on to a bill and then we discuss, debate, and amend it until at least 60 senators are satisfied or it goes nowhere. It goes nowhere at the end until 60 senators are satisfied. So what are they giving up . Nothing. They dont want an outcome. The vote will take the vote well take in a few hours is just the first step. We arent passing a bill. We arent making policy decisions. Its just a procedural vote to say Police Reform is a subject the senate will tackle next. Thats all it says. That Police Reform is the subject the senate will tackle next. But alas our democratic colleagues have suddenly begun to signal theyre not willing to even begin the discussion on Police Reform. Theyre threatening to block the subject from even reaching the senate floor. Yesterday in a letter to me on the floor, the dkic leader and the junior senator from new jersey and california put forward an argument that was almost nonsensical. First, they explained a number of policy differences they have with senator scotts proposal. No problem there. The senate has a handy tool for settling such differences. Its called legislating. We take up bills. We debate them. We consider amendments from both sides and only if and when 60 senators are satisfied can we even vote on passage. At this time Senate Democrats say the legislative process should not happen. This time the democratic leader is saying he will not let the senate take up the subject of Police Reform at all, at all unless i prenegotiate with him in private and rewrite our starting point until he is satisfied. This lastminute ultimatum is particularly ironic given the weeks of rhetoric from leading democrats about how very urgent, how very urgent it was that congress address Police Reform and Racial Justice. For weeks democratic leader has blustered that the senate simply had to address this issue before july 4. Well, thats what the vote this morning is about. Last week Speaker Pelosi said i hope theres a compromise to be reached in the congress because, quote, how many more people have to die from Police Brutality . So as recently as last week, leading democrats called it a lifeordeath issue for the senate to take up this subject this month. Well, here we are. Here we are. Were ready to address it. But now in the last 48 hours, this bizarre, new ultimatum. Now they dont want to take up the issue. They dont want a debate. They dont want amendments. Theyll filibuster Police Reform from even reaching the floor of the Senate Unless the majority gets the minority to rewrite the bill behind closed doors in advance. Let me say that again. Theyll filibuster Police Reform from even reaching the floor unless the majority lets the minority rewrite the bill behind closed doors in advance. Yesterday the speaker of the house told cbs news that because Senate Republicans do support senator tim scotts reform bill, we are all, quote listen to this, listen to this jawdropping comment trying to get away with murder, the murder of george floyd . Thats the speaker of the house . Accusing Senate Republicans of trying to get away with murder . Youre beginning to see how this game works. Two weeks ago it was implied the senate would have blood on our hands if we didnt take up Police Reform. Now democrats say senator scott and 48 other senators have blood on our hands because we are trying to take up Police Reform. What fascinating times we live in, madam president. Armies of elites and twitter mobs stand ready to pounce on any speech they deem problematic and yet unhinged comments like these get a complete free pass. Complete free pass. When our country needs unity, theyre trying to keep us apart. When our nation needs bipartisan solutions, theyre staging partisan theater. This is political nonsense elevated to in a body that has amendments and substitute amendments, it is nonsense to say a Police Reform bill cannot be the starting point for a Police Reform bill. It is nonsense for democrats to say that because they want to change senator scotts bill, theyre getting to block the senate from taking it up and amending it. If theyre confident in their positions, they should embrace the amendment process. And if they arent confident, their views will persuade others that just underscores why they dont get to insert these views in advance, in advance behind closed doors. No final legislation can pass without 60 votes. If democrats do not like the final product, it wont pass. The only way there is any doubts that democrats would come to the table is they would rather preserve this urgent subject as a Live Campaign issue than pass a bipartisan answer. The majority has done everything we can to proceed to this issue in good faith. I have fasttracked this issue to the floor this month, as our democratic colleagues said they wanted, until 48 hours ago. I have expressed my support for a robust amendment process, as our democratic colleagues said they wanted, until 48 hours ago. So make no mistake about it, Senate Republicans are ready to make a law. Were ready to discuss and amend our way to a bipartisan product. Pass it and take it to conference with the house. The American People deserve an outcome. We cannot get an outcome if democrats will not even let us begin. Not even let us begin. I hope our colleagues reconsider and let the senate consider Police Reform later today. If they do not, the next time another appalling incident makes our nation sick to its stomach with grief and anger yet again, Senate Democrats can explain to the nation why they made sure the senate did nothing. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, cory t. Wilson of mississippi to be United States circuit judge for the fifth circuit. The presiding officer under the previous order, the time until 11 30 a. M. Will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. Mr. Mcconnell i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Schumer madam president. The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer now, madam president , the names of george floyd and Breonna Taylor, ahmaud arbery, continue to ring in the nations ears, a searing reminder of the desperate need to reform policing and truly address Racial JusticeRacial Injustice in america. Their memory is a National Call to action. Democrats answered that call by proposing a broad, strong, comprehensive Police Reform bill that would bring deep and lasting change to Police Departments across america. House democrats will pass that bill, the justice in policing act, as early as tomorrow. However, here in the senate, the republican majority proposed the legislative equivalent of a fig leaf, something that provides a little cover but no real change. And in less than an hour, leader mcconnell will ask the senate to proceed to the socalled policing reform bill. Weve all gone over the bills deficiencies over and over again. There are no good answers. Some on the other side have said the bills are similar. They are like night and day. In response to the brutal killing of george floyd, his windpipe crushed by a Police Officer, my republican friends drafted a bill that does not even fully ban the type of brutal tactics that led to his death. In response to the death of Breonna Taylor, killed by police executing a noknock warrant, my republican friends have drafted a bill that doesnt even ban that type of tactic. What weak tea. For leader mcconnell to come on the floor with this bill and say he is solving the problem, no one believes that. Except maybe a few ideologues who really dont want to solve the problem to begin with. The ban the bill doesnt ban choke holds, it doesnt ban noknock warrants, it does nothing to stop racial profiling, the militarization of police or reform use of force standards and qualified immunity. All the things that need to be done, almost none of which are in this bill. The last piece is particularly surprising. So much of the anger in the country right now is directed at the lack of accountability for Police Officers who violate americans rights. As far as i can tell, the republican bill does not even attempt one significant reform, not one to bring more accountability to Police Officers who are guilty of misconduct. If you present a bill, as republicans have here in the senate, that does nothing on accountability and say they are solving or dealing with the problem in even close to an adequate way, they are sadly mistaken. No one, no one believes that. Now, i could spend more time in describing what the republican bill doesnt do than what it does do. The harsh fact of the matter is the bill is so deeply, fundamentally and irrevocably flawed, it cannot serve as a useful starting point for meaningful reform. But dont ask me. Dont ask the democrats here. Ask the leading civil rights organizations who have declared their strong opposition not only to this bill but have urged us not to move forward because they know this bill is a sham which will lead to no reform whatsoever. Yesterday, 138 civil Rights Groups sent an open letter to senators demanding of the vote that we vote no on moving to proceed today. I have the letter here. I ask unanimous consent that the full letter be printed in the record. The presiding officer without objection. I want to ask the American People, i want to ask republican senators who is a better guardian of the civil rights of African Americans when it comes to Police Reform. The naacp or Mitch Mcconnell . If this bill were such a good path to reform, why wouldnt civil rights organizations from one end of america to another say go forward, maybe well get something done . Because they know the bill is a ruse and nothing will get done and thats why its designed, thats the way its designed. Who do you believe when it comes to civil rights and police accountability, Mitch Mcconnell or the lawyer for the families of floyd taylor or george floyd and Breonna Taylor. Who do you believe, the lawyer of the floyd and taylor families or Mitch Mcconnell who we have never heard speak on this issue on the floor until the last few weeks . These groups have been speaking about it for decades. The idea, the idea that this bill is a step forward when it will lead to nowhere, it will not be Mitch Mcconnell keeps saying you can cut the bill off when you dont get your 60 votes. What kind of solution is that . When its a junkie bill, when its a bill that a junky bill, when its a bill that doesnt go far enough at all, why dont we put a good bill on the floor that can pass . Let me read what the Leadership Council on civil rights said. They have had a hand in drafting every meaningful piece of legislation passed in congress in the last few years. This bill, the justice bill, the republican bill is an inadequate response to the decades of pain, hardship, and devastation that black people have and continue to endure as a result of systematic racism and lax policies that fail to hold Police Accountable for misconduct. This bill, the civil rights conference continues, falls woefully short of the comprehensive reform needed to address the current policing policies, the current policing crisis, and achieve meaningful reform. Listen to this sentence from 136 civil rights organizations about this bill that leader mcconnell has put on the floor. It is deeply problematic to meet this moment with a menial incremental approach that offers more funding to police and few policies to effectively address the constant loss of black lives at the hands of the police. Leader mcconnell, heres what the civil rights organizations say about