Okay. Lets go over why we are here. [background chanting] okay, everybody. Thank you very much for coming, and thank you for joining us this morning. I am here to stand with my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee who are boycotting todays Committee Markup on the nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. This is not a decision the members of the committee have taken lightly, but a republican majority have left us no choice. We are boycotting this illegitimate hearing. The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett is the most illegitimate process i have ever witnessed in the senate, and her potential confirmation will have dire, dire consequences for the senate, for the Supreme Court, and our entire country for generations to come. The Senate Republican majority is conducting the most rushed, partisan and least legitimate nomination to the Supreme Court in the nations history. Her potential confirmation will have dire consequences for the senate, for the Supreme Court, and our entire country for generations to come. The Senate Majority is conducting the most rushed, partisan and least legitimate process in the long history of the Supreme Court nominations. Democrats will not lend a single ounce of legitimacy to the sham vote in the Judiciary Committee. Democrats will not lend a single ounce of legitimacy to this hearing. We are voting with our feet. We are banding together, and we are standing against this unprecedented mad rush to jam through a Supreme Court nomination just days before an election. Today the seats of democratic members in the committee will remain empty. Instead, they will be filled by reminders of what is ultimately at stake. Photos of americans whose lives will be turned upside down if a single, if a Justice Barrett delivers the decisive vote to secure the longheld republican goal of destroying the Affordable Care act, stripping healthcare and preexisting conditions for millions of americans. You can imagine alongside their faces the faces of women who cherish the right to make their own private medical decisions. The faces of americans who want to marry who they love and not be fired for who they are. The faces of American Workers breaking their backs to make ends meet and want their union to help them get a better wage. The faces of young people who know that its in peril in their lifetimes. The bottom line is very simple. The senate should not be moving towards this nomination. To call the process illegitimate is actually being too kind but the chair man has broken the rules of the committee to move forward with a vote on judge barrett anyway. The rules require two members of the minority to be present to vote anyone out of committee, but the chair man graham just steamrolled over them just like the republican majority has steamrolled over principles, fairness, honesty and decency in their rush to confirm a justice. The United States senate has never, never considered a Supreme Court justice this close to a National President ial election day especially one in which tens of millions of americans have already voted. The American People oppose this and can see the hypocrisy in realtime. It is a hallmark of democracy that might should not make right but republicans are blatantly ignoring this principle. The American People know whats going on. They are not fooled. They know this process is a sham, a power grab and its no mystery why they are doing it. This is the culmination of a decades long effort to skew the court to the far right. What republicans and far right cannot accomplish through the legislature and trying to accomplish through the judiciary Senate Republicans tried and failed to repeal the Affordable Care act so President Trump and republican attorneys generals are suing to eliminate the law in court, and now if Senate Republicans confirm judge barrett, someone we know is critical of decisions of opposing the aca, they could be on the brink of achieving their goal. That is what this is all about. The American People who are voting right now by tens of millions are not fooled and they know whats at stake. The rights if barrett is confirmed. This nomination should not go forward. Senator feinstein. [background chanting] good morning. Last Week Committee rules were broken and the republicans broke the rules again by proceeding today without any democrats present. All along, democrats have objected to proceeding on this nomination in the middle of an election. 40 million americans have already voted, and we are just 12 days from an election. In 2016, the Republican Senate against filing a Supreme Court vacancy in an Election Year where they brought president obamas nominee for ten months before that election. Then in 2016, republicans said it was necessary to hold the nomination until after the election in order to give the American People a voice at the ballot box, specifically majority leader mcconnell said this, and i quote. The American People should have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court justice, therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president , and quote. What is false for the goose is false for the gander. Now, however, republicans are preceding regardless. Last week democrats participated in a nomination hearing because we wanted to show what was at stake for america if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed. We made our case about risks to Affordable Cares, especially the Affordable Care act. We protected freedom, the right to vote and equality for all. We believe that most the Affordable Care act and roe v wade could be lost. The democratic members of the Judiciary Committee did not have the votes to defeat judge barrett in committee. At that point, there was no further reason to participate in a Committee Process that has been used to rush this nominee forward. I will be voting against judge barrett ojudgebarrett on the fl. But between now and then, democrats of this committee will continue to make the case about what is at stake for the American People if judge barrett is confirmed. I now would be pleasured to welcome my friend, senator patrick leahy. [background chanting] thank you. Senator schumer and senator feinstein pointed out this hearing [inaudible] and we saw again what just happened. Moments ago at the hearing room across the street, republicans broke Committee Rules in many ways even worse than that, they broke their word for the confirmation process. Its become a caricature. [inaudible] while the republicans announce a nominee even before Justice Ginsburg was buried. They see an opportunity to accomplish what they failed to accomplish in congress. That includes making voting a second class right. Republicans have launched an allout war on voting. Last night they were successful. The Supreme Court voted 532 block curbside voting in alabama during the pandemic. And earlier this week, when the courts put forthfor the right to vote by mail. Republicans can hear you. But they sure that they will not lose again when they try to stop. Time and time again, the president has said he needs judge barrett on the bench when he raises his outrageous baseless claims about the mailin ballots. Another reason, and a number of republicans on the Senate Committee said this is the entire reason they need her confirmed now before the election, President Trump said he has to have a nominee and Supreme Court justice who will do what he wants her to do. It doesnt bode well that during the hearing, judge barrett refused to stand up for the most basic tenet democracy, to uphold the constitution contemplates peaceful transfer of power. She refused to acknowledge that voter discrimination and she refused to recuse herself from any election dispute. Make no mistake, President Trump was listening and he sees a green light to do whatever he wants. We need to keep fighting this nomination. We need to do everything we can to protect our democracy [inaudible] its past the house. The right to vote, that means [inaudible] there itheres nothing more impt for a government if it claims to be for the people, by the people, for the people, not by a dictatorship. Senator durbin. Today on the floor of the United States senate, we are discussing a Supreme Court vacancy. We should be talking about another topic. America is in the throes of the deadliest pandemic and more than a century. 222,000 americans have died. Many states are reporting record numbers of infections and deaths. In my state of illinois, the governor has recently called on the restaurants and the four major counties surrounding chicago to close because infection rates are out of control. Its personal. A friend of mine feeling ill last saturday told her daughter i need to go to the hospital. She went to the first hospital near her and was turned away because there was no room. She went to the second hospital. Turned away, no room. Finally, admitted at the third hospital. She passed away on tuesday morning. We have reached the point now, her daughter said, where i couldnt even get mom into the very best hospital. That is the state of america today. You would never know it if you listened to the debate on the floor of the United States senate, because senator mcconnell and the republicans believe the player ready for america is their political move to fill this vacancy on the Supreme Court. We should be passing a massive covid19 relief bill that would include testing, money for hospitals and clinics, money for schools, unemployment insurance, help for Small Businesses, helpd for the restaurant industry, the Airline Industry and state and local governments. But senator Mitch Mcconnell has no time for that. He has time only for the political agenda no time for the coronavirus and the economy and no time for them to personally attend negotiations to try to come up with a massive covid19 relief bill to me to this national challenge. Senator mcconnell and the republicans have only one priority. It is political. They need to reverse the position when they denied the opportunity to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. They need to deny the American People a voice in this election process. They need to force through this nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. Millions of americans watched the senate Judiciary Committee last week. They could draw their own conclusions. I will tell you mine. What i want to know is what she has in her heart. What we learned was she did not have the compassion for 23 million americans who are wee depending on the Affordable Care act to provide some refuge and confidence in the nation of the pandemic. She didnt have the courage to stand up to President Trump and say she wouldnt be when it came to an election contest, and she didnt have a basic commitment to the pillars of modern law in america. That was including the rights of women, including families against racism and pillars including marriage equality, privacy for every american citizen, and most importantly, just a few days before this election, no commitment when it came to the Voting Rights in america. Look every day as the news reports of people standing in the lines waiting for ten hours to vote. That is shameful in a country that claims to be a democracy with opportunity for all. So we come to you today to make it clear. We could not be party to this senate Judiciary Committee action across the street this morning. It was a violation of the Committee Law and Committee Rules, but more importantly, it was in violation of fair play. We believe the American People should have the last words in filling the Supreme Court vacancy and they will have the last word on november 3rd. The efforts by senator mcconnell to ignore this pandemic as it moves forward in this nomination are inconsistent with the basic principles of this country and that is why the members of the committee decided not to participate. I now introduce senator. They seem to have bought their way to the table at which United StatesSupreme Court justices are selected for the third time. For the third time, big anonymous donors have written checks of 15 billion and higher to pay for the campaign and confirmation of the selected justices. And for the third time, the republican colleagues have broken every rule, every norm of the senate including one they set themselves, in order to deliver for the anonymous donors and the same institution into a pantomime court that goes through the motions of and adjudication but delivering the goods for the donors. This isnt over. With that, let me turn it over to the distinguished senator klobuchar. [background chanting] thank you, everyone. This is a Justice Ginsburg dissent caller and i think we should not forget what her last fervent wish was and that is that the winner of the election, the next president would pick her successor. That was with the precedent set by our republican colleagues just a few years ago. That is what this is about. They have engaged in a sham in violating their own precedent and not listening to the words of the great Justice Ginsburg. Justice ginsburg said that her defense were blueprints for the future. As a rabbi noted in this great capital, they were not crimes of defeat. They were blueprints for the future. And that is what is at stake in this election, because we can make our own blueprints for the future. We can make the blueprints by voting. While the republicans are railing through the justice and spending the whole weekend on that, what should we be doing the moms and dads that are trying to teach first graders how to use a mute button and the seniors like my dad who got covid who i visited through a glass door not knowing if it was going to be the last time i saw him at 92yearsold and he looks so small in that room people got really sick and i didnt think he was going to make it home. This is personal for everyone out there. No matter where you come down on this, this is personal. And this republican majority, and this president have chosen to make as a Closing Argument that they are going to push through a nominee whose record shows us just where shes going to come out on so many things. The Affordable Care act is on the ballot. Voting is on the ballot, womens rights are on the ballot, and this is our moment. [background chanting] we are shrouded in fog and it isnt clear so let us help clear it up because sometimes the talk of the votes and the committees and filibusters here in the capital and the senate is a little hazy for the American People and sometimes it is tough to follow. But while we are here on the steps and what this is all about, its all about what is on the ballot and what is on the docket. On the agenda this morning, on the senate Judiciary Committee was moving the nomination of judge barrett to the floor of the senate. And as my colleague have said now many times, the only way the republican majority was able to do this was by breaking the rules of the committee. We were not there and we were not part of that vote because after the confirmation hearings had happened, it is abundantly clear that in the middle of a pandemic, where 8 million americans have been infected and more than 220,000 have lost their lives, we should instead be negotiating a robust package of pandemic relief. The republicans have insisted on breaking the examples that they set just four years ago of refusing to move a qualified nominee in this election. Well, folks, we are in the midst of an election. Tens of millions of americans are already voting. And we participated in the hearing so that we could ask judge barrett, so that we could get clear for the American People what is on the ballot and what is on