events with live streams from u.s. congress white house and is, and campaigns and more for the world of politics and all of at your figure tips and also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and by scheduling information for cspan and c-span radio, plus a variety that the broadcast and c-span now is available at the apple stores, google play and download it for free today, c-span now your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. >> we think alive now to the u.s. senate, which today is consider nominees of the federal trade commission and the export import bank with alcohol both scheduled for 1145 eastern today and is a live coverage of the u.s. senate, here on "c-span2".

the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain dr. barry black will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, today show our lawmakers the road where they should travel. guide them with your wisdom and grace, keeping them from the detours that prevent them

from doing your well. lord, lead them to your desired destination. instruct them with your precepts, so that they will live for the honor of your name. eternal god, we keep our eyes on you for you are the source of our strength and our shelter from life's storms. and lord, we continue to pray for the ukrainian people. we pray in your powerful name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting 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 clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., march 30, 2022. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable angus s. king, a senator from the state of maine, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. 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, export import bank of the united states, judith delzoppo pryor of

ohio to be first vice president.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: last night five people were skilled by the palestinian government outside tel aviv. it was the fifth time in just two weeks that unprovoked violence has shattered lives on israel's streets. 11 innocent victims are now dead. they include people of different faiths. several were arab israelis. as jews, muslims and christians prepare for some of the holiest days of the year, families in

israel are in mourning. i know i speak for all of our colleagues in offering them the senate's deepest sympathies. america, like our arab and israeli friends, must remain clear-eyed. the war against terrorism will not fight itself. we cannot afford to be complacent. we must continue to invest in the common mission of security and peace, and we must always stand firmly with our ally israel. now, on an entirely different matter, i opposed judge ketanji brown jackson supreme court nomination for three main reasons. first, judge jackson has refused to follow the ginsburg-breyer model and denounce court-packing. she testified she'd be, quote, thrilled to be one of however

many, end quote. second, judge jackson was not sufficiently forthcoming on judicial philosophy to dispel president biden's public litmus test that he would only nominate a judicial activist. and, third, judge jackson's personal policy views on criminal sentencing have clearly slanted her jurisprudence. the average violent criminal who was convicted in judge jackson's courtroom got a sentence nearly two years lower than the federal guidelines. the average drug criminal, gun criminal, sex criminal, and financial criminal before judge jackson all came in underneath the guidelines as well. in the specific area of child exploitation crimes, the nominee was lenient to the extreme. the average federal judge sentences one out of every child pornography possessors to a

sentence within the stiff guidelines. judge jackson never did it once. the national average is one out of three. judge jackson went 0-11. as she told senators repeatedly, this was not some case-by-case coincidence but, rather, her consistent policy bias. quote, i was making policy determinations. quote, i have policy disagreements with certain aspects of the operation of the guidelines. "the washington post" just intervened -- just interviewed a convicted possessor of child pornography who was supposed to get eight to ten years under the guidelines. the prosecutor wanted two years. judge jackson gave him three months. her policy disagreements in action. this criminal realizes she was lucky to end up in judge

jackson's courtroom. here's what he told the "post. requestings "quote, i wasn't very happy that she gave me three months, though. after reflection, when i was in jail, i was hearing from other people who said it was their first time arrested and they got five years, six years -- end quote. this is not a few cherry-picked cases. this is a consistent thread that runs through judge jackson's accomplished legal career. in 2011, as vice chair of the u.s. sentencing commission, judge jackson reportedly made the jaw-dropping argument that if criminals are going to recidivate no matter what, it doesn't matter whether we lock them up for a long time or let them out early. quote, if we keep them in jail for the extra 36 months or whatever, they're going to recidivate at the same rate, end quote. a u.s. attorney replied with the

obvious point that criminals can only offend if they're become on the streets. -- if they're back on the streets. in 2020, judge jackson rewrote the first step act from the bench to let a fentanyl trafficker out of jail early. in 2018, while initially sentencing this defendant, she apologized to him and voiced frustration that the law forced her to apply a tough sentence. two years later she twisted the law to let him out. last year judge jackson grantinged compassionate release to someone who shot and killed a u.s. marshal. the parole commission had repeatedly denied this release, but judge jackson let him out. these are not personal criticisms of judge jackson. they are what the nominee herself calls these decisions --

policy differences. and policy make something supposed to happen here in this -- and policymaking is supposed to happen here in this chamber, not in the courthouse across the street. this isn't just about this nomination. the biden administration has a sweeping project to make the whole federal judiciary softer on crime. even as violent -- even as this violent crime wave we're experiencing sweeps across america, the biden administration is pursuing an ideological mission to make the federal bench kinder and gentler to criminals. judge jackson's record suggests she stretches the judicial role to advance that project. now you on a related matter -- now, on a related matter, judicial independence is essential to our republic. it's integral to it the rule of law. and for the most part, since the democratic party's last run at partisan court-packing in the 1930's, both parties have respected it.

ah, but lately, washington democrats have gone off the rails. in 2019 democratic senators tried to openly bully the supreme court into a certain outcome. they wrote a threatening amicus brief saying the court had better, quote, heal itself. in 2020, the democratic leader himself stood on the steps of the supreme court and threatened multiple sitting justices by name if they didn't reach the policy outcome that liberals wanted. in 2021 is president biden suggested the delegitimizing campaign by suggesting a pseudo-academic commission to ponder ideas like partisan court-packing and unconstitutional term limits. far-left activist groups mounted a public pressure campaign to push justice prier to retire. just last week the number-two senate democrat, our colleague from illinois, claimed that the

primary safeguard against partisan court-packing is the senate's 60-vote threshold. this was a very revealing comment considering that senator durbin and the vast majority of his fellow democrats just tried to destroy that very threshold a couple of months back. and now in the last few days, the latest chapter, the left's quest to delegitimize the supreme court found its latest outlet. this time it's a coordinated effort to nullify the presence of justice clarence thomas on the court. the far left wants another crack what they've tried and failed to do way back in 1991. washington democrats are trying to bully in exemplary judge of 30-plus years out of an entire legal subject or off the court altogether. far-left house members are talking about dusting off their party's impeachment addiction

for a third consecutive year. they're boasting about how they've successfully bullied their senior leadership into impeachment in the past. make no mistake, this performative outrage is not in earnest. this is a political hit, shall part of liberals' yearslongiest to delegitimize the court all because our laws and constitution occasionally inconvenience the democrats' radical agenda. if this isn't new, it's a tired old tactic. in recent years, the far left has issued near constant demands to the late-justice scalia, justice alito, justice gar such, justice kavanaugh and justice barrett to recuse themselves from areas that the far left feared they might not like a certain ruling all based on

spurious allegations about fake ethical problems or partiality. this new, inappropriate pressure campaign is just a continuation of this well-worn pattern. it has no basis in justice thomas' decades of impeccable service on the court. the justice and the entire court should feel free to completely ignore all this. justice clarence thomas is a great american, an outstanding justice. he is faithful to the text of our laws and constitution. his writing is clear. his reasoning is rigorous and transparent. i have total confidence in justice thomas' impartiality in every aspect of the work of the court. each of the nine justices should feel free to make every single judicial decision they make with total independence and complete freedom. what cases they hear, how they hear them, how they rule, whether and when they recuse themselves, and whether and when

they retire -- these are all judicial decisions. all nine justices deserve total independence as they approach every judicial decision they make. this clumsy bullying from the political branches is really beyond the pale. justice thomas is an exemplary jurist who has modeled fidelity to the rule of law for more than 30 years and counting. i hope none of these justices give any of the radical left's various pressure campaign a minute's thought. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: ex -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: so, mr. president, today is going to be a very busy day on the senate floor as we continue advancing even more of president biden's well qualified nominees. later this morning, we hold an

especially important vote to proceed on the nomination of alvaro bedoya tapped by president biden to sit as a commissioner of the federal trade commission. the f.t.c. right now is one of the best agencies for protecting americans from price gougers, manipulators, and those trying to rip off american consumers. or at least it would be if it had full membership. instead the f.t.c. has remained deadlocked for just about the entirety of the biden administration because of republican obstruction. and the consequences for american consumers have cascaded one after the other. we all know prices have been going way up and hurting a lot of americans. there are serious reasons to fear a lot is due to some gouging and manipulation. the f.t.c. is about the best agency to look for this but as long as its membership is deadlocked, it cannot act. this is especially urgent when it comes to energy prices. americans are seeing higher

prices at the pump despite massive profits for oil companies so we need a fully operational f.t.c. to investigate and take action if warranted. that's why moving forward on mr. bedoya is so urgently needed and frankly, the obstruction over mr. bedoya is truly unacceptable given the f.t.c. is so important for fighting potential price manipulations. republicans know this yet his nomination has been deadlocked not once but twice at the committee level. for all the howling our republican friends are doing about rising costs, they are truly content with dragging their feet on public servants who could actually help solve the problem. so shame on those who are blocking for that. without mr. bedoya, the f.t.c. and members are left handicapped and incapable of moving forward. so today's motion to disarnlings is a matter of -- discharge is a matter of immense importance and i hope all my colleagues who care about fighting inflation

and price manipulation vote to proceed with mr. bedoya's nomination. stock buybacks by the oil companies have dramatically increased this year. why is that money going into stock buybacks instead of into other much more productive uses? that's another thing the f.t.c. could take a look at. now, as the day progresses, i also want my colleagues to realize the possibility of additional votes later today. on monday i filed cloture on five individuals to fill other important roles across the administration. today we'll move on the first of these nominees. but we are working to move forward with the rest as soon as we can. now, on covid. negotiations on covid public health response funding continue. yesterday i met again with my republican colleague senator romney as we worked to an agreement. and today these negotiations will keep going. to keep the process moving forward in the senate, last night i took the first

procedural step on a legislative vehicle through which the senate could pass covid public health funding. when the time comes that both sides reach an agreement. we're not yet at the finish line but we'll keep working throughout the day and i am committed to working with the other side reasonably and in good faith. the consequences of not getting covid funding are really serious. scary almost. additional public health funding is crucial for making sure every american can get a vaccine if needed, including booster doses and potentially new, more effective vaccines down the line. new funding would help make sure we have enough testing supplies throughout the country which we know is perhaps the most effective way to keep track of the spread of the virus. of course, more service -- more funding would ensure the federal government can continue providing treatments like

monoclonal antibody treatments which are invaluable for preventing severe covid infections. the lack of therapeutics is probably the greatest need of all. and we need money so we can have a supply. so when, god forbid, the next variant hits, we'll immediately be able to counter it with the kind of medicines that are needed that limit the severity of the infection. the rest of the world is racing to buy up the supply of these treatments and these therapeutics. and if the u.s. falls behind because of a lack of funding, vulnerable americans and our whole country will pay the price. the bottom line is this -- both sides should come to agreement for more funding as quickly as possible because that will mean more vaccines, tour pew particulars and testing so we can keep schools and communities open and we can stay as, quote, normal as possible. if a new covid variant extends its nasty tentacles across the country and we don't have the tools to respond, then whoa is

us. americans don't want to see that and endure that. so let's keep working to reach an agreement soon. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

>> gave senators the opportunity here directly from president biden's nominee to the supreme court, judge ketanji brown jackson.

decide whether she's an appropriate candidate for the nation's highest court. my approach to deciding whether or not to vote for supreme court nominee or any judicial nominee is pretty simple. i look at the character and qualifications and most of all i look at the question of whether the nominee understands the limited role of the judiciary and the separation of powers. our federal government of course has three distinct branches, the legislative branch which makes the laws, the executive branch, the president, and executive departments which executes the laws, and the judiciary which interprets the laws. 30 simple, right?