now our historian and expert on delving into these rules, and very effectively, jeff merkley. sen. merkley: thank you to my colleagues standing here, saying our o through the constitution really means something. that is founded on the foundation of every person's right to vote. in each generation, we have to nurture, restore that foundation, and that is what our task is now. my colleague who has led the rules committee quoted henry cabot lodge. he was in the house, from massachusetts, a republican. he proceeded to say what we are seeing happen after the civil war in which sensors are being erected to prevent targeted groups from voting, from creating fences to keep black americans from voting, is absolutely wrong -- the house had a debate. that debate said, we're going to make sure the elections are fair. everyone of us from any given state has a stake in the fairness of all of the other states, because that is the only way there is equal representation in the house and senate. and so, i am ashamed to say not a single democrat voted for that bill in the house. it was entirely repub

merkley: thank you for responding to my questions. mr. president.the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i think i'll start by returning to the 1800's, and a senator from massachusetts, senator sumner. now, senator sumner later played a key role in civil rights debates which is why i'm returning to that story and it's a story about the senate floor. sumner gave a speech about kansas being admitted into the union and he was a republican senator who called out two democratic senators, insulting one of them, and a representative from the house of representatives, on the other end of this corridor, came over here. his name was preston brooks, and he took considerable offense, and he proceeded to come to the senate floor and cane senator sumner and senator sumner was injured. he did recover. recovered slowly, served for another 18 years, which leads me to the fact that he proceeded to put forward civil rights legislation in 1875. and in 1875, 150 years ago -- almost 150 years ago, 145 years ago. and so he argued, after the civil war,

i'm delighted to be joined by senators stabenow and klobuchar and merkley and kaine, booker and padilla. okay. good. we're not all going to speak, some of us are. but look, for the first time this is the very first time today that coping has been debating a bill to protect voting rights on the senate floor, on the freedom to vote act and the john r. lewis voting rights advancement and win, lose or draw, members of this chamber were elected to debate and to vote. win, lose or draw, we're going to vote, especially on an issue as vital to the beating heart of our democracy as voting rights. democrats have tried for months to hold the voting rights debate on the floor, but we've been blocked each time by republicans. this is a step forward, but there's still a lot of work to do. now as we debate these measures the senate is going to confront a critical question, shall the members of this chamber do what is necessary to pass these bills and move them to the president's desk? the struggle for voting rights is one of the sagas in america, 1789, in most states, you had to be a white male protes

merkley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, i'm pleased to be here with my colleagues today to emphasize the incredible importance of voting rights as the foundation for our democratic republic. senator klobuchar of minnesota, who spoke with the perspective of the chair of our rules committee and her experience in the state of minnesota; senator durbin who so understands the challenges from his decades of public service and service in this chamber; senator kaine of virginia who brought forth some of the challenges over time that have existed, targeted black americans; and senator schumer who just took us on a tour through history, bringing us to that point, saying let's make sure that our democratic republic does not perish, that it endures, that that responsibility sits on our shoulders. mr. president, there are more than 4,500 words in the constitution, but the three that matter most are the first three -- we the people. our founders printe

but boy, jeff merkley, who is the authority on this, the democrats have deferred to him on it all the way through, he was really -- it's a masterful, i don't know, 15 minutes or so that takes you through everything you'd ever want to know about it. and really compelling style. >> you should just do late-night coverage. you can have my re-air hour and you should just play it. i hereby give you the baton. go on. >> so let me get this straight. so then i would have to come back to work at midnight to -- yeah. okay. i'm going to think about that. and i don't want anyone to worry. the re-air's going to be there. don't worry. the rachel re-air. >> when you address the rumors it's just like you're confirming them. >> yeah p. okay. good point. thank you, rachel. >> thanks, lawrence. >> thank you. denied. that is the last word in the first sentence of today's supreme court decision, and it is the last word on donald trump's unprecedented -- the court called it unprecedented attempt to overrule the current president of the united states, joe biden, and block the national archives from handing o

] >> good afternoon, everyone i'm delighted to be joined by senators gavin out and global charter merkley kane and warnock and booker and padilla. there he is, good. they are not all or do speak, some of us are. for the first time, this is the very first time today congress has been debating a bill to protect voting rights on the senate floor on the freedom to both act and john r lewis voting rights advancement. win, lose or draw, members of this chamber were elected to debate", when, lose or draw we are going to vote especially on an issue that is vital to the beating heart of our democracy and voting rights. democrats have tried for months to hold a voting rights debate on the floor but we've been blocked each time by public. this is a step forward are still a lot of. now as we debate these measures, the senate will confirm a critical question. shall the members of the chamber do what's necessary to pass the bills and movels them to the president's desk? the struggle for voting rights is one of america's 1789 in most states, property owner to vote most of the people had to push for the

merkley: thank you very much. i ask unanimous consent that the committee on indian affairs be discharged from further consideration and the senate prow towed to senate resolution 482. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 482, recognizing the 50th anniversary of the alaska native claims settlement act and the lasting impact of that act on the state of alaska and alaska native people. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. merkley: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to be reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate resolution 28. concurrent -- senate concurrent resolution 28, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate concurrent resolution 28, exp

merkley: thank you. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to jeffrey warner, my state department fellow for the duration of his time as a fellow. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you very much. mr. president, when freedom and democracy are threatened, we have a responsibility in this body, the u.s. senate, to speak up and speak out. it doesn't matter if it's a challenge here at home or it's happening somewhere else around the globe. we cannot remain silent. for the past year, burma has been descending into chaos, violence, and authoritarian military rule. so i've come to the floor here tonight, the anniversary of the burmese military's illegal coup overthrowing the democratically elected government to call on all of my colleagues to join me in passing resolution 35, a resolution condemning the desecration of democracy in burma and the year of atrocities that has followed. and urging our allies around the world to join us in doing so. i also

. >>> up next we'll speak with jeff merkley he has been trying for months, even years.e will be here to discuss what happens next. maybe he has an answer to how this ends. >>> later, the latest from the white house covid response team as the administration vows to send 10 million tests per month to schools nationwide. you're watching "meet the press daily." "meet the press "meet the press daily.but when it comes to my insurance i don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ people everywhere living with only pay for what you need. type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible... with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, o

merkley: there was a recommendation that all members should maintain a security clearance. you mentioned that intelligence is coming through the officers on a daily basis and i know that may not necessarily mean security clearance rated intelligence, but is that -- do you feel like that is a recommendation that should be fulfilled, that each person obtain a security clearance, and if so, do we need to have some sort of way to prioritize those security clearances given that the security clearance process is completely backlogged right now? chief manger: the answer to the second part is absolutely yes, we would have to have some method to get those done. this is where it comes down. i believe that that recommendation has merits. but i am concerned about the fact that i am trying to hire 280 officers. if that clearance process slows that hiring process down, that is a concern to me. i do know that we have many of our personnel that have security clearances and certainly i can look at assignments and say yes, someone in this particular assignment would need a security clearance

now democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon. senator, thank you for joining. i appreciate it.that you are disappointed. you fought hard for this. is that why it was important to democrats to have this vote and let the chips fall where they may even if it was defeated just to have it go down in history and to mark it in history? >> you know, you never know for sure where someone will end up until they have to call out their vote. and so by setting a date and doing it in the context of this week in which we are celebrating martin luther king's birthday, we were saying we will take a vote. it intensified the conversations hundredfold. we hoped that those intense conversations would lead to success tonight. they did not. i'm feeling very much the sentiment that martin luther king expressed when he said every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle. we're in the middle of that tough phase. i hope that when we go home now and hear from our constituents and they say, you know, this is a moment like it was in 1891 when the senate filibustered voting

merkley: had we gotten to the bill -- mr. manchin: we never had amendments on the bill, no amendments, no motions, no points of order. to my colleague from west virginia, your question is, what are the characteristics that define continuous debate on final passage and it is defined as without interruptions that take us in other directions in the question of final passage of the bill. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the distinguished republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i think we can all agree on one thing. it's been a long day. almost everybody's had something to say, and the reason for that is this is an important day in the history of the senate. it could be argued it's the most important day in the history of the senate as an institution. this very day that we are just wrapping up is in all likelihood the most important day in the history of the senate as an institution. this evening fewer than 60 senators voted to advance a piece of legislation so it didn't move forward. it's pretty common around here.

. >> we are waiting for senator merkley his under the weather today. it's not common cold -- it's a common cold and he should be walking in the door any minute. it anyone else like to speak? >> mr. chairman i willcl say ths mr. johnson is one of the witnesses. i'm going to be in case some people leave before we get a any consistent with his past behavior the article i'm going to be submitting his part of the record in this very longth article. i don't think it's ever written a short article but it's thorough and if there serves the attention of everyone on this committee. >> without objection. any other comments? the man of the hour. welcome. i call the must night and he was in bad shape. i'm glad you made it here today. we have got a quorum? let's begin with the president. jeffrey prieto in at california the general counsel of u.s. environmental protection supports the nomination to the senate. the clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] >> the clerk will report. [inaudible] >> next i called the president's nominee nu

out front tonight, democratic senator jeff merkley. and i appreciate your time, senator.ator manchin today at the caucus meeting. senator sinema was on the phone joining that meeting. um, i understand that she didn't speak but senator manchin did and obviously we just heard him there afterwards. quote, i'm never going to change my mind on the filibuster. did you hear anything from him in that caucus meeting that indicates any kind of a path forward here? >> well, the key point he made and you just played it is he doesn't want the 60 votes to close debate to go to 50 votes, also vice president to close debate. but the talking filibuster doesn't do that. it leaves in place the 60-vote requirement. it has the same rules of debate that you have at any point. what the talking filibuster changes is it says, okay, we've come to the point we need to focus on the question of final passage of the bill. you still take 60 votes to close debate or unanimous consent motion or break in the debate. and it's that break in the debate that hasn't been enforced previously. but that's what fo

merkley: thank you for responding to my questions. mr. president.the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i think i'll start by returning to the 1800's, and a senator from massachusetts, senator sumner. now, senator sumner later played a key role in civil rights debates which is why i'm returning to that story and it's a story about the senate floor. sumner gave a speech about kansas being admitted into the union and he was a republican senator who called out two democratic senators, insulting one of them, and a representative from the house of representatives, on the other end of this corridor, came over here. his name was preston brooks, and he took considerable offense, and he proceeded to come to the senate floor and cane senator sumner and senator sumner was injured. he did recover. recovered slowly, served for another 18 years, which leads me to the fact that he proceeded to put forward civil rights legislation in 1875. and in 1875, 150 years ago -- almost 150 years ago, 145 years ago. and so he argued, after the civil war,

i can't remember who mentioned it, but i think it was senator merkley mentioned matsi in honduras. were had international organizations in some of these countries that were working. and then reason they're not thee nowbe is because they touched people in those countries in power who had never been touched before. and i think if we can look at that again, we might have some more success. >> finally, secretary nichols, where did the idea for the delisting of the farc come from? >> it's been something under discussion since at least the previous administration.d it was always contemplated as part of the peace accord. you may recall that when the uribe administration reached an agreement withh the auc paramilitaries, thatre organization was also delisted. >> but more recently, who drove the question of delisting the farc? >> well, it's -- >> was it nsc, was it state department? who was it? >> i believe this was -- when i arrived in the position that was already well cadvanced. i can't say who the specific driver hewas. it was always a component of our support for the peace process and

i am joined by senators klobuchar, merkley and padilla. and hopefully senator warnock as well. so look, we all know on thursday we are going to observedou a dog troubled a milestone in this country's history. that is the one-year anniversary of january the sixth. that day, thousands of writers egged on by a disgraced former president raised a violent insurrection t by attacking the u.s. capitol. in january 6 was not a random event. it did not materialize out of the blue. it was not just a groupot of people being swept up by the moment. january 6 wasn't effort it was the result of an effort by donald trump and his supporters to delegitimize our election and perpetuate the big library truck could not stand it that he lost it. he could not deal with it. we came up with a big lie. unfortunately he has had so many people across america join him and perpetrating that lie for their own usually bad malicious purposes. the selection of version or seen all across the country today j are direct continuation of january at six and the big lie. they come out of the same thing, they are all d

senator merkley. >> thank you for your service in a particular want to focus on honduras.e have the early returns favoring the libre party and the woman who ran against corruption many people see this as a referendum on corruption. there is a lot of concern that yesterday the county was suspended for ten hours and the county is not disclosed for the national assembly, their congress. we know the nation with military coups in the past including ms. castro's husband who is out to buy acute in 2009. there's an opportunity here and incredible opportunity that the united states has to seize it with both hands and send a powerful message that no military coup will be tolerated as one can happen a week from now. the power elites are entrenched to the corruption of the mayors, legislators, police, military, no one should underestimate how difficult it is when this type of corruption permeates every level of authority in the country down to gangs and control industry vendors. it is a possibility but a challenging moment and i would like to hear what majors the state department is t

our whole voting group that has been there from the beginning, including senators schumer, merkley, king, padilla, warnock, it is a group that is not giving up. and as other senators have been involved in meeting with senator sinema. people feel so strongly about this. and i want to make clear to your viewers today, this is not a liberal/moderate divide. there are two senators who are working through this with us, but there are a whole bunch of moderates and people from states like senator tester of montana who have seen good democracy rules. and then suddenly, after 15 years, you've got same-day registration taken away in that state, yet thousands of people have relied on that. just one example you that don't always hear about that is this all-out assault on democracy across the country. when you look through history, and we were there in georgia, where history happened, the federal government responds. they may not do it right away, but we can't do it anymore. the federal government responded with civil rights violations, the federal government responded throughout history when things

our senate colleagues and i including senator capito, senator boozman, senator whitehouse, senator merkley and others have joined us in h engaging with a host of stakeholders in a series of roundtable discussions on the concept of a circular economy and what that concept looks like in practice across a multitude of industries and levels of government. what we heard was in part so bring but also i'm happy to report it was encouraging. we heard from solid waste workers about the challenges they face with contaminated recycling streams and the impact of china's national policy on their ability to effectively manage domestic waste, especially plastic we heard about the need for better product design and in for such a can have their products returned to them in good condition to be reused. and we heard about the devastating impact of the fashion industry on our o environment. did you know that every second almost a dump trucks worth of textiles goes into our landfills?s? every second. and that the fashion industry is responsible for something like 10% of global emissions, more than thehe aviati

see the qr code the first 300 people who scan the code, go to marcus books and broccoli -- merkley willok. the project is a joint effort by rakitin and the bay area mural program to celebrate steph curry's love of basketball and highlight his impact in the community. kristen: the supreme court is taking on race-based affirmative action in college everyone needs health insurance. covered california is making sure more people can get it. new federal funding of $3 billion is available to help more californians get covered. julie and bob are paying $700 less every month. dee now gets comprehensive coverage with no monthly premium. and the novarros are paying under $100 per month. check coveredca.com to see your new lower price. covered california. this way to health insurance. enrollment ends january 31st. kristen: the u.s. supreme court is taking on a case, challenging the use of race in college admissions. what are the arguments in this case and why now? race and social justice reporter julian glover has been looking into this complex issue and joins us live. we often say there are two si

jeff merkley, sheriff brown, aoc has put up similar legislation banning specific traits.ave to tell you, if they enforce the rules on the books, we would not be having this conversation. tom: exactly. joe: dozens of lawmakers have not disclosed what they are doing. people that work in financial news know about this. we have similar personal trading disclosures, we just can't not -- cannot around with ours like they can. tom: it's a good way to fall behind. i look at where the president is here and i would suggest the january 6 speech written with john meacham was a centrist speech. how centrist will he be in 2022? joe: that is a great question. maybe not too centrist if he is trying to light a fire under progressives here. that was the opening salvo, the january 6 speech. you will hear similar lines in that speech. i will stand in the breach, moments like that will likely come back. jen psaki went further to say president biden today will articulate his supports. this could be a first, depending on how he terms it, to change the rules of the filibuster to make this happen

merkley: i am struck by your comment that in all previous situations -- in all previous situations that the rules had been modified by a change of the rules that was done through the regular rule process. because i would encourage you to read up on your senate history. this is not the case. under senator byrd's leadership, nine times this chamber changed the interpretation of existing rules and they didn't do it through a formal rules change process. they did it with an interpretation of the chair being sustained or by reversing the interpretation of the chair. and you've been here when a nuclear option modified the rules, your party led the effort to change the requirement for closing debate on the supreme court. and you've been here, or i think you were here, your colleagues were here, they changed the rules, not by changing the rules formally but by reinterpreting it through the nuclear otion by reducing -- option by reducing debate on district judges and your side changed the rules on how reconciliation is done in order to do tax cuts for the rich and then kent conrad on our side ad

but boy, jeff merkley who is the authority on this that democrats have deferred to all the way through, he was really, it was a masterful 15 minutes or so. it takes you through everything you ever want to know about. in a really compelling style. >> -- you can just have my re-air hour and you can just play it. i hereby give you the baton. >> so let me get this straight, i would have to come back to work at midnight. i will think about that. [laughs] i don't want anyone to worry. >> when you address the rumors, it's just like here confirming them. >> good point. >> thank you rachel. >> thanks lawrence. >> denied. that is the last word in the first sentence of the supreme court's decision. and it is the last word on donald trump's, unprecedented, the court called it unprecedented, -- and block the national archives from handing over all of the records and documents of the trump presidency. donald trump and his lawyers did not have to read longer than the first sentence of the supreme courts -- a total cover-up has died. the court notes that only justice clarence thomas disagrees with the

and senator merkley, cain, king, warnock. it is a group that is not giving up. and as our other senators, who have been involved. meeting with senator sinema. people feel so strongly about this. i want to make clear to your viewers today, this is not a little moderate divide. there are two senators who are working through this with us. but there are a whole bunch of moderates, people from states, senator tester of montana, who see a good democracy rule. sunday after 15 years, we have same-day registration taken away in that state. we have thousands of people who are relying on that. just one example that you don't always hear about. that is this all of us out on democracy across the country. and when you look through history, we were there in georgia, where history happened. federal government response, they may not do it right away, but we can't wait anymore. the federal government responded when there was civil rights violations. the federal government responded throughout history when things have happened. and it is on us right now. we are just making the cas

. >> after he gave his speech, jeff merkley made a last ditch effort to explain to him the precedence of what they would do. i doubt any of that helped at all. he'll literally sit there and be like ah, if mcconnell does that because mcconnell likes the things he likes. more on president biden's epic press conference and the supreme court delivered a major defeat to the twice impeached president and florida retiree late today rejecting his efforts to block the january 6th committee from getting the white house documents. >>> plus, the gathering storm the secretary of state is in ukraine trying to diffuse a brewing international crisis. senator chris murphy just back from the region joins me tonight and tonight's absolute worst is like a weather forecast, cold, a lot of wind and a 100% chance of snow flakes. "the reidout" continues after this. lakes. "the reidout" continues after this if you have this... consider adding this. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. medicare supplement plans help by paying some of what medicare doesn't... and let you see any doc

i want to turn now to the president's big speech on voting rights and senator jeff merkley was with him and he joins me now live. senator, thank you so much. i really appreciate you joining. this is important to our country, but especially important to people who fought for the right to vote. good evening. welcome to the program. president biden turned up the heat big time on the senate today. your colleagues have been pretty clear where they stand, so why would this pressure campaign work? why would it work this time? >> oh, it is so important, don, for the president to go down to georgia because georgia is a place where we have already seen great dis-krim nation. for example, in the last election the precincts that were 80% black americans had wait lines on average ten times as long as the precincts that were 80% white. it is just an example of what can happen when you have election regulators who want to make it difficult to vote on election day and want to target those restrictions to black americans, native americans, young americans, college students, the main groups that are targ

committee in a press conference with senate majority leader, chuck schumer, senator warnock, senator jeff merkleymer announced that he will try to change the rules of the senate to allow the senate to then have a vote on preserving voting rights in this country. >> if republicans continued to hijack the rules of the chamber to prevent actions on something as critical as protecting our democracy than the senate will debate and consider changes to the rules honored before january 17th, martin luther king day. >> later, that same group of senate democrats, including leader schumer and senator amy klobuchar, met with joe manchin. also among others to discuss voting rights and potential reforms to senate rules that all democrats can support. joining us now is democratic senator, amy klobuchar. she is the chair of the senate rules committee. and she was in the room, today, with joe manchin among others discussing the subject. senator, just word for word, what did joe manchin have to say? >> now lawrence. >> i had to try -- >> i cannot report to you would have been in that room but i will make to your v

whoa, did you see democrat senator jeff merkley. went after house speaker nancy pelosi over her husband's stock trading, quote, i disagree with pelosi completely. when individual members hold individual stocks it cannot but help talking about policies that affect their stock's values. that is big throw down from him. what do you think of this. >> happy knew career, liz, good to be with you. all of recently in the news because what happened over at the federal reserve where clearly they don't have as vigorous, have an old anachronistic governing. the compliance of their governor's involvement in the stock market. in the house since 2012 we have extensive financial disclosure we report and we report monthly transactions of all of our trades and so we have a much more vigorous, transparent system than clearly the fed does. elizabeth: well nancy pelosi is saying that the stock trades of her husband are a matter of the free market. suddenly she is a libertarian when it comes to the family stock trades. it has become so legendary. congres

let me thank, among others, senator merkley, klobuchar, booker, warner, king, leahy, durbin, kaine and others for their efforts on this important issue. mr. president, i will be brief because there is not a whole lot that i can add to the excellent statement that some of the other senators have made, but let me just say this. for some, the issue we are debating today may seem complicated, to be understood only by lawyers, constitutional scholars, and those handful of people who actually understand the opaque rules of the u.s. senate. so i just want to say that if that is what you think, you're wrong. what we are debating today is not complicated. it is really quite simple, and here is what it's about. joe biden won the 2020 presidential election, period. you may have liked that result or you may not have liked it, but he won. he won in an election that donald trump's own department of homeland security determined to be the most secure election in american history. after the election, trump and his supporters filed more than 60 lawsuits in state and federal courts, repeating their false

out front now, jeff merkley of oregon, the lead sponsor of the democrats' voting right legislation anding the filibuster. senator markley, appreciate your time tonight. this move from leader schumer has been a long time coming for you. right? he has not been necessarily online with this and now is -- is moving forward. why do you -- i mean, do you think this is -- this is real this time? and it's going to move forward? or not? >> well, it's very real because we face a crisis in our country, and which there are systematic attacks on citizens' right to vote, on advancement of gerrymandering, destroying equal representation, and this big challenge of billionaires buying elections. and so, we have this responsibility to the voters to defend the ballot box and republicans are preventing us from even starting debate on the bill. so, that is a crisis for the senate and it's a crisis for our republic, so we have to have a debate about how to restore the senate's ability to deliberate. >> so, in terms of, you know, changing the filibuster, right, you would have already had this done as the demo

i see my friend senator merkley, historical expert on all of this, but i will say this, there are 160 exceptions. 160 exceptions to the filibuster rule. things have been changed to benefit my colleagues from the other side of the aisle. somehow it only takes 51 votes to put in place the trump tax cuts were the bush tax cuts. somehow it only took 51 votes to put amy coney barrett on the supreme court of the united states. somehow it only takes 61 votes to try to overturn a regulation or try to mess around with the affordable care act. but then when it comes to something like voting rights, suddenly everyone on the other side of the aisle is holding that filibuster tight knowing that so many times including most recently with the debt ceiling changes have been made to allow a vote with less than 60 votes. the national debt policy act in 1977, in 1999 the endangered species act, 1996 a change to the reconciliation process. 160 times and as representative clay byrne pointed out so well there've been times in history when those have been extended or defended the right to vote on a bipartis

senator merkley has worked harder and more persistently on questions about the filibuster and the procedures of the united states senate for years now, and tried to lead us to a more functional situation than we are in right now. i want to thank him for his leadership. i know that tonight must be frustrating for him because he has tried so hard to get us to a better place, but i very much appreciate all that heer has do. and to the extent we make progress, we make progress in no small part because of your leadership, so thank you. madam president, i rise today to urge the senate to take action to protect voting rights and to defend our democracy. voting is foundational to our democracy. in a strong, functioning democracy the playing field is leveled. citizens have a right to vote and neither one side or the other has the right to block those voters from the ballot box or from getting their votes counted. that basic premise no longer nthold in america. let's be blunt. american democracy is under attack from republican politicians. in the past year alone, republicans state legislatures have pa

merkley: mr. president, we have started a new year, 2022, filled with opportunities and possibilities. yet even as we contemplate n new beginnings, many things remain the same, especially when it comes to the crimes and atrocities being carried out by the chinese communist party. the genocide against the uighur muslims is still ongoing. a million individuals enslaved. the tax on democracy, the silencing of free speech in hong kong continue. in fact, it was just announced that one of hong kong's last remaining pro democracy news outlets, citizen news, is shutting its doors because it cannot continue operations under the current climate of repression under china's national security law. in spite of all that, just 31 days from today, leaders and athletes from across the world will gather in beijing to celebrate the opening ceremonies of the 2022 winter olympic games. the olympic games are meant to inspire, to bring people together, to build a better world using sports to foster what the olympic movem

senator merrick has worked harder -- senator merkley has worked harder on procedures of the united states senate for years now and tried to lead us to a more functional situation than we are in right now. i want to thank him for his leadership. i know tonight must be frustrating for him because he has tried so hard to get us to a better place, but i very much appreciate all he has done and to the extent we make progress in no small part thanks to your leadership. so thank you. madam president, i rise today to urge the senate to take action to protect voting rights and to defend our democracy. voting is foundational to our democracy. in a strong-functioning democracy, the playing field is level. citizens have a right to vote and neither one side or the other has the right to block voters from the ballot box or getting their vote counted. that basic premise no longer holds in america. let's be blunt. american democracy is under attack from american politicians. in the past year alone, republicans -- republican state legislatures have passed laws in nearly 20 states to restrict americans' ri

and i want to thank my friend jeff merkley who has done amazing research on the senate and its procedure. in the 109th congress, we considered 314 amendments. that declined to just 26 amendments under republican leadership in the last amendment. 26 amendments in a year? compared to 314? thank you to the filibuster. that's where we are today. thank you to the 60-vote requirement. that's where we are today. and thanks to my colleagues on the republican side who are trying to ignore those numbers, they are so graphic. on nominations, there were only three cloture motions in the history of the united states before 1975, three. after 1975 to now, 850 times cloture has been filed on nominations. 852 weeks of senate time potentially obstructed. that's the senate today. that's the senate under a filibuster. and if this senate is going to join the house in establishing standards for equal voting rights across america, the filibuster is the obstacle. i know this story personally. i introduced the dream act 20 years ago, 20 years ago. and you say, senator, i thought you were a hotshot legislator. w

i see my friend, senator merkley of oregon, an historical expert on all of this. but i will say this -- there are 160 exceptions, 160 exceptions to the filibuster rule. things have been changed to benefit my colleague from the other side of the aisle. somehow it only takes 51 votes to put in place the trump tax cuts or the bush tax cuts. somehow it only took 51 votes to put amy kony barrett on the supreme court of the united states. somehow it only takes 51 votes to try to overturn a regulation or try to mess around with the affordable care act. but then when it comes to something shrike voting rights -- to something like voting rights, then everyone on the other side of the aisle is hugging that filibuster tight, knowing that so many times in history, including most recently with the debt ceiling, changes have been made to allow a vote with less than 60 votes. the national gas policy act in 1977. in 1995 the endangered species act. in 1996, a change to the reconciliation process. 160 times. and as representative clyburn has pointed out so well, there have been ti

merkley: i am struck by your comment that in all previous situations -- in all previous situations thate rules had been modified by a change of the rules that was done through the regular rule process. because i would encourage you to read up on your senate history. this is not the case. under senator byrd's leadership, nine times this chamber changed the interpretation of existing rules and they didn't do it through a formal rules change process. they did it with an interpretation of the chair being sustained or by reversing the interpretation of the chair. and you've been here when a nuclear option modified the rules, your party led the effort to change the requirement for closing debate on the supreme court. and you've been here, or i think you were here, your colleagues were here, they changed the rules, not by changing the rules formally but by reinterpreting it through the nuclear otion by reducing -- option by reducing debate on district judges and your side changed the rules on how reconciliation is done in order to do tax cuts for the rich and then kent conrad on our side advoc

the veteran that i met when we did our field hearing with senators warnock and ossoff and senator merkley and padilla down in atlanta when this veteran told us that he had signed up to serve our country and there was no waiting line. but when he went to exercise his right to vote, he had to wait hours and hours, four or five hours in line in the hot sun just to exercise his right to vote. and he told the stories of older people that had left because they couldn't stand the heat, that they couldn't stand out there anymore. that's not what our democracy is supposed to look like. it's not supposed to look like one ballot box in the entire county of harris county which includes houston in texas, over five million people with one ballot drop-off box. that's not our democracy. but the american people in that 2020 election, they said you know what? no matter what you do to us, we're going to go vote. and they voted in droves. and they voted more votes than in the history of america. and part of that was because -- because of the pandemic changes were made to the laws, including some states took