mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. republican minority leader came to the floor and once again spoke about inflation. and of course we're concerned about it and watching it closely. we are in an unusual place where we're rofg from a pandemic and -- recovering from a pandemic and getting back on our feet. we have seen supply chain problems and we know things are stacked up trying to get into the united states. that was possibly unavoidable in the midst of a pandemic when consumer demand was created. but i also want to remind the republican leader from kentucky that his opposition to extending the debt ceiling unfortunately is also a problem when it comes to inflation. if there is uncertainty as to whether this nation will pay its just debts, obviously that will be reflected in the financial markets and higher interest rates. higher interest rates feed inflation. so the strategy of senator mcconnell when it comes to the debt ceiling is pro inflationary itself. also he talks about the socialist spending spree of the recon

mr. durbin: thank you. madam president today the senate judiciary committee released a report after an investigation of the circumstances surrounding donald trump's efforts to take over the justice department during the closing days of the last calendar year and the beginning of this year. since january the committee has investigated reports that white house officials, including the president himself pressed the department of justice to support president trump's unsubstantiated bids to overturn the 2020 election results and that acting civil division assistant a.j. jeffrey clarke aided in that effort. today's interim staff report sheds new light on former president donald trump's efforts to overturning the 2020 election. election. >> pressuring the colleagues in the department of justice to force in overturn of the 2020 election. let me put this in perspective. the election was in novemberle the results were announced. most of the world accepted it but the former president donald trump never did. he filed a

mr. durbin: thank you.adam president today the senate judiciary committee released a report after an investigation of the circumstances surrounding donald trump's efforts to take over the justice department during the closing days of the last calendar year and the beginning of this year. since january the committee has investigated reports that white house officials, including the president himself pressed the department of justice to support president trump's unsubstantiated bids to overturn the 2020 election results and that acting civil division assistant a.j. jeffrey clarke aided in that effort. today's interim staff report sheds new light on former president donald trump's efforts to overturning the 2020 election. jeffrey clark became donald trump's big lie lawyer, pressing his partners in the department of justice to force overturning the 2020 election. let me put this in perspective. the election was in november, the results were now. most of the world accepted it but donald trump never did. he filed

mr. durbin: thank you.esident today the senate judiciary committee released a report after an investigation of the circumstances surrounding donald trump's efforts to take over the justice department during the closing days of the last calendar year and the beginning of this year. since january the committee has investigated reports that white house officials, including the president himself pressed the department of justice to support president trump's unsubstantiated bids to overturn the 2020 election results and that

mr. durbin: mr. president, right now the end of the pandemic maybe -- i underline maybe -- within our reach. the delta surge is finally waning. over the past month coronavirus case numbers have fallen by more than 40% thank goodness. the average number of daily vaccinations has increased by more than 25% not an unrelated statistic. and covid death rates are finally starting to decline. these are all promising developments and they demonstrate that president biden's response to coronavirus is working. but as winter approaches, we need to ask ourselves a serious question -- will we continue to take the steps that are necessary to save lives and beat this virus once and for all or will we do nothing as some of our republican colleagues seem to urge, and allow the pandemic to come roaring back for another deadly wave? millions of american families have already suffered the consequences of denial, deception, and inaction. a report released earlier this month found that since june, just since june nearly 1

mr. chair. sen. durbin: thank you, senator klobuchar. senator her robo, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is not a coincidence that shortly after shelby county sub 13 states passed voter suppression laws, and now with the conservative majority firmly ensconced in the supreme court with three trump justices, we are seeing dozens of voter suppression laws being enacted, supposedly to prevent widespread voter fraud. which has not been shown to be the case at all. earlier, i noted three supreme court shadow docket rulings that continue the court's friend as justice sotomayor peart -- put it, condoning disenfranchisement by the court. ms. wisner and mr. greenbaum, do you agree with justice sotomayor's dissent, noting the court is condoning this enfranchisement? >> thank you for that question. the courts continue to play a critical role in protecting voting rights for all americans. unfortunately, it is the case that the supreme court has consistently rolled back the strength of voting rights protections, makin

mr. chair. sen. durbin: thank you, senator klobuchar. senator her robo, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is not a coincidence that shortly after shelby county sub 13 states passed voter suppression laws, and now with the conservative majority firmly ensconced in the supreme court with three trump justices, we are seeing dozens of voter suppression laws being enacted, supposedly to prevent widespread voter fraud. which has not been shown to be the case at all. earlier, i noted three supreme court shadow docket rulings that continue the court's friend as justice sotomayor peart -- put it, condoning disenfranchisement by the court. ms. wisner and mr. greenbaum, do you agree with justice sotomayor's dissent, noting the court is condoning this enfranchisement? >> thank you for that question. the courts continue to play a critical role in protecting voting rights for all americans. unfortunately, it is the case that the supreme court has consistently rolled back the strength of voting rights protections, makin

mr. chair. sen. durbin: thank you, senator klobuchar. senator, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is not a coincidence that shortly after shelby county sub 13 states passed voter suppression laws, and now with the conservative majority firmly ensconced in the supreme court with three trump justices, we are seeing dozens of voter suppression laws being enacted, supposedly to prevent widespread voter fraud. which has not been shown to be the case at all. earlier, i noted three supreme court shadow docket rulings that continue the court's trend as justice sotomayor put it, condoning disenfranchisement by the court. ms. wisner and mr. greenbaum, do you agree with justice sotomayor's dissent, noting the court is condoning disenfranchisement? >> thank you for that question. the courts continue to play a critical role in protecting voting rights for all americans. unfortunately, it is the case that the supreme court has consistently rolled back the strength of voting rights protections, making it much harder for

mr. chairman. sen. durbin: thank you, senator leahy. senator cruz? sen. cruz: thank you. the hearings the democrats decide to whole demonstrate their priorities, what they care about. we have a crisis raging on our southern border right now because of joe biden's lawless policies. -- lawless and open border policies. the head of the biden department of homeland security is informing its staff to prepare for up to 400,000 illegal immigrants crossing this month. and yet the senate judiciary committee has not had a single hearing on the crisis on our border. over 2 million illegal immigrants streaming into america, democrats do not care. hundreds of thousands of kids in cages, democrats don't care. every democrat on this committee went on tv, on and on about kids in cages, kids in cages. you now know what they were saying, they didn't believe. because, if they believed it, there are more kids in were cages that are more full of kids now than there were then and not a single democrat this committee cares. hundreds of illegal immigrants with covid. democrats don't care. childr

mr. jonathan caplan to ambassador to japan. i understand senator durbinnd also senator haggardy will be introducing mayor emmanuel and senator hickenlooper will introduce mr. caplan. i see senator durbin is here with us. let me turn to senator durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and ranking member roche. it's an honor to have the opportunity to share a few words for rahm emanuel to be the next ambassador to japan. we had a chance to speak to the new iaea director. mr. grossy. we talked about, not only iran's future in nuclear program but also north korea. it reminded me that japan, one of our most important allies in asia, is at the forefront of several key national security priorities for our nation. notably the nuclear threat on and from the korean peninsula. chinese actions in the south china sea and regional economic pressure. the undermining of hong kong's democracy and threats against taiwan. with the dawn of the aukus pact, they've signalled -- we need to be sure our allies and friends and partners, like japan, have a clear understanding of our goa

booker and durbin spoke on the senate floor about legislation the same to eliminate federal crack and powder cocaine this who have disproportionally affected black americans for decades.r. >> mr. president i like to speak on a another topic. but still relevant today as it has been for so many years. i want to restart by calling 35 years ago i was a member of the house of representative face on the the most troubling boats in my whole career. it was the height of the war on drugs. a new narcotics showed up it was called crack cocaine. we did not know much about it but we knew several things. first, highly addictive. second, dirtrt cheap, third, of a woman who was pregnant used it she could cause permanent harm to the baby she was carrying. we started worrying this to be the jug drug of choice across america. the war on drugs will be lost that in forever. just about the time or debating this event took place but rock the capitol there's a basketball player at the university of maryland he was a very good basketball player, destined for the nba. sadly he overdosed and died, shocked everyone. all across the region it certainly was felt in the house of representatives. perhaps it

durbin and pramila jayapal. tweet the show with "the lead" cnn. our coverage continues now with one mr.r in "the situation room." see you monday. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're following breaking news. tonight, president biden is vowing that democrats will overcome their deep divisions and salvage his embattled domestic agenda, apparently abandoning the urgent timeline created by the house speaker nancy pelosi. the president wrapped up a critical meeting on capitol hill, just a little while ago. he declared, and i'm quoting him

booker and durbin spoke on the senate floor about legislation the same to eliminate federal crack and powder cocaine this who have disproportionally affected black americans for decades.r. >> mrsident i like to speak on a another topic. but still relevant today as it has been for so many years. i want to restart by calling 35 years ago i was a member of the house of representative face on the the most troubling boats in my whole career. it was the height of the war on drugs. a new narcotics showed up it was called crack cocaine. we did not know much about it but we knew several things. first, highly addictive. second, dirtrt

durbin: thank you, senator grassley. senator leahy? sen. leahy: thank you. i know my colleague, mr.rassley, was discussing h.r.4, but we are here to discuss my bill, s.4, which contains some dramatic changes. john lewis championed this bill for years. the voting rights advancement act, you will note, has been bipartisan for many years, just like all efforts to restore the voting rights act before it. i hope it continues to get bipartisan support, as it has always had. like the evolving decisions from the court that impacted the voting rights act, this legislation also must evolve to address emerging concerns. it may be surprising to some when they hear the rhetoric to learn that this has been an overwhelming bipartisan effort for decades. we seem to be in an era of toxic partisanship and i hope that will not obscure what has for decades united us across party lines. republican and democrat members of this committee -- this committee -- voted in support of reauthorizing the voting rights act of 2006. in fact, it was not long ago we stood side-by-side to unanimously approve the 2006 r

durbin and pramila jayapal. tweet the show with "the lead" cnn. our coverage continues now with one mr. wolf blitzer right next door in "the situation room." see you monday. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're following breaking news. tonight, president biden is vowing that democrats will overcome their deep divisions and salvage his embattled domestic agenda, apparently abandoning the urgent timeline created by the house speaker nancy pelosi. the president wrapped up a critical meeting on capitol hill, just a little while ago. he declared, and i'm quoting him now, we're going to get this done. it doesn't matter when, whether it takes six minutes, six days, or six weeks. we're learning new details, meanwhile, about what the president said behind closed doors, including his call for both infrastructure and the broader economic package be passed, as progressives are demanding. but he's also offering an olive branch to moderates, urging the timeline on the spending

senator durbin on the senate source, not the house committee side, but supports the investigation says people, cooperate. >> i don't think mr to ask me for advice but i would suggest modestly follow the law instead of the ravings of this former president. he doesn't have the power to pardon you anymore and hopefully never will again and be careful. follow the law even if the president is begging you to stay away because of the evidence that you might present. >> we are -- you can talk about the drama of january 6th and the horror of january 6th and the you can talk about all the drama trump stirs up. but it's a pretty dangerous point when you can disagree with the committee if you want but we have rules. we have rules. the committee issued a subpoena. congress has the power to issue a subpoena. to just flip them the bird because trump told me to that's a dangerous place for society. >> it is, john, but we watched this over and over in the previous five years. the game plan is always to sort of delay, delay, delay, and if they delay long enough, if they throw this into the courts and it goes from the district court to a circ

mr. president, today i'd like to discuss the media's complete misrepresentation of the republican report on senator durbin's investigation in which my staff participated according to committee rules. now, i gave an october 7 speech on this subject, and you wouldn't know that anybody read my speech based upon what has been reported on tv. but as i noted in that october 7 speech, senator durbin publicly released a democratic staff report on his investigation. we republicans did the same thing that very same day. i came to the floor that same day to describe the republican report. in so doing i laid out what the available facts and evidence showed within the scope of the inquiry. that scope was from december 14, 2020, to january 3, 2021. but tv seemed to think we were talking about what happened on capitol hill on january 6. the durbin investigation ended on january 3, or events leading up to january 3. i say that date yet again because many reporters have wrongly conflated this investigation with the january 6, 2021, events here on capitol hill. we know all the damage that was done to the capitol that day. so

mr. chairman. attorney general, nice to see you. thank you for joining us. last week, the senate passed legislation that i introduced alongside chair durbin and ranking member grassley, the prison camera reform act. to reduce violence and civil rights abuses in bop facilities by overhauling the security camera system that ig horowitz has found is outdated, in reliable as well as the means of recording and preserving the footage from the systems. do you agree these reforms are necessary and should this bill become law will you commit to prioritizing the implementation of the requirements it imposes upon the bop? >> yes, and yes. >> thank you, attorney general. like to discuss with you staffing issues at the bureau of prisons. earlier this year, the gao, which as you know is a nonpartisan independent watchdog, concluded b.o.p. lacks a reliable method for assessing the scope of staffing issues or the impact on incarcerated populations and staff of staffing issues at b.o.p. facilities. do you agree the inability to reliably measur this problem impedes b.o.p.'s ability to find gaps, shortage of personnel to help implement the first step act and antirecidivism pr

mr. durbin: thank you. that the shadow docket in the supreme court was the subject of a hearing? the senate judiciary committee last week. it's one of those esoteric subjects you wonder if anybody will notice. we thought it was important to talk about it in light of the texas abortion statute. we noted the fact that in the last four years there were 36 times when the trump administration asked for the shadow docket to be used. the court granted 28 of those trump justice department administration requests. in the previous years under george w. bush and barack obama, 16 years, eight requests. four were granted. four versus 36. you can tell that something is happening in the court. the day after our hearing, someone happened to notice that person was justice samuel alito. he made headlines for a speech he gave at notre dame law school criticizing lawmakers. i suppose that's myself and the presiding officer. journalists and scholars who raised concern about the court's croo of a shadow -- use of a shadow docket

mr. durbin: madam president, like so many others in the senate and across america, i was saddened to learn this morning of the passing of colin powell. in his lifetime, he broke down so many barriers, and he held some of the most important titles in this great nation. general of the united states army. national security advisor. america's first black chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. and our first black secretary of state. but before he held any of those positions, and after he stepped away from them, colin powell was always a patriot and a public

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: mr.esident, i'd like to speak on another topic that sadly is still relevant today as it has been for so many years, and i want to start by recalling 35 years ago when i was a member of the house of representatives and faced one of the most troubling votes in my whole career. it was the height of the war on drugs. a new narcotic showed up. it was called crack cocaine. we didn't know much about it, but we knew several things. first, highly addictive, second, dirt cheap, third, if a woman who was pregnant used it, she could cause permanent harm to the baby she was carrying. we were concerned that this could be the drug of choice in the drug crisis across america and the war on drugs would be lost then. at the time we were debating this, an event took place that had no direct connection to crack cocaine, but it rocked the capitol. there was a college basketball player named len bias, he was destined for the nba. sadly he overdosed and died. it shocked everyone and it was certainly felt in the

mr. durbin: madam president, like so many others in the senate and across america, i was saddened to learn this morning of the passing of colin powell. in his lifetime, he broke down so many barriers, and he held some of the most important titles in this great nation. general of the united states army. national security advisor. america's first black chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. and our first black secretary of state. but before he held any of those positions, and after he stepped away from them, colin powell was always a patriot and a public servant. he was the son of immigrants, jamaican immigrants who raised their children to make the most of every opportunity that america offered and to show their gratitude to this nation by giving. giving back however they could. that story of opportunity and obligation is a story told by every immigrant parent to their children. it is the same story my mother taught to me and my brothers. much has been said and written about colin powell's historic and distinguished career as a soldier and a statesman. he was respected in a way that transce

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: aloha. the presiding officer: aloha. mr. durbin: are would he in a quorum call? i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, like so many others in the senate and across america, i was saddened to learn this morning of the passing of colin powell. in his lifetime, he broke down so many barriers, and he held some of the most important titles in this great nation. general of the united states army. national security advisor. america's first black chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. and our first black secretary of state. but before he held any of those positions, and after he stepped away from them, colin powell was always a patriot and a public servant. he was the son of immigrants, jamaican immigrants who raised their children to make the most of every opportunity that america offered and to show their gratitude to this nation by giving. giving back however they could. that story of opportunity and obligation is a story

mr. durbin: mr. president, i have good news.s week the united states senate is going to consider five highly qualified federal district court nominees. before briefly speaking on their recorded, i want to make a few broad observations. first, each of these nominees was recommended by the white house by their home state senators, or in the case of the d.c. district court, by district of columbia representative eleanor holmes norton. my colleagues continued to recommend nominees who have the experience and temperament needed to serve on the federal bench. second, these nominees represent an important cross-section of professional diversity. they've serve as public defenders. they've also been prosecutors, civil rights attorneys, municipal lawyers, even sitting judges. third, all five of these nominees received bipartisan support in the judiciary committee. how about that? bipartisan support in the committee. that's a testament to their abilities, qualifications, and character, and i thank my republican colleagues who made that pos

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: madam president, you know, it's possible -- it's just possible that the republican senator from kentucky, who is the minority leader on the floor, has been sitting in on the revenue negotiations for the reconciliation bill. it's possible. i don't rule it out. it's possible that we didn't know it but he was actually sitting for breakfast in wilmington, delaware, with schumer and manchin and other leaders as they were hammering out the revenue and tax portions. but i doubt it. i doubt that the senator from kentucky has really been in the inner workings and decision process of what is going to be in the revenue package when it comes to the reconciliation bill. i couldn't tell you. maybe the presiding officer knows more than i do, but it's a matter of negotiation. and it's ongoing. and it has not been agreed to. and yet when you hear the senator from kentucky come to the floor, he is announcing what's going to be in the package, as if he knows. i don't think he does. there are a co

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, i want to thank the majority leader for his especial couraging, kind -- encouraging, kind words and thank my friend senator pat leahy of vermont for inviting other colleagues to come to the floor to speak in support of the right to vote. time and again in history we've asked men and women to stand and risk their lives, in fact give their lives for the most fundamental premise of our democracy, the right to vote. they have fought, they have bled, they have died for that right. and now it is under attack again. not from any foreign source. over the past few years our nation has witnessed the most heavily coordinated assault on the right to vote in modern memory. since the start of 2021, republican legislators throughout the country have introduced over 425 pieces of legislation with provisions to make it more difficult for americans to vote. 33 of these laws were actually enacted in 19 states. some of these laws have set new limits on voting by mail. others cut h

mr. durbin: i would just say to senator collins, you're my colleague and my friend. if they write the history of this place, they might make a footnote that we had a book club, a little one, between us. we exchanged a lot of books over the years. i thank you foreyour friendship and kindness all the way through. congratulations on this smile stone. -- on this smile stone. -- on this milestone. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the prelogar nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of justice. elizabeth prelogar of idaho to be solicitor general of the united states. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: does any member wish to vote? the yeas are 53, the nays are 36. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of th