mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr.he presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. i want to echo the commend -- comments just made by the majority leader, senator schumer, and thank my colleagues for continuing to give me the opportunity to serve as the whip. what is this job? i said the skills that are necessary for this job i developed in the first grade -- to be able to count up to 60, if needed, and to be able to count up to 41, if in a position of resistance. that's an overstatement, of course, but not much. i thank my colleagues for giving me this opportunity over the last two years, and i'm looking forward to the next twothis has been one of the busiest legislative times in my time on capitol hill. we've been working for four years in the senate judiciary committee to fill vacancies in the federal courts around america. people retire, they pass away. some of them decide to do something else with their lives, creating a vacancy for what was supposed to be a lifetime position. over t

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. a mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. the clerk: mr. paul voted in the affirmative. senators voting in the negative -- bennet, cantwell, cassidy, collins, fischer, graham, hyde-smith, king

mr. durbin: mr.ident, i've served on the senate judiciary committee over 20 years, including the past four as chairman. during that time, i've voted on thousands of judicial u.s. attorney, u.s. marshal and justice department nominees. every nominee who has gone through our committee, every one, shares one thing in common, whether nominated by a democrat or a republican president, every single nominee has undergone an fbi background investigation. every one. president-elect trump has the right to nominate his preferred candidates for justice department and judicial vacancies, but the judiciary committee plays a critical role in offering advice and consent on nominations, which includes receiving and reviewing the results of fbi background investigations. after weeks of reports that president-elect trump planned to bypass the fbi entirely, it was a relief to hear that the tramp -- that the trump transition team signed an agreement to hey lou the fbi -- to allow the fbi to conduct background investigati

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent -- the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the scheduled roll call vote start immediately. the presiding officer: without objection. the question occurs on the nomination. mr. durbin: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there will a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin. the clerk: mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. the clerk: mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich.

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the scheduled vote begin immediately. the presiding officer: without objection. the question occurs on the nomination. mr. durbin: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin. the clerk: mr. barrasso. sthal sthal -- mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. the clerk: mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, our country demands much of the senate judiciary committee on which i serve, and it's been my honor to serve as chair of that committee for the last four years. we've worked hard to defend freedom, advance justice and equality, and balance our federal judiciary. during my time as chair these last four years, we have held 145 full committee hearings, 88 subcommittee l hearings and 8 l 6 executive business lg meetings. we advanced 373 executive and judicial nominees and reported 56 bills out of committee. we confirmed highly-qualified, diverse judicial nominees who will be a front-line defense of the rule of law for a generation. our efforts over the last four years have filled the vacancies of one-fourth of the members of the federal judiciary. we also revitalized the committee's critical oversight rule over the executive branch's agencies. we made progress on issues critical to americans, including protecting children online, supporting women who face sexual harassment and

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, as chairman of the senate judiciary committee, the filling of judicial vacancies has been the focal point of my political attention now for four years. there are roughly 800 to 900 federal judges at the district court level, the lower court level, and the circuit court level. and then of course nine on the supreme court. filling those vacancies is part of our responsibility. people decide to retire, they pass away, for various reasons they leave the bench and we need to make sure the courts still have people to do their professional job. i listened carefully to my colleague from kentucky explain his concerns about the filling of four circuit court vacancies and the possibility -- and i don't know with any certainty -- but the possibility that two of those four judges have decided no the -- not to retire but to stay on the bench, and he raises the question of whether fair. i'd like to call the senate's attention to the fact that there was a moment in time when w

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand.opause and migraine, high blood. pressure. i need to break down silos across america. make more progress. we don't know enough about menopause and that is going to. the department of defense like arthritis cancer, chronic diseases and in the military our work doesn't stop here. action. graded and prioritized in all research projects across the entire government and women's health says so much more is never proper has a government. [applause] the research is going across the entire world. one thing about that today. combination of people. women's health center holiday season for gratitude but reflection and it's important. [applause] we are blessed to live in america. and often say american some of in one word. this is all on record. possibilities. there is evidence that we never fail. it's all about possibility, anything is possible. that's what it is all about, possibilities. this is. unleashing drive and every you have in this room. the people to your left and right. the possibility

mr. durbin. mr. durbin. pete hague says i've known for more than ten years.n capitol hill he's been a leader fighting for fellow veterans in the halls of congress and leading and organization. the thing i am concerned about is we are not deterring the very threats are country peace and 30 that we need to pay attention to. it is a dangerous situation. what they do is prioritize of the ground and deterrence. the way you do that is strength. confirmation process anticipating and confirmation hearings and supreme court justices out with act can be but he and his wife made their financial sacrifice to serve the country and i respect that the allegations against mismanagement people accused him of? >> a lot of this has been anonymous through background checks for the hearing itself. what i learned is there are a lot of people who make anonymous claims but will not be accountable for that. the process to get all the facts out before we make our decisions. >> you think senator considerably people ultimately votes i know senator ernst and others they want to see the p

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: reserving the right to object. i would like to clarify the record on president biden's use of the pardon power which is established in the constitution in article 2, section 2. on december 12, president biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1500 americans who were placed on home confinement under a bipartisan provision of the cares act. these individuals were all convicted of nonviolent offenses and have complied with the terms of home confinement for more than one year. this clemency is consistent with the long history of presidents using a categorical approach to exercise the constitutional power of pardon. example, president kennedy, pardoned all first-time offenders convicted of violating the narcotics control act of 1966. president truman paddoned those who -- president carter provided a parred orn for hundreds of thousands of man who evaded the draft during the vietnam war. now i understand that senator cotton is opposed to clemency in an individual's case, but if he is

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. urbin: i want to add a few years to the tribute to you, bob. i've been fortunate enough to join you in campaign in your home state. i remember your first campaign and the trip that i took to try and help and it ended with a party at the end of the day, and if i'm not mistaken, it was a bank that had been converted into some meeting hall -- mr. casey: a bar. mr. durbin: more appropriate. and i recall standing there with your friends and family having a drink and a good time. i thought to myself, i could back up a big truck to the front door here, ask everyone to take their drinks, walk on, take them to the beverly section of chicago, open the door and they could continue conversation without interruption. it was an irish-catholic chargee democratic group, they would have been just as comfortable in the chicago and many other places in this country. what i remember is how many members of your family was there, i think you filled the place with family members, and it told me an awful lot

mr. durbin are also interested.e is an aptide on the democratic side. >> i want to ask about doj and the trust in the department, in the system. president biden got a lot of flack for the way that he pardoned hunter biden, by kind of going after the prosecutors who went after his son. anita dunn, former right-hand woman to president biden, commented on that to deal book and "the new york times." let's listen. >> i absolutely agree with the president's decision here. i do not agree with the way it was done. i don't agree with the timing, and i don't agree, frankly, with the attack on the judicial system. the white house was really not part of the process. it was a process that was done very much internally with the family, with the defense lawyers. >> so it's interesting that -- i mean, there's no democrat that i have not heard a democrat say that president biden was wrong to have compassion for his son. but there's a lot of democratic frustration and anger about the way that he did the pardon of his son, and the way

mr. chairman. senator durbin: senator blackburn. senator blackburn: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to each of you for being here today. miss moran, i am so sorry for your loss. i know that's been a very difficult time for you and your family. and this truly is a season of sorrow for you all. i recognize that. i find it so interesting this open border policy that we have seen is not a compassionate policy. i talked to people that worked with human trafficking and sex trafficking and what is is happening to women and children is abhorrent. and we all are fully aware of that. mr. chairman, i appreciated your remark that we should deport those that are truly a danger to americans. i think that's accurate. i don't think there is anything -- anyone would disagree with that. we have all seen the uptick in violent crimes such as ms. morin and her family have experienced. and this is the reason i reintroduced my clear act this year. which would enable local law enforcement, when they apprehend someone who is in the country illegally, to detain them and then call on i.c.e. to depor

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. the clerk: mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. helmy. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. the clerk: mr. warner, aye. mrs. fischer, no. the clerk: mr. kaine, mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. the clerk: mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. n.l. the clerk: mr. young. senators voting in the affirmative -- coons, gillibra

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr.agerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. merkley. mr. moraran. states hundred thousand five last year of overdoses many fentanyl. call this death of despair that implies little done to reverse the trend. overdose deaths appear to be slightly but doesn't mean addition and part drug use itself has as it continues unprecedented prevention on top any fractured billing and accounting dealing with aftermath cigarettes cigarette companies to compensate medical expenses the difference this discussion will have settlement funding will go directly to go and governments. the city that suffers it's also true reference little to no difference. a journalist following disbursement. her goal is to ride what might be most effective for local governments fro

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. helmy. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. the possible use of emergency powers by thee president elect. bicycling team program serves as their senior director. thanks for giving us your time today. >> guest: thanksll had me. >> host: when you the true emergency power a lot of things can emerge. what's the best with understanding what that is to a president? >> guest: that's a great question. emergency powers take different forms in different countries. most countries have provisions in the constitution for emergency regimes where all summer, not all but some of the rights can set aside by the president or the head of the state, prime minister. it's different in this country. we are an outlier. there are no emergency powers granted directly to the president in the constitution. the powers that. look like em

mr. durbin: thank you. mr. president, last week on the floor i thanked five of my colleagues in the senate who will be leaving at the end of this congress. today i'd like to thank three more. if you read any profile on senator sherrod proun of ohio, there is a good chance you will see the word rumpled in that description of his presentation before the senate. a rumpled suit has become his trademark. in fact, george will once wrote that h sherrod, quote, radiates rumpledness even in a well-pressed suit. such characterizations have never seemed to bother sherrod because, you see, he didn't come here to be a clothes horse or pose for g.q. he wouldn't want to do with a custom-made clean suit every day at work. sherrod brown spent 50 years in public office. 50, including the last 18 years in the senate. he is the kind of person that comes to the senate ready to fight for people who don't have lawyers and lobbyists to speak for. sherrod grew up in mansfield, ohio, a town hit hard early by the decline of american manu

durbin: thanks, mr. white. >> good morning, chairman durbin, ranking member graham, and distinguished members of the senate judiciary committee. thank you for the opportunity to speak today about the regulation of legalized sports betting in new jersey. my name is dave reebok and i serve as director of the division of gaming enforcement in new jersey from 2011-2024 and have recently retired from public service. as background on the division, it is a law enforcement agency that is responsible for the regulation of new jersey's retail and online casino industry and its retail and online sports wagering operations performed by state casinos and its racetracks. during my tenure as director i led a strategic overhaul of the state's gaming laws, which included spearheading new initiatives to ensure compliance with existing laws and the gaming's industries compliance with new and soon to be regulated forms of gaming. in 2013 new jersey became the second state to launch online casino gambling. and in 2018 after a

mr. durbin. the clerk: ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. i have lots of talk about. first i want to bring up one item. as you know we have been briefing you regularly at their parks mind 900,000 troops deployed this area. might it isl. significant intert we recently learned that those numbers were higher so we were asked to look into it and in fact there approximately 2000 u.s. troops and syria. as i understand it and as it was explained to me these additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces that deploy shifting mission requirements worse the core 900 or on longer term employment. for many of her deployment the numbers of fluctuate from time to time. given that this number is significantly higher than what we have been briefing i wanted to let you know as soon as i found out this information

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator hawley. welch, hawley, durbin, vance, what the hell's going on here? this is not only an odd couple, this is an odd grouping. the most conservative and the most liberal members happen to agree that we have to do something about the situation for mr. callahan, mr. kantor's clients, and so many others. let me tell you where this started. it started in this very room in 2006. i wandered into a hearing of this committee i knew nothing about on something on interchange fees. i didn't know what we were talking about. and there were merchants and retailers sitting at that table who had stacks of paper in front of them that said this is my contract with visa that describes what may interchange fee is, that dictates a major part of my expenses as a business. and i can't get the entire thing, they only give me part of it. and i can't understand what they send me. and i'm stuck with it. take it or leave it, visa or mastercard say if you go along for the ride or you're going to get dumped. we can't afford to walk away. mr. ca

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. authorization act. the quality of life families and drink the national of our service members and ability. in addition programs and your receipt the dod. pay raises, better access to childcare, employment, support for spouses and much more. national security and support the most powerful in the world and armed services federal and that over. >> is elected peers over the weekend. fear the world is anticipating return of u.s. president who can, at the very least fully engaged in important discussions leadership is being felt. forty-one days before he said to be inaugurated restored respect for our country in the world stage and start contrast what americans have been forced to learn the supply biden administration of the last four years. russia's invasion of ukraine iran and proxies israel. seen what happens when we have leaders in the white house's policy is our adversaries and underwrite our allies. thankfully november 4 -- this, father said enough is enough. fast

mr. durbin: i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.residing officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call: >> grateful to the democratic policy and communications committee for joining me here today. my thoughts are with vice chair ted lieu who is attending to some family matters as well. it's clear the american people want us to tackle the affordability crisis. they voted to lower their own costs. they didn't vote to lower corporate tax rates. donald trump and house republicans have decided your concerns are not as important as the billionaire donors that he is made promises to. trump repeatedly said during the campaign he would bring costs down there at a rally in pittsburgh he said quote, a vote for trump means your groceries will be cheaper. in north carolina he said quote come from the day i take the oath of office we were rapidly drive prices down. fast-forward to today and he's already abandoning that promised working people, telling "time" magazine that actually driving costs down is qu

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. marshall. the economy is strong overall and has made significant progress toward our goals over the past two years. the labor market has cooled from if its formerly overheated state and remains solid. inflation hasmr moved much closr to our 2% longer-run goal. we're committed to the maintaining our economy's strength by supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to our 2% goal. the that end today, the federal open market committee decided to take another step in reducing the degree of policy restraint by lowering our policy interest rate by a quarter percentage point. we also decided to continue to reduce our security holdings. i'll have more to say about monetary policy after briefly reviewing economi

mr. kantor, the original durbin amendment sought to promote competition among debit card networks. has it worked? >> it has. now, there are some problems with it, because as the department of justice has alleged, visa has tried to evade that law and caused anti-trust violations in the process. but it has worked. fees have been lower. several studies, including the ones cited by the credit card industry to say consumers haven't benefited show that consumers have benefited. happy to have everybody read the studies that they cite as well as the ones we do. the one they cite from the university of pennsylvania law review shows 53% direct pass-through immediately to consumers and lower price. the one we cite, and roger alford cited a study, 70% pass-through. and frankly, the rest is taken up in paying employees more and competing on service and the things that chris callahan just talked about. profit margins for retailers did not go up one iota. in fact, in grocery, they went down. so it's been much better for consumers. and i think this whole discussion of rewards, having a few of the

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. risch. >> welcome, i'm suzanne spaulding here at the center for strategic and international studies where i lead the democratic institution's project, and we are so honored today the to have such a dedicated public servant, our former secretary of defense, leon panetta, here for an important conversation about a recent survey that the panetta the institute conducted about the state of our democracy and what can be done to engage young people to be the engaged citizens that we need to preserve our democracy going forward. secretary panetta real

mr. sheedy. miss kirkpatrick. >> good morning. chairman durbin, ranking member graham and members of the committee. thank you for allowing me to provide background on mastercard, the value we bring to consumers and businesses. mastercard is a global company that connects billions of consumers with businesses and enables them to make payments that are safe and simple. we do this with precision. 200 billion times a year for nearly $10 trillion of payments annually. our brand has become synonymous with trust. the payment space in which we operate is massively competitive. there have never been more choices for consumers to pay. these choices range from cash and check to debit, prepaid, credit, buy now, pay later, digital wallets, ach, real-time payments, account to account, pay by bank, private label, regional networks, cryptocurrencies and even the federal reserve. it's this competition that fuels our motivation to innovation. as noted by the doj, mastercard is a very different company from its largest competitor both in size and structure. nearly

mr. durbin: mr. president. mr.s farewell speech. as i said to several of my colleagues, we lose so many good ones here. and after we've lost them to retirement or election results, the senate really has an empty place, and it will in that corner for as long as i am honored to serve here. the place that was occupied by sherrod. what makes such a difference in this man? why is he viewed so differently? it why so many showed up to hear that farewell speech? what i'm about to say, you can say about him and about connie, his wife. there was a man named jack valente who used to be an advisor to the presidents. he gave the president lyndon johnson a piece of advice. he said every good speech should include six words. let me tell you a story. time and again sherrod p brown told us a story. it was a story from a picket line, it was a story from a clothes factory. it was a story that you picked up in your home state of ohio and as you traveled around this country. and those stories, much like the stories that connie has told

thanks mr arthur general manner, chairman durbin, ranking member, graham members of the committee. >> i thank you for your invitation to speak today for over 35 years. i served our nation in both the regular army and in the national guard. prior to retiring from the army as a major general, i served as the deputy commanding general of the united states third army in kuwait, as the acting vice chief of the national guard bureau and as the acting and deputy director of the defense threat reduction agency. during the time i served, i saw firsthand that our military force is the envy of the world. it is respected by our allies and by people around the world who want to live free of oppression. it is feared by our enemies and those who would do us harm our military members come from every possible background, representing every state, every race, ethnic group and religion. but when they come together in the military, they are molded together in a team expected to embody the values which make america great duty, honor, integrity, respect, selfless service, loyalty, personal courage and exce

mr. chairman. >> thank you, chair durbin. senator kennedy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you for calling this hearing. ms. umber, you were in a georgia state prison? >> yes, that is correct. >> okay. and ms. laboy come out by saying her name right? >> yes, sir. >> your daughter was in a state prison? >> yes, york correctional. >> in georgia. >> york correctional in connecticut. >> well, i want to thank both of you for coming. i mean, your testimony was instructed but that sounds kind of sterile when you put it that way. it was also moving. i know these four colleagues well. hope we will have another hearing on the subject. i would like to sit down with them and others and try to figure how to address this problem. >> yeah. >> i've had this discussion with senator booker before. i think it, we need to address the issue of solitary confinement in our prisons. we need to involve law enforcement. i'm hoping that another hearing we will offer the georgia state officials the chance to come in and tell us what happened here, and offer constructive suggestions. i i gues

mr. chairman. >> thank you, chair durbin. senator kennedy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you for calling this hearing. ms. umber, you were in a georgia state prison? >> yes, that is correct. >> okay. and ms. laboy come out by saying her name right? >> yes, sir. >> your daughter was in a state prison? >> yes, york correctional. >> in georgia. >> york correctional in connecticut. >> well, i want to thank both of you for coming. i mean, your testimony was instructed but that sounds kind of sterile when you put it that way. it was also moving. i know these four colleagues well. hope we will have another hearing on the subject. i would like to sit down with them and others and try to figure how to address this problem. >> yeah. >> i've had this discussion with senator booker before. i think it, we need to address the issue of solitary confinement in our prisons. we need to involve law enforcement. i'm hoping that another hearing we will offer the georgia state officials the chance to come in and tell us what happened here, and offer constructive suggestions. i i gues

mr. daines. >> okay, good evening everybody, thank you for coming. so i'm so proud and glad to be joined by many of my judiciary committee colleagues led by chair durbin . i know a lot is happening in the capital today and tonight. but we want to marka historic moment here in the senate . today we confirm the 235th judge more than any majority has confirmed in decades. this is historic. it will have huge and positive implications for the american people for generations to come. now, with the nation's newest 235th judge we've confirmed more judges under pres. biden and any administration in this century, more judges than any administration going back decades and listen to this, one out of every four active judges on the bench has been appointed by this majority . one out of every four. we have some of the most qualified and historic nominees ever confirmed in a four-year span. one out of every four judges on the bench is amazing. i want to thank all the senators who worked hard in support of these nominees. it wasn't easy, their diligence, stick to it in this, their unity it was an amazing moment here today. anyone of them when they didn't show up or w