mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. leahy: mr. president, i thank the distinguished senator from ohio. i -- we're going to vote in the long overdue confirmation of judge luis felipe restrepo to the u.s. court of appeals for the third circuit in pennsylvania. finally. he was nominated way over a year ago, nearly 14 months ago. strong bipartisan support, home state senators, and this is just a case where unfortunately the republican leadership has subjected judge restrepo to totally unnecessary delay, but as part of their wholesale obstruction of judicial nominees. during all of 2015, senate republicans allowed votes only 11 judicial nominations. i mention that because democrats took the majority in the last two years of president bush's term. we confirmed 40 judges during that year, 40. i was chairman. i remember that very well. i wanted to not -- i didn't want to repeat the things like we saw during the clinton administration. republicans came in and the then-chairman of the -- republican chairman of the senate judiciary committee

murray, the senator from vermont mr. leahy for senator from montana mr. tester the senator from michigan ms. stabenow and the senator from minnesota ms. klobuchar. >> members of the aspartame like sip it chamber to unlock the doors. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker the diplomatic corps. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court. [applause] [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] [applause] [applause] [applaus

thank you. >> senator leahy. >> mr. chairman, i assume our senate colleagues probably have to leave. i've seen the senate's schedule. it is not the house schedule but the senate schedule is pretty busy. i'd ask that they -- the senators be excused. but i do have a question for the governor. >> if you want to go, go. i don't have questions for you. we can talk anytime and i look forward to continued conversation on this legislation with my colleagues. so you can stay new want to. go ahead, ask governor shumlin your question. >> governor, you and i have talked about this a lot, and i appreciate your passion. i would note for everybody here, this is not just something that the governor says publicly. he's talked about it a lot privately. and i think it is fair to say, you feel the same way that i've heard from police officers all over the state of vermont. it's not just a law enforcement problem. i think a lot of them certainly tell me, both at the federal level police, state police, local police, county, they tell me if t

senator leahy: well, thank you, mr. chairman. you know, governor, you and i talked about this a lot. and i appreciate your passion. i would note for everybody here , this is not just something that governor says publicly. he's talked about a lot privately. i think -- i think it's fair to say you feel the same way i heard from police officers all over the state of vermont, it's not just a law enforcement problem. i think a lot of them certainly tell me both the federal level police, state police, local police, county, they tell me if they could get people into treatment they'd much prefer doing that. is that the same thing you're hearing? governor shumlin: absolutely. i have to say law enforcement is an extraordinary ally in this battle. it's not only true sflerment but across the country. i was recently on a panel with a police chief in glouster, massachusetts, who literally said, listen, here's my poll circumstances and now vermont and new hampshire law enforcement folks are doing the same thing. if you're addicted to opioids, c

mr. leahy: madam president, tomorrow marks the 43rd anniversary of the u.s.preme court's ruling in roe v. wade, recognizing a woman's constitutional right to liberty and personal autonomy in her decision whether to have an abortion or not. this landmark case not only recognizes those rights, but it is also responsible for saving countless women across the country for the devastating and deadly outcomes of back-alley abortions. i want to speak to that because i have some personal knowledge here. i was a young state attorney in vermont before roe v. wade. i'll never forget getting a call from the police and went with them to the emergency room at the local hospital. a young woman was there who had nearly died from an unsafe, illegal abortion because she could not legally receive that care from a doctor. i want to speak of that tragic history today because i feel the current effort in many states to roll back roe v. wade by denying women access to doctors could drag women back to those dark and dangerous times. in the years leading up to the supreme court decisi

leahy? chairman, i y: mr. assume our senate colleagues leave.o i've seen the senate schedule, it's not the house schedule. pretty te schedule is busy. i ask that the senators be excused. for the a question governors. senator grassley: if you want to go, go. i don't have questions. can talk any time. i look forward to continued conversation on this legislation colleagues. you can stay if you want to. shumlin , ask governor your question. senator leahy: thank you, mr. chairman. talked , you and i have about this a lot. i appreciate your passion. would note for everybody here his is not just something that the governor says publicly. he talks about it a lot privately. and i think -- i think it's fair o say that you feel the same way as i heard from police officers all over the state of vermont, it's not just a law enforcement problem. lot of them hink a certainly tell me both that the police, the state county, local police, they tell me if they can get people into treatment they'd much prefer doing that. is that

mr. chief justice, senator leahy, general heson, members of the general assembly, distinguished guests, and fellow vermonters, thank you all so much. i'm also really excited to welcome today the person who has stood by me every single day of my governorship, an extraordinarily patient, loving, supportive, my love, your first lady, katy hahn. thank you. [ applause ] i am as honored and humbled to stand before you today as i was giving my first inaugural address in 2011. that day i spoke with affection about our last governor from putney, george aiken. three-quarters of a century ago he stood before this body and he reflected on the challenges and progress of his day. he said, during these four years, vermont in common with the rest of the nation has experienced changes and put into practice new functions of government that were either unforeseen or in the visionary stages a few years ago. our task has been to apply these innovations in a practicable manner. 75 years later his words call to mind our own efforts over the last five years. when i became governor, i promised to focus every day on

leahy is on the books. i applaud the very conservative, very republican supreme court justices who wrote it in a unanimous opinion. mr. pres >> tim kaine candidates>> -- campaigns and i will for hillary and. we open our phone lines and take a look at the headlines on open washington journal." we leave tim: hello. thanks for all you are doing. good to be with you. great to be here. it's really fun. just gave my speech. take the rest of the day off. [inaudible] i promote it all the time. it may be easier for those of us who are the champions of her to promote. i just was with 43 nuns at mount caramel. that was one of my lines. how many of you taught elementary school math? i want to talk about a venn diagram. hi, i'm tim. >> good to meet you. i'm margie. >> hi, margie. good to meet you. hi, colin. thanks for what you guys are doing. >> hi, i'm jacob. >> hi jacob, how are you? stan gave me a crucifix left by the pope, which i really cherish, which is really something. that was a very memorable visit. it was really fun to visit with them. hey, guys. who's this? this looks like the senior class photo. tim kaine. hi, i'm t

quorum call: mr. leahy: doemr. leahy: yesterr nation celebrated the birthday of dr. martin luther king jr., a here reto millions of americans. he helped break down racial barriers in this country. i was glad to so that he we returned today, while we delay so many of these judicial votes, we're finally going to one that would increase racial diversity on our federal bench. judge wilhelmina wright is nominated to a judicial emergency vacancy on the u.s. district court, the district of minnesota. she currently serves on the minnesota supreme court. she is the first african-american woman to serve in that court, the first person in minnesota history to serve as a judge at all three levels. now, she was nominated a year -- or nine months ago. she was voted out of the judiciary committee by unanimous vote over four months ago. i think this african-american woman, extraordinarily qualified and certainly in my experience far more qualified than a lot of people, men and women, we've confirmed to the bench. the time is well overdue. i would ask that my full statement be placed

quorum call: quorum call: mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: madam president, tomorrow marks the 43rd anniversary of the u.s. supreme court's ruling in roe v. wade, recognizing a woman's constitutional right to liberty and personal autonomy in her decision whether to have an abortion or not. this landmark case not only recognizes those rights, but it is also responsible for saving countless women across the country for the devastating and deadly outcomes of back-alley abortions. i want to speak to that because i have some personal knowledge here. i was a young state attorney in vermont before roe v. wade. i'll never forget getting a call from the police and went with them to the emergency room at the local hospital. a young woman was there who had nearly died from an unsafe, illegal abortion because she could not legally receive that care from a doctor. i want t