mr. leahy: mr. psident -- the presiding officer: the sena is in a quoru call. mr. leahy: oh, i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorumming dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. thest under the previous reserved.e leadership time is morning business is closes. under e previous order, the senate will proceed to executi session to resume consideration of the following nomination, whh the erk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. kristi haskins johnson of mississippi to be united states district judge for the souther district of mississippi. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i'm struck by the fact, as i cal people around my state of vermont, which is, like your state, every state, is suffering from covid, althou our -- i will compliment our republican governor, who has kept the numbers dow lower than practically any other state in the country. but we're facing winter, and even today the outgoing prident does not seem to be willing to acknowledge the huge mistake he made in not accepting

leahy? thank you, mr. chairman. with all the joking that goes back and forth, it is safe to say that the chairman and i feel very strongly about this. we do want to help. i were initehouse and vietnam last year, and we met with the vietnamese officials and scientists to discuss ocean plastic pollution and had a great meeting, and we talked about a country with a 2000 mile coastline, and when i say we, that means all human beings, are causing irreparable harm to the ocean's emerging wildlife. and keep in mind, it is the primary source of protein for billions of people in this world. oil spills, carbon emissions, plastic wastes, rivers empty to oceans with discarded plastic. each is littered with it. and the coral reefs are dying. and from a personal point of view, my wife, marcel, and i, we are average scuba divers. and over the last 25 years, we have seen more and more of the damage this has caused. we have seen a dead sea turtle choked to death by a piece of plastic around it. it was literally hanged by the plastic

mr. chairman. i will have some questions for the record for both the witnesses. >> thank you very much, senator leahy. i appreciate that. senator cruz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. facebook, twitter and google have massive power. they have a monopoly on public discourse in the online arena. i will say it is dismaying listening to the questions from our democratic colleagues because consistently the message from senate democrats is for facebook and twitter and google to censor more, to abuse their power more, to silence voices that senate democrats disagree with more. that is very dangerous if we want to maintain a free and fair democracy. if we want to maintain free speech. there was a time when democrats embraced and defended the principles of free speech. there was a time when democrats embraced and defended the principles of a free press and yet there is an absolute silence from democrats speaking up for the press outlets censored by big tech. there is absolutely silence for democrats speaking out for the citizens silence by big tech. instead there is a demand use even more power to silence dissent

mr. chairman, appreciate you saying that this hearing and we have a vote to start on the floor. >> thank you, senator leahy. >> you know where my office is. >> exactly. and your office looks great here today. ank you, senator leahy. senator cortez masco. >> thank you, thank you, chairman and ranking member. thank you for all of your willingness to serve on the commission. let me follow-up with senator leahy'line of questioning. my question to all of youo you think that the fcc h a role to play limiting foreign interference in federal elections an if the question is yes what is that role? let me start with you. >> and the contribution is long-standing if confirmed i'm committed to enforcing that just as it has been a priory for the commission over the recent years. >> thank you. mr. dickerson. i entirely agree. i think the foreign contribution and expenditure prohibition has been an area of priority and i would plan to join that tradition. >> i noted [inaudible] working with fellow commissioners. >> thank you. i know looking at the federal campaign act of there really is not a lot of qualifications for the

leahy. i appreciate that. senator cruise. >> cruz. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> facebook and twitternd google have massive power. they have i an a monopoly on public discourse in the online arena. i will say it is dismaying listening to the questions from our democratic colleagues because consistently the message from the senate democrats is for facebook and twitter and google to censor more, to abuse their power more, to silence voices that senate democrats disagree with more. that is very dangerous if we want d to maintain a free and fr democracy. if we want to maintain free speech. there was a time when democrats embraced and defended the principles of free speech. there was a time when democrats embraced the free press and yet there is an absolute silence from democrats speaking up for the press outlet censored by big tech. there is an absolute silence for those speaking out for the citizens silenced and instead there is a demand used even more power to silence the dissent and that is a totalitarian instinct that i think is very dangerous. at the

mr. leahy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. leahy: mr. president, i see the majority leader on the floor. while i have -- i have the floor, of course, as a matter of courtesy, i will yield to him if he has some comments he wants to make and ask that i then be recognized for mine. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: before i do yield, i understand senator schumer is coming, so i will -- i tell you what i will do. i will just yield the floor to accommodate our two leaders, but then i would ask i be recognized. the presiding officer: without objection. the majority leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, in the last week, record numbers of americans exercised the right which generations risked everything to hand on to us. i want to spend a few minutes this morning talking about what we saw last week, where we are now, and where our great country will go from here. there is one aspect of last week that has gotten lost that i want to single out right at the start. by every indication, the 2020 election appears to h

mr. leahy: mr. president, i see nobody in 15 or 20 feet of me so i will take the mask off. i appreciate the fact that the distinguished presiding officer recognized who it was even with the mask. mr. president, i have a couple of things that certain me. i was going through history and looking at transitions between presidents. and i was struck by even presidents who did not like their successor, how hard they worked to make sure that everything was done properly for the good of the country no matter how they might feel about themselves personally, they set the country first and foremost. i contrast that with what's happening now. former vice president, former u.s. senator served with him joe biden got the most votes of any democratic nominee for president in the history of this country. millions more than what president trump did. he has an insurmountable lead in certified electoral votes. and yet the president for weeks refused even to carry out the law that we all voted for, republicans and democrats alike to provide for transition whenever there is a transition. the law