[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 2, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1169-S1170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FILLING THE SUPREME COURT VACANCY AND COMPREHENSIVE ADDICTION AND 
                             RECOVERY BILL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the current Senate Democratic leader 
once stated that ``nowhere in [the Constitution] does it say the Senate 
has a duty to give presidential nominees a vote.'' The incoming Senate 
Democratic leader, the one we will have next year, did not even wait 
until the final year of the last President's term to declare that the 
Senate should ``not confirm a Supreme Court nominee except in 
extraordinary circumstances.'' And we all know what Vice President 
Biden said when he chaired the Judiciary Committee. Here is what he 
said: ``It would be our pragmatic conclusion that once the political 
season is underway, and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination 
must be put off until after the election campaign is over.''
  That is the essence of the Biden rule. Yesterday, the chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee and I personally reiterated to President Obama that 
we will observe the Biden rule.
  The American people deserve to be heard on this matter. That is the 
fairest and most reasonable approach today. Voters have already begun 
to choose the next President, who in turn will nominate the next 
Supreme Court Justice. It is an important decision.
  Justice Scalia himself reminded us that setting aside one's personal 
views is ``one of the primary qualifications for a judge.'' His aim was 
to follow the Constitution wherever it took him, even if he disagreed 
politically with the outcome. We saw that when he sided with the 
constitutional right of protestors to burn the American flag. ``If 
you're going to be a good and faithful judge,'' he said, ``you have to 
resign yourself to the fact that you're not always going to like the 
conclusions you reach.''
  I think Americans agree that judges should be fair, impartial 
arbiters who apply the law and the Constitution equally to all and as 
actually written, not as they wish it were. I think most Americans 
agree a judge should be committed to an evenhanded interpretation of 
the law and the Constitution so that everyone who walks into a 
courtroom knows he or she will have a fair shake.
  But there is another view of the role of a judge. Under the view 
promoted by the current President, the so-called ``empathy standard,'' 
judges prioritize their political ideology above the law. The problem 
with that approach to judging is that empathy is only good in the 
courtroom if you are lucky enough to be the person the judge actually 
has empathy for. It is not so good if you are the other guy.
  This is something the American people should decide. President Obama 
still has every right to nominate someone on his way out the door. The 
Senate also has every right to withhold its consent. That is what the 
Biden rule reminds us of this election year. We will appropriately 
revisit the matter after Americans elect their new President.
  Now, this is not the only issue we discussed down at the White House 
yesterday. We also had a constructive discussion about other 
legislative issues, such as the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic 
sweeping our country and the important bill we will continue to 
consider today to help address it.
  The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, or CARA, is bipartisan 
legislation that targets this crisis at every level. The bill has a 
host of supporters, including 42 bipartisan cosponsors and more than 
130 groups dedicated to combating the epidemic.
  And while this is an important authorization bill, I would also note 
that Congress has already appropriated $400 million to opioid-specific 
programs. All $400 million of those funds still remain available to be 
spent today. That is right. These funds are still available, and we 
will have more opportunities to address funding through the 
appropriations process later this spring.
  Michael Botticelli, the Obama administration's Director of National 
Drug Control Policy, testified at a hearing just a few months ago and 
thanked Congress for including funding in the fiscal 2016 spending 
bill, saying: ``We appreciate that Congress provided more than $400 
million in funding in

[[Page S1170]]

the fiscal 2016 appropriations act, specifically to address the opioid 
epidemic, an increase of more than $100 million from the previous 
year.''
  Botticelli went on to say there is ``clear evidence that a 
comprehensive response,'' such as that of CARA, is ``tremendously 
important.'' He said that the provisions in CARA are ``critically 
important to make headway in terms of this epidemic.''
  Let's not allow this issue to get tangled up in politics. It is 
really too important to each of our States. Let's do our part today to 
help those in recovery take their lives back. Let's help keep families 
together and kids safer and help prevent more Americans from suffering 
at the hands of addiction.
  Let's put politics aside and continue to work to pass the 
Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which would be an important 
step forward in the fight against our national opioid and heroin 
crisis.

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