[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 62 (Thursday, April 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2061-S2063]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today is a historic day. Today, each Member 
of the Senate will have the opportunity to cast a vote on the 
nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be an Associate Justice of 
the U.S. Supreme Court. I say ``historic'' because throughout our 
Nation's history, only 115 people have served on the Supreme Court. 
Until now, only five of the Supreme Court Justices have been women. 
Only two of the Justices have been Black. And none has been a Black 
woman. So history, indeed, and long overdue.
  But I am not going to cast my vote in support of Judge Jackson's 
confirmation because she is a woman or because she is Black; I will 
cast that vote because she is eminently qualified to serve in the 
position to which she has been nominated.
  Her nomination shouldn't just be welcomed; it should be celebrated. 
It is a major step forward for our democracy. It is further widening 
the lens to help make our Nation more inclusive and more representative 
with each passing generation.
  She is one of the most qualified nominees to the Supreme Court that I 
have ever considered in my 48 years here: a graduate of Harvard and 
Harvard Law School; a judicial clerk at the district, circuit, and 
Supreme Court levels; a Federal appellate judge; a Federal district 
court judge; a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission; an attorney in 
private practice. And she will be the first ever Justice who has served 
as a public defender, bringing that much needed perspective to the 
Court. No one--no one--can argue that Judge Jackson is not objectively 
qualified to be confirmed.
  The manufactured accusations that were thrown at her by some of our 
committee during our hearings not only fell flat, but they have been 
refuted and debunked by serious voices across the political spectrum. 
They hold no water. They serve only to showcase the vitriol and the 
contempt with which some Members of this body approach their sacred 
constitutional role of advice and consent.
  I said it during the hearings, and I will say it again: It is 
distressing, it is disheartening, and as the dean of the Senate, it is 
saddening. Yet I find hope in the fact that Judge Jackson's 
confirmation to our highest Court will have the bipartisan support it 
deserves and it commands. I commend the Republican Senators who have 
lauded her qualifications and staked their support of her nomination. 
Judge Jackson has earned the President's nomination, and she has earned 
confirmation from the Senate.
  Each and every day, millions of American families are living their 
lives, and how they live those lives--from the salaries they make to 
the education their children receive and scores of issues in between--
is directly impacted by the decisions made at the Supreme Court.
  The Supreme Court--in fact, all of our courts can't be ivory towers, 
accessible only to and bending to the will of a select few in our 
society. They have to be accountable to all--all--all Americans. To do 
so, they must reflect the diversity of our Nation, the diversity that 
is at the foundation of our democracy--diversity of gender, of race, of 
creed, of education and history--but also diversity of thought and life 
experiences. Judge Jackson brings that and more to the Bench.
  Mr. President, I am proud to be the President pro tempore of the 
Senate, and I was proud to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 
past. In that regard, I voted for the first woman to ever serve on the 
Supreme Court. I voted for the first Latina to serve on the Supreme 
Court. I voted on thousands of judicial nominations, nominees of both 
Republican and Democratic Presidents. I voted for nominations to the 
Supreme Court who were put forward by Republican Presidents.
  I have long lamented the increasing political gamesmanship that has 
infected our current confirmation process, and many times on this 
floor, I have warned about the dire consequences for our courts and for 
our democracy of converting our confirmation process into a zero-sum 
game where one party wins and one party loses. But to change that 
gamesmanship requires that we have some adults in the room, that we all 
come here to the floor of the U.S. Senate not to score a headline or a 
trending tweet but simply to do our jobs. There are only 100 of us to 
represent this whole country. So who is going to do that today, simply 
do their job?
  I have taken a clear look at Judge Jackson's record. I heard her 
testimony 2 weeks ago. I met with her. I read opinions that she has 
written. I spent hours listening to her. I saw her intellect, her 
humility, and her temperament on full display.
  Mr. President, she is the Justice we need now. For America today, for 
the generations to come, for our children and our grandchildren, for 
all of us, I will cast my vote to confirm Judge Jackson, and I will do 
it proudly.
  I hope the Senate can rise to this moment. I hope it can be the 
deliberative body the Founders envisioned when they conceived of this 
great experiment. Our independent judiciary--in fact, our democracy--
demands it of us.
  Mr. President, history will remember the votes cast here today. I 
will proudly vote aye.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schatz). The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I rise today to express my joy in voting 
to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.
  What a great day it is for the United States of America, for our 
system of government and the grand march toward the fulfillment of the 
sacred covenant we have with one another as an American people--``e 
pluribus unum": out of many, one.
  Ketanji Brown Jackson's improbable journey to the Nation's highest 
Court is a reflection of our own journey, through fits and starts, 
toward the Nation's highest ideals. She embodies the arc of our 
history. The very fine product of public schools, both her parents 
attended segregated primary schools before graduating from historically 
Black colleges and universities.
  She is a two-time graduate of Harvard; a former clerk to Supreme 
Court Justice Breyer, to whom the Nation owes enormous thanks for his 
decades of public service; a former Federal public defender who would 
be the first of her kind to serve on the Supreme Court; a jurist who 
has gone before the Senate on three separate occasions and each time 
has garnered strong bipartisan support; a judge who has heard cases 
both in the U.S. district court and our Federal court of appeals; a 
judge who has the strong endorsement

[[Page S2062]]

of critical stakeholders from across our justice system. From the 
American Bar Association to those who advocate for civil rights, to 
organizations representing our Nation's brave law enforcement officers, 
all of them respect Ketanji Brown Jackson.
  She is a wife and a working mom. She is America at its best. That, I 
believe in my heart after meeting with her in my office, talking to 
folks whom I trust who know her, and hearing her testimony before the 
Senate Judiciary Committee.
  Under intense questioning before the committee--much of it 
appropriate and necessary; some of it outrageous and beyond the pale--
she demonstrated her legal acumen, sharp intellect, and the kind of 
temperament we need on the Bench, especially at a time like this. If 
there were any doubts about her character, she more than proved her 
poise, her skill, composure, and the depth of her patriotism through 
the process--amazing grace under pressure.
  As a voice for Georgians in the Senate, I have said from the 
beginning that people in my State want someone on the Court who is 
fair, eminently qualified, and has a record of protecting the 
constitutional rights and freedoms of Georgians and Americans. That is 
why my office has received thousands of emails and phone calls from 
Georgians in every corner of our State voicing their support for Judge 
Jackson's confirmation.
  After hearing from Georgians and thoroughly evaluating her 
nomination, I am ecstatic to say that Judge Jackson is an excellent 
jurist who has the temperament and discernment to sit on our Nation's 
highest Court.
  The people of Georgia made this appointment possible by making 
history last year. So in addition to thanking Georgia for this moment, 
I want to acknowledge that the historic nature of her appointment isn't 
lost on me. Like my brother Senator Booker, I know what it has taken 
for Judge Jackson to get to this moment, and nobody is going to steal 
my joy.
  Yes, I am a Senator; I am a pastor, but beyond all of that, I am the 
father of a young Black girl. I know how much it means for Judge 
Jackson to have navigated the double jeopardy of racism and sexism to 
now stand in the glory of this moment in all of her excellence. For my 
5-year-old daughter and for so many young women in our country--but, 
really, if we are thinking about it right, for all of us--seeing Judge 
Jackson ascend to the Supreme Court reflects the promise of progress on 
which our democracy rests.
  So what a great day it is in America. Today, the word of justice and 
equal protection under the law becomes flesh and lives among us in new 
ways. Today, at the highest levels of our government, the 
administration of our Constitution looks a little bit more like what it 
says. And it fills me with great pride for our country, how far we have 
come and what we can achieve together.
  Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is beyond qualified, and I am beyond 
thrilled to speak for Georgia in voting to confirm her to the U.S. 
Supreme Court.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3609

  Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, while we all gather to acknowledge this 
historic day and prepare to vote to--in my case, at least--confirm 
Judge Jackson, I rise to bring up another issue. I rise today to urge 
my colleagues to pass into law commonsense legislation to bring down 
oil and gas costs for Americans.
  As many of my colleagues have discussed on this floor, Americans 
across the country, including in my State of New Hampshire, are facing 
higher costs from the grocery store to the gas pump. As we work 
together to build a stronger, more resilient economy that strengthens 
our supply chains and invests in American manufacturing, we must also 
bring relief to American families right now, an issue that has become 
even more urgent in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has 
sent gas prices soaring.
  As we continue to counter Putin's aggression and inflationary 
challenges facing our economy, we have an obligation to work together 
to bring down costs.
  That is why I am working to hold Big Oil accountable for profiting 
off of the pain that Americans are experiencing at the pump. That is 
why I pushed the administration to release oil from the Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve, an action I was glad to see the administration take, 
again, just last week. As we look at all options to bring down costs, 
one clear way to provide immediate relief is by suspending the gas tax 
for the remainder of this year.
  Earlier this year, my colleagues and I introduced a bill to do 
exactly that. The Gas Prices Relief Act will temporarily suspend the 
Federal gas tax through the end of the year, helping bring economic 
relief to families.
  As in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance 
Committee be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of S. 3609; that the bill be considered read a third time 
and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and 
laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. CRAPO. Reserving my right to object, let me begin by saying my 
friends and colleagues across the aisle are right about one thing: Gas 
prices are incredibly higher right now in this country.
  The effort to blame this on what has happened in Ukraine, however, 
overlooks the real cause of the phenomenal rise in gas prices that we 
have seen for a year before Putin even invaded. Definitely, the 
invasion did increase pressure on gas prices, but the problem is that 
this administration's policies have dramatically reduced the supply in 
the United States and Americans across this country know how supply and 
demand impacts price.
  The gas tax holiday that is now being proposed is not a solution; it 
is a political gimmick that would not stop skyrocketing gas prices or 
inflation. In fact, Larry Summers said in a Wall Street Journal 
podcast:

       I think a gas tax idea is saved only by its triviality from 
     being one of the worst public policy ideas of the decade. It 
     will have little effect over any reasonable horizon on gas 
     prices. It will be counterproductive from an environmental 
     point of view. It is the ultimate policy gimmick.

  Rather than accept responsibility for 14 months of reckless spending 
or the more than 40-percent increase in gas prices that had already 
occurred before the Russian invasion, Democrats want to blame higher 
gas prices on the Russian invasion or corporate greed. They also want 
to ignore the consequences of their relentless attacks on the American 
oil and gas industry, the administration's overly bureaucratic permit 
and regulatory process for domestic energy production, and the 
misguided policy decisions like canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline.
  The solution to rising gas prices is not a tax holiday, which would 
offer little relief but threaten infrastructure investments and worsen 
our national debt situation; nor is the solution a tax on American 
companies who increase their production of oil and gas to try to help 
us become more energy independent; nor is it stimulus checks, which 
have the potential, as the past ones have, to increase gas prices even 
further and push inflation even higher; nor is it to encourage other 
hostile regimes to produce more oil.
  The only lasting solution to our current problems is to bolster 
American oil and gas production to replace not only Russian imports but 
to facilitate exports to support our allies and end their dependence on 
Russia. Indeed, I, along with a number of my Republican colleagues, 
have sponsored proposals to enhance energy independence and undo many 
of President Biden's misguided energy policies.
  Republicans believe we can and should be doing more to unleash 
America's domestic energy potential, reduce reliance on volatile 
foreign actors like Russia, and deliver cost savings to middle-class 
families across the country. Hard-working American families need real 
relief, not political gimmicks, and that is why I oppose this gas tax 
holiday.
  I urge my Democratic colleagues to abandon the reckless spending-and-
tax policies that have already failed but which seem to be contemplated 
in the President's newly reintroduced budget and support proposals that 
will actually lower prices for everyday Americans. For those reasons, I 
object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.

[[Page S2063]]

  

  Ms. HASSAN. Before I wrap up, I just want to point out what you just 
heard--what the American people have just heard--is talking points 
straight out of Big Oil's playbook.
  A gas tax holiday is a commonsense solution that would provide 
immediate relief for Granite Staters and Americans all over the 
country. Big Oil holds thousands of unused permits at their fingertips 
that they could use right now to increase supply. Instead, what is 
happening is Big Oil is padding its pockets at the expense of 
Americans.
  Let's be clear. This would not take a dime out of the highway trust 
fund because this bill instructs Treasury to replenish the trust fund, 
something it has done half a dozen times in about the last decade. This 
is something that has bipartisan support across the country--Democratic 
and Republican Governors, Democratic and Republican legislators are 
moving to suspend their gas taxes. This is something we could do right 
now to help American families balance their budgets and make ends meet.
  While I am disappointed to see my colleague block this critical 
legislation, I will keep working to bring down costs for American 
families and get this bill passed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.