[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 118 (Monday, July 18, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3327-S3329]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLOTURE MOTION
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before
the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination
of Executive Calendar No. 1035, Nina Nin-Yuen Wang, of
Colorado, to be United States District Judge for the District
of Colorado.
Charles E. Schumer, Richard J. Durbin, Robert P. Casey,
Jr., Sherrod Brown, Tammy Baldwin, Tina Smith, Jeanne
Shaheen, Chris Van Hollen, Elizabeth Warren, Catherine
Cortez Masto, Tim Kaine, Benjamin L. Cardin,
Christopher Murphy, Maria Cantwell, Christopher A.
Coons, Jack Reed, Gary C. Peters, Tammy Duckworth.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum
call has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
nomination of Nina Nin-Yuen Wang, of Colorado, to be United States
District Judge for the District of Colorado, shall be brought to a
close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant executive clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Brown), the
Senator from Maryland (Mr. Cardin), the Senator from Vermont (Mr.
Leahy), the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Merkley), the Senator from
Washington (Mrs. Murray), and the Senator
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from Hawaii (Mr. Schatz) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer),
the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from North
Dakota (Mr. Hoeven), the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy), the
Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby),
the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), and the Senator from
Alabama (Mr. Tuberville).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from North Dakota (Mr.
Hoeven) would have voted ``nay''.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 52, nays 33, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 256 Ex.]
YEAS--52
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt
Booker
Burr
Cantwell
Carper
Casey
Collins
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Grassley
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Lujan
Manchin
Markey
Menendez
Murkowski
Murphy
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Portman
Reed
Rosen
Rounds
Sanders
Schumer
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Tillis
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--33
Blackburn
Boozman
Braun
Capito
Cassidy
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Hagerty
Hawley
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
Paul
Risch
Romney
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sullivan
Thune
Wicker
Young
NOT VOTING--15
Barrasso
Brown
Cardin
Fischer
Graham
Hoeven
Kennedy
Leahy
Merkley
Moran
Murray
Schatz
Shelby
Toomey
Tuberville
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Heinrich). On this vote, the yeas are 52,
the nays are 33.
The motion is agreed to.
The Senator from Florida.
Cuba
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, on July 11, 2021, in an act of
incredible bravery, thousands of freedom-loving people in Cuba
collectively stood together to demand freedom from the oppressive Cuban
dictatorship.
They stood outside the headquarters of the Cuban Communist Party
demanding liberty. They shouted ``Patria y Vida,'' which means homeland
and life.
In cities across the island, Cubans young and old showed they are not
afraid of the regime. It was a sign that freedom, liberty, and human
rights are not merely American ideals but universal rights given to all
by God, not any government.
In response to the peaceful protest, the Cuban Communist Party, an
illegitimate and brutally oppressive regime deployed a wave of terror
throughout Cuba by unleashing its secret police and military forces on
peaceful protesters and democracy leaders.
The regime's thugs and security forces unlawfully detained more than
1,400 demonstrators, including leaders from Cuban civil society groups
such as UNPACU, the San Isidro Movement, the Ladies in White, and
targeted religious and Afro-Cuban leaders.
In the aftermath of the demonstrations and the government crackdown,
crowds of Cubans and supporters of the Cuban people gathered here in
Washington urging Joe Biden to act.
They gathered in front of the White House. They protested in front of
the Cuban Embassy. I heard their cries asking the American Government
to show its support. I joined them in front of the White House and in
front of the Capitol.
We know Joe Biden has the power to join the Cuban people to call for
the Cuban Communist Party to change. But aside from a couple statements
he made last year, Joe Biden has not taken one action to support the
Cuban people and their fight for freedom.
He has done nothing to provide them with internet connections or to
support the democracy movement on the island.
I want to be clear: The President of the United States is known both
here and around the globe as the leader of the free world. Our
President, regardless of who it is, has immense power to rally our
democratic allies and the freedom-loving people of the world to put
pressure on oppressive regimes like the one occupying Havana and throw
the full support of the global community behind the Cuban people's
movement for freedom.
Anyone who denies this is ignoring history. But Joe Biden hasn't done
any of that. He hasn't even tried. Instead, he and his administration
have bowed to the demands of Cuba's murderous Castro and Diaz-Canel
regimes and chosen not to stand for democracy and human rights.
And just weeks ago, he chose to prop up the oppressive regime with
pathetic appeasement policies and sanctions relief. These actions bring
shame to the United States. They do nothing to help the people only
help line the pockets of the regime, its thugs, and its evil partners
in Russia, Iran, and communist China.
This failed President has done more to unite America's enemies than
bringing together the world's democracies for a common cause. Biden's
appeasement is horrible for U.S. national security, a threat to
stability in Latin America, and a danger to the power of democracy
across the world.
Six months after the demonstrations started, the Senate unanimously
passed my resolution that supported Cuban democracy activists like Jose
Daniel Ferrer, and condemned the brutal torture, unjust imprisonment,
and severe oppression that the illegitimate communist Cuban regime is
subjecting innocent Cubans to every day.
Last week, we honored the 1-year anniversary of the action of the
brave Cuban people, and we remembered the horrific images of violence
and oppression we saw as the illegitimate communist Cuban regime,
terrified of the freedom movement, viciously cracked down on the people
with mass jailings, beatings, and even murder.
Well, most of us remember. Joe Biden could not be bothered to even
make a statement. His silence on this issue shows he doesn't care about
the consequences of his actions. He doesn't care that he is playing
into the plans of Castro and Diaz-Canel.
Meanwhile, the Cuban people get nothing in return, and the security
situation in the region worsens. When Biden doesn't stand up to Castro
and Diaz-Canel, we are left with a destabilized hemisphere that is less
peaceful and puts our homeland security at greater risk.
They are murderous, illegitimate dictators. Appeasement is the worst
move imaginable. And you better believe that Iran, Russia, and
communist China love it when Biden is nice to their friends in Latin
America.
So in the midst of this 1-year anniversary of the July 11 historic
and peaceful demonstrations, I am asking Joe Biden to call for the
immediate release of the hundreds of pro-democracy activists, including
children whom the regime is unjustly detaining and subjecting to
physical and psychological torture.
I hope someone in the White House is paying attention. Unfortunately,
we know Joe Biden isn't. Children are locked away in jail, kept away
from their families. These are kids. Some are just 14 years old. What
is it going to take for Joe Biden to grow a backbone and do something?
Now, I am sure the administration will say that they have spoken out.
Sure, we have seen statements and tweets, but that is not enough. Where
is Joe Biden?
The White House can try to hide behind the words of the State
Department and claim false leadership, but statements from bureaucrats
and tweets from an embassy that shouldn't even exist will never be
enough.
Sadly, that is all we can expect from this weak and incompetent
President. It is essential to the national security of the United
States as well as our efforts to support freedom, democracy, and human
rights that Joe Biden reverse the foolish actions he has taken and not
allow totalitarian dictators in our hemisphere to go unchecked.
I am also calling on Joe Biden to support the DEMOCRACIA Act,
legislation I introduced last year with Congressman Byron Donalds. Our
bill would hold the illegitimate communist Cuban regime accountable
through severe sanctions, actions, and unprecedented
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financial pressure, and put safeguards in place to ensure those
sanctions are not wrongfully lifted.
It would also require the President to establish a task force to
develop long-term solutions for providing reliable internet service to
the people of Cuba that is not censored or blocked by the Cuban regime.
As the Cuban people's fight for freedom from the oppressive and
illegitimate communist Cuban regime continues, the United States must
stand for the Cuban democracy.
We can never bow to dictators--never. It is time for Biden to lead
and to oppose those genocidal dictators and support human rights.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
____________________