[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6921-6922]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         NOMINATION OF MERRICK GARLAND AND THE SENATE SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, tomorrow is the 100th day that there has 
been a vacancy in the Supreme Court. To his credit, President Obama 
didn't rush into nominating someone; he took his time and interviewed 
scores of candidates recommended to him by his staff and Senators and 
many people around the country. So 30 days after the vacancy appeared, 
President Obama came forward with Merrick Garland.
  If ever there were a consensus nominee, Merrick Garland is that. The 
head of the Judiciary Committee at the time, the senior Senator from 
Utah, said: He is a consensus nomination. Why doesn't the President do 
that?
  When the President does, he is suddenly not interested--``he,'' 
meaning the senior Senator from Utah.
  For 70 days Senate Republicans have refused to do anything to move 
along Merrick Garland's nomination. They will not look at Garland's 
questionnaire or study his record. They will not give him a hearing, 
and they are certainly not going to give him a vote. They are 
absolutely committed to blocking a vote on this good man. So that is 10 
full weeks of Republicans running away from their constitutional duty 
to provide their advice and consent to President Obama's Supreme Court 
nomination.
  Given Senate Republicans' light work schedule, perhaps it is no 
surprise that they have not found time to schedule a hearing and a vote 
on Merrick Garland. They are never here. News outlets are already 
reporting how little time the Republican Senate will spend in session 
this year. As one publication, Politico, said a few days ago, ``The 
chamber is on pace to work the fewest days in 60 years.''
  This is what the Senate calendar looks like for 2016, this schedule 
released by the Republican leader. This is it. If you are wondering 
about these blocked-out days, that is when we are not in session. That 
doesn't include the rest of the time around here--or, I should say, 
barely around here. Mondays--the few Mondays that we are in--basically, 
nothing happens on Mondays. We get here and vote at 5:30. Fridays, we 
don't work. As you can see, once in a while they schedule a Friday, but 
we don't work on Fridays. We are so desperate to get out of here on 
Thursdays that votes are now scheduled at a quarter to 2--not until 2. 
We all have caucuses, but we can't wait to jump-start it and get out of 
here at a quarter until 2.
  As I indicated, we see the blacked-out days. These are recess days, 
days when the full Senate will not be in session and, of course, not 
working, not voting. To say we have had a lot of recesses lately is 
kind of an understatement.
  For example, the Republican Senate has worked just 27 days since 
Merrick Garland was nominated. He was nominated March 16. Remember, on 
Mondays we don't do much around here. Thursday afternoons, we don't. So 
we work Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and half a day on Thursday. That is quite 
a schedule. Had the Senate worked on any of these blacked-out days, we 
could have had a hearing for Merrick Garland, and we could have 
scheduled a vote. We also could have worked on any number of important 
issues Republicans have been ignoring.
  What about this Zika virus that is such a concern to health officials 
around the world? In March, we worked a little bit but not much. But at 
least in those days, perhaps we could have done something to fund Zika 
but, no, still playing around with that over here. A big cheer went up 
when a bill was passed, an appropriations bill, and it had in it a 
provision for Zika. One problem: That legislation will not be approved 
until the fall or even the winter. Mosquitoes are now breeding. It is 
getting warmer. It is going to be 90 degrees in Washington, DC, on 
Friday. But no one on the Republican side seems to be too worried about 
that.
  We could look again at March. We can pick any month you want, but 
let's try March. What about Flint, MI? Because of some manipulation by 
the Governor of the State and others, the people of Flint, MI, suddenly 
were asked to drink water from a new source. They did not know that 
water was tainted with heavy volumes of lead. What a shame.
  I will never forget what I watched on ``PBS NewsHour.'' A mother was 
there crying, saying: I wanted to have my two children healthy, so they 
could not drink any soda pop ever. I helped poison my children because 
they drank the water of Flint, MI.
  We could have done something about that in March, April. Look at the 
months. But we have done nothing. Not a single penny has gone to Flint, 
MI. They are using bottled water.
  The opioid epidemic--there was a big cheer here: We did something on 
opioids. The problem is that there is no money. As we speak here today, 
in the hour we will take up here on the floor this morning before we 
get to the business of the day, in America about 20 people will die 
from opioid overdoses. We should be doing something about that, but we 
are not.
  The American people have been saying that the Republicans should 
simply do their jobs, but, as we have seen from the schedule, it is 
difficult to do your job when you don't bother to show up to work. The 
theme for this year's Republican Senate should be ``The Republican 
Senate was not in session.'' That quote is from me. Remember, this is 
the lightest Senate work calendar in some six decades. The Republican 
leader has the Senate on pace for almost no work and for the most days 
off in 60 years.
  Look at the summer vacation. I think we should be able to get in a 
few days of leisure during the summer vacation. What do you think? Look 
at it--7 weeks, including the first week in September. Seven 
consecutive weeks off--the longest summer recess in many decades. The 
population of the country has increased in 60 years but not the Senate 
schedule. The problems of the country have increased in 60 years but 
not the Senate schedule. The Republican leader didn't have to set such 
a light schedule. There is no archaic Senate rule that requires the 
world's greatest deliberative body to go dark for an entire summer. 
This was his choice.
  Do we need all this time off in July for the conventions? I don't 
think so. We have so many Republicans who are saying they are not even 
going to the convention. They are embarrassed to be there with Trump, I 
guess. If they are not going to Cleveland, stay here and work.
  The Senate Republicans have already wasted the last 70 days doing 
nothing on Merrick Garland's nomination. These days are lost. We can't 
go back to them. But what about the rest of the year? We have all this 
time to give Judge Garland a hearing and a vote, but we can't consider 
the nomination if we are not here. The Senate should stay in session 
until our work is completed.

[[Page 6922]]

  The President said we shouldn't go home on Thursday. We shouldn't go 
home until we fund Zika. That is a menace the American people are 
facing, especially American women. We shouldn't leave town unless we 
fully fund the President's request of $1.9 billion. We should not take 
this summer off while a vacancy remains on the Supreme Court. The 
Republican leader should not have this body scheduled to work less than 
any Senate in the last 60 years while so many issues that are important 
to the American people go unresolved.
  Mr. President, will the Chair announce what the Senate is going to do 
the rest of the day.

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