Senator Blumenthal: (4:48 PM)

• Spoke on the Supreme Court vacancy.
  • "The Senate this year has worked fewer days and taken a longer recess than in the past 50 years, despite leaving our constitutional duty unfulfilled. And that's why I am proud to introduce today, along with 42 of my Democratic colleagues, including Senator Leahy of Vermont, the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, along with my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, a resolution that says to the Senate of the United States: do not leave town for a recess until we have provided a hearing and a vote on the pending Supreme Court nomination. Do not leave town without doing your job. Do not leave town without fulfilling your constitutional duty to advise and consent. That's what we should be doing."

 

Senator Shaheen: (4:59 PM)

• Spoke on the Supreme Court vacancy.
  • "The Senate Committee on the Judiciary began holding public confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominees back in 1916, and in the 100 years since then, never before has the committee denied a hearing to a nominee to be a justice of the Supreme Court. So never before in our history have we seen this happen, that the majority party in the Senate has refused to conduct a hearing. Since 1975, the average length of time from nomination to a confirmation vote for the Supreme Court has been 67 days because our predecessors in the Senate have recognized just how important the Supreme Court is, to make sure that it's fully functioning. This bipartisan tradition regarding the Supreme Court has been put at risk by the majority's actions this year."

 

Senator Whitehouse: (5:04 PM)

• Spoke on climate change.
  • "Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit heard oral argument in West Virginia vs. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the case that will determine the fate of the EPA's Clean Power Plan. As that court considers our national plan to reduce carbon pollution from power plants, which is our largest source of carbon emissions, I rise now for the 148th time to urge that we all wake up to the threats of climate change. In the run-up to today's argument, Leader Reid, Senator Boxer, Senator Markey, and I released a report entitled 'The Brief No One Filed,' highlighting who's behind the legal challenge to the president's Clean Power Plan. Our report, which is structured as an amicus brief, though not filed with the court, shows how state officials, trade associations, front groups, and industry-funded scientists in the case are connected to the fossil fuel industry. In short, the court of appeals has been barraged with briefs by amici curiae and parties who are funded by oil and gas and coal interests."