Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017--Continued

Floor Speech

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Senate has not done its job, and that failure has real consequences.

With the Nation's highest Court shorthanded and often deadlocked, it has been unable to serve its constitutional function as the final arbiter of the law. Because of Republican obstruction, the Court was unable to reach a decision on the final merits in seven cases in its last term, leaving millions of families and children, law enforcement, and businesses uncertain of the law. From immigration to consumer privacy to a case about whether lenders can discriminate against married women, the Court has been unable to produce a final verdict.
The Supreme Court handles ``the people's business'' as President Reagan put it. Every day that goes by without a ninth Justice is another day the American people's business is not getting done.

Now we are only a week away from a new Supreme Court term, during which it will hear another docket of important cases involving voting rights, racial discrimination in housing, and cases that will impact women's reproductive rights and the rights of transgender children in schools. Because Republicans will not schedule a hearing and a vote on Judge Garland to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court will again go into these cases shorthanded.

Seven months later, I again say to my Republican colleagues, to the distinguished majority leader, and to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee: Schedule a hearing and a vote on Judge Garland. Because you refuse to do your job, the people's business is not getting done.

I yield the floor.

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