Nomination of Amy Coney Barrett

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today in opposition to the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. I am truly disappointed that my Republican colleagues have chosen to ram through this partisan nominee in the middle of a pandemic when an election is underway and tens of millions of Americans have already cast their ballots.

The Senate should be focused on a bipartisan COVID-19 relief package to help Granite Staters and Americans across this country who are struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table during this pandemic. Instead, Leader McConnell's only priority has been to push through a nominee who will fundamentally alter the balance of the Court and affect the lives of generations of Americans, all just days before ballots will be counted to decide the next President of the United States and the makeup of this very body. The stakes in this nomination could not be higher.

I want to read an excerpt from an email I received from a constituent. This is from Dave in Portsmouth, NH. Dave writes:

What is at stake with the Supreme Court nomination . . . among the topics that have stricken the deepest sadness, pain, and fear in eyes, minds and hearts are the goals of this administration to dismantle . . . the Affordable Care Act . . . A woman's right (and only her right) to make decisions about her body and her life . . . and the rights of the LGBTQ community.

To enumerate the many causes would be redundant . . . but with express concern is what is at stake with this Supreme Court nomination. Among the topics that have stricken the deepest sadness, pain and fear in eyes, minds and hearts are the goals of this administration to dismantle . . . The Affordable Care Act . . . A woman's right (and only her right) to make decisions about her body and her life . . . and the rights of the LGBTQ community.

Before you cast your vote for this nominee, try to distinguish between her legal pedigree and her crystal clear biases for which she has often been on record. Her evasiveness during questioning before the Judiciary Committee played perfectly into her chosen role of political pawn of the Trump administration. This Supreme Court . . . my Supreme Court . . . your Supreme Court . . . The Supreme Court of the United States of America must remain untainted from the rampant political posturing of this 2020 election cycle.

What will be your legacy? In recent days some of the GOP members of the Senate have . . . through short public statements . . . been trying to distance themselves from Donald Trump. With this vote . . . you have the power to actually do it. To turn away from hypocrisy and years of blatant lack of integrity. You owe it to America, to yourself, to your family, to my family . . . to take a moment to look at the sadness, pain and fear in the eyes of America today.

And yes . . . I am speaking to you all . . . including some who have tried to push through this quagmire with an eye toward how the world and history will judge us all . . . including you Sen. Romney . . . and yes . . . you Sen. Sasse . . . and Senators . . . Collins, Murkowski, Gardner, McSally, Fisher and so on. I am pleading with you . . . imploring you to do the right and just thing and vote NO on this confirmation.

You know what is right. You will know it when . . . as I have . . . you look in the eyes of good and decent Americans . . . who are desperate for real leadership . . . and you see the sadness, pain and fear that has been sowed by this administration and which continues to be sown with this confirmation process. It has been a rushed, politically motivated and politically charged Supreme Court nomination being transacted while the American people are voting RIGHT NOW to steer the course of this country . . . this Senate chamber . . . and this country's highest court.

Step up and do what is right. Thank you, David J Cummins, Portsmouth, NH.

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. The President and his allies here on Capitol Hill are trying to tear down the healthcare law that has helped provide millions of Americans with coverage in the middle of the greatest public health crisis in a century. They pressed forward with this reckless attempt, even though they don't have a plan for what to do when as many as 23 million Americans--and in New Hampshire, more than 100,000 Granite Staters--would lose their healthcare coverage.

I want to repeat that.

This administration and congressional Republicans have no plan for what to do if millions of Americans lose their healthcare coverage if the Affordable Care Act is overturned.

For the last 6 years, we have seen congressional Republicans try to repeal the ACA numerous times, and they have failed every time because the American people have raised their voices and made it clear that they want to keep the Affordable Care Act and strengthen it, not repeal it. Now we are seeing the administration and congressional Republicans try to do in the courts what they were not able to get done in Congress--to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

We have also seen with Judge Barrett that she has made her feelings very clear about the ACA. She disagreed with decisions to uphold the ACA the last two times it went before the Supreme Court, and she wouldn't answer questions about the healthcare law during her confirmation hearing.

Striking down the ACA would deal a crushing blow to our most vulnerable populations during this pandemic. If the Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, Granite Staters and Americans across the country will lose access to Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion is a critical source of coverage for millions of Americans and, in New Hampshire, for thousands of Granite Staters who have lost their jobs during this pandemic. In fact, since the start of this pandemic, what we have seen is that enrollment in Medicaid expansion in New Hampshire has increased by more than 11,000 enrollees as we have seen job losses mount.

For these individuals and all of the more than 60,000 Granite Staters who are covered through Medicaid expansion, the loss of the ACA in the Supreme Court--the Supreme Court's overturning the ACA--would eliminate a critical lifeline for coverage during this public health crisis. In New Hampshire, if we lose Medicaid expansion, we will also lose our most important tool for combating the opioid epidemic.

Without the ACA, we will go back to a time when insurance companies had sweeping power to undercut coverage. They will be allowed to charge women higher premiums than men for the same coverage. The health insurers will be able to remove essential health benefits like prescription drugs or maternity care. They will also be allowed to jack up premiums or deny coverage altogether for individuals with preexisting conditions.

More than 8 million Americans, including nearly 10,000 Granite Staters, could be denied coverage because they have previously contracted COVID-19, which could now count as a preexisting condition, and without the ACA, seniors could, once again, find themselves stuck in Medicare's doughnut hole for prescription drug coverage at a time when we are seeing drug prices soar.

In her confirmation hearing, Judge Barrett even refused to say whether the Medicare Program was constitutional. With Judge Barrett on the Supreme Court, the health coverage that the ACA, Medicare, and other Federal programs provide will be under a constant threat.

Sadly, women's reproductive rights are also on the line with Judge Barrett's nomination. When he ran for President in 2016, Donald Trump said that he would appoint judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade. Well, we are seeing that very clearly with Judge Barrett's record. It shows that President Trump is trying to do just that--overturn Roe v. Wade.

Amy Coney Barrett's dissenting opinions, while serving on the Seventh Circuit, show that she is comfortable with laws that make it difficult or nearly impossible for a woman to exercise her right to make her own reproductive health decisions. Judge Barrett has even publicly supported an organization that is opposed to in vitro fertilization, which is a procedure that has helped millions of American couples start families.

Almost 50 years of precedent of upholding a woman's right to control her own body are in jeopardy because the Republicans are playing politics with the Supreme Court and packing the Court with extreme Justices.

There are nearly 20 abortion-related cases that are currently one step away from reaching the Supreme Court. A partisan Court would likely disregard longstanding precedent in these cases and put a woman's health and well-being at risk. Let's be very clear: Repealing Roe v. Wade is not going to reduce the number of abortions. If history is any indication, what it will do is increase the number of abortions in the country.

Unfortunately, the Affordable Care Act and women's reproductive rights are just two of the many areas of American life that a partisan Supreme Court could dramatically alter.

Equality for LGBTQ Americans is another major concern. Millions of gay and lesbian Americans have been married since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, but in a recent dissent penned by Justices Thomas and Alito, these Justices challenged the constitutionality of that decision and called for it to be revisited. When asked in her confirmation hearing about the precedent of the Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage, Judge Barrett was evasive. So you can understand the anxiety and fear that same-sex families are experiencing as they watch the Republican-led Senate rush this nomination.

The stakes are also incredibly high for voting rights, for worker protections, for commonsense gun laws, and for so many other issues that are in jeopardy with the appointment of Judge Barrett.

Now, I know the die has been cast. We saw that yesterday with the 51- to-48 cloture vote, but I believe this effort to politicize the Supreme Court is a decision that those who care about our democratic institutions will come to regret for many decades to come. If today's vote is the same as yesterday's--51 to 48--this will be the closest vote for a Supreme Court Justice in our Nation's entire history. We should not be doing this today.

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