Nomination of Amy Coney Barrett

Floor Speech

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Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I rise today as more than 220,000 Americans are dead from the coronavirus. There are more than 4 million fewer jobs than when Donald Trump took office. We are still squarely in the middle of this pandemic and an economic crisis, the likes of which we have not seen since the Great Depression.

In recent weeks, cases of the coronavirus have risen dramatically. In my home State of New Mexico--and, frankly, across the entire country-- everyone is rightly worried about whether our schools, our childcare centers, and our small businesses can acquire the resources and the equipment they need to reopen safely.

We still don't have enough resources or even a national plan for testing and contact tracing, much less for treatments and the eventual nationwide distribution of an FDA-approved vaccine that would allow us to finally get a handle on this virus.

If we don't pass real economic relief in the coming weeks, many families in New Mexico will face desperate choices--between paying their bills, keeping a roof over their heads, and putting food on the table. Yet here we are, using valuable time on a Supreme Court confirmation process that should never have been taken up before the election.

Senate Republicans say they aren't going to negotiate another coronavirus relief package. They say it is more important to ram a Supreme Court nominee through a broken and nakedly political process than it is to help the people that we were all elected to serve.

Clearly, nothing--not even the lives or livelihoods of the American people--will get in the way of their power-grab design to reward their biggest donors and the most extreme interests.

Let me say this clearly: I disagree. There is still so much that we need to do to stop the spread of the coronavirus and to support families, workers, and businesses that are struggling and to rebuild our communities. Let's move to that urgent action.

But with Senate Republicans refusing to do that, let's discuss in real terms what they are doing instead.

Considering and confirming Supreme Court nominees is one of a Senator's most solemn duties under the Constitution. We are supposed to take it seriously and deliberately, but Senate Republicans have thrown out the rule book. It started when, with nearly a full year remaining in President Obama's final term, Senate Republicans refused to even hold hearings on Merrick Garland, the nominee to replace the late justice Antonin Scalia.

Then, they dismantled the rules that had ensured that both parties would have a seat at the table on Supreme Court nominations. Then, they bull-rushed the vetting process for Justice Kavanaugh's lifetime appointment to the Court, despite multiple, credible allegations of sexual misconduct.

After all of that, I suppose it should have come as no real surprise that Majority Leader McConnell waited less than an hour after the announcement of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death to say that he was going to push the envelope even further.

So here we are. Leader McConnell and Republicans are now forcing the Senate to rush through another partisan Supreme Court confirmation battle in mere weeks--and now mere days before election day.

They are shamelessly discarding their own precedents, breaking their own rules, abandoning their own words, and they are trampling on the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Before her death, Justice Ginsburg told her granddaughter that her ``most fervent wish'' was that her seat wouldn't be filled until after the next President is inaugurated.

Justice Ginsburg served on our Nation's highest Court for nearly three decades and worked for decades before that to move our country's laws toward greater equality. She understood that the American people must trust that the Supreme Court Justices are acting above the partisan politics of the moment.

The next Presidential election is now less than two weeks away. Millions of Americans have already voted for their next President and their next Senators. I believe that these Americans deserve a voice in this process.

In the words of Majority Leader McConnell himself, as was reported in the Washington Post on February 18, 2016, ``Given that we are in the midst of a presidential election process . . . the American people should seize the opportunity to weigh in on whom they trust to nominate the next person for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.''

The Senate should follow that precedent and should allow voters to decide who should fill this Supreme Court seat. What has changed for Majority Leader McConnell? Well, over the last decade, the Court has made razor-thin 5-to-4 rulings on women's rights, LGBTQ rights, workers' rights, immigration, voting rights, civil rights, climate change, and so much else. My Republican colleagues will say that these decisions were made by activist judges and that all they want are judges who will call balls and strikes. But what they really want are judges who will make those calls consistently biased toward wealth and power, rather than toward people.

For all the talk of activist judges, it is my Republican colleagues who are right now attempting to add one whopper of an activist to the Supreme Court.

Next month, the Supreme Court will take up President Trump's case to eliminate the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. That is right. In the middle of this pandemic that has now killed more than 220,000 Americans and infected millions more, the Supreme Court is taking up a case that could eliminate healthcare coverage for millions of Americans.

Judge Barrett refused to answer questions about the Affordable Care Act during her confirmation hearing last week. But her views on the healthcare law are clear and they are exposed in the public record. Judge Barrett has repeatedly and publicly criticized the Affordable Care Act. She has said that the Supreme Court should have already invalidated it. If Senate Republicans have their way, she will have the opportunity to do just that.

What would it mean if the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act? It means bringing back discrimination, higher costs, and even outright denial of coverage for more than 800,000 New Mexicans living with preexisting conditions like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and now COVID-19.

I am particularly worried about what this would mean for the people in Indian Country, who have been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic. In New Mexico, Tribal nations have experienced heartbreaking losses, and healthcare resources in Tribal communities have been incredibly strained.

I have lost friends and mentors in Indian Country, and I know others who are still struggling to recover from this virus. I can't even imagine how much worse this situation could become if the health coverage provided by the Affordable Care Act were ripped away.

When we passed the Affordable Care Act, I fought hard to include a permanent reauthorization of the entire Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which supports the care provided to Native Americans through the Indian Health Service.

An estimated 290,000 American Indians and Alaskan Natives also gained health coverage through the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. All of that is at risk if the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act.

If Judge Barrett is confirmed, she will also attack other important Supreme Court precedents, from Roe v. Wade to the recent marriage equality decisions. She dodged questions on these issues during her hearing.

But her academic and judicial record made clear Judge Barrett's extreme beliefs and philosophy. In her hearing last week, Judge Barrett also refused to take a firm view on climate change. We have major wildfires burning right now in Northern New Mexico--in October-- Colorado and California are seeing much of the same. We don't have time to debate the undisputed facts and realities of climate change, especially with a judge who would strip us of the tools needed to address it.

Tellingly, Judge Barrett also refused to agree to recuse herself from any decisions related to the upcoming Presidential election. Given that President Trump considers Judge Barrett ``his'' Justice, this creates a dangerous conflict of interest. It is also a very real threat to the foundation of the Supreme Court as an equal and independent branch of government.

Meanwhile, instead of attempting to tear down our democracy, the House of Representatives has passed multiple coronavirus relief bills over the last 6 months that would help workers and families. And they are already willing and able to negotiate with the President, to negotiate with Leader McConnell to come to some sort of bipartisan agreement. Majority Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans have walked away from the negotiating table, leaving us with nothing but false promises and sham bills to provide themselves a little political cover before an election.

We all know the real story here. Behind closed doors, Majority Leader McConnell is actively discouraging negotiations on a bipartisan relief bill. Let me say this to Majority Leader McConnell and all of my Republican colleagues: If voters reelect your Republican majority and President Trump, there will be plenty of time to move forward with a real and legitimate Supreme Court confirmation process.

Right now, we should be focusing all of our energy on delivering the aid that Americans so desperately need, protecting the health and the economic well-being of Americans. That is what our country expects of us. That is our duty. Let's get to it.

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