Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. I am very grateful we are now 1 week beyond the Biden administration.

Democrats do not want a serious debate here about the use of Presidential pardon power. If they did want a serious conversation, they would talk about Joe Biden's pardons--over 8,000 of them. The previous President used his final days in office to grant clemency to 37 of 40 of the worst killers on death row.

President Biden said time and time again, oh, he wouldn't pardon his son Hunter--oh no. Not only did he pardon Hunter for the crimes for which he had been convicted, he pardoned him for 10 years of his additional criminal activity, which has not yet been discovered. Then, minutes before leaving office on Inauguration Day, Joe Biden gave preemptive, blanket pardons to five more members of his own family. If they weren't guilty, why would they need or accept pardons?

President Biden commuted the sentences of two men who killed a Sussex County police officer.

President Biden also commuted the sentence of a killer who executed-- executed--two FBI agents in cold blood. The FBI Agents Association said Biden's pardon was a ``cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen agents.'' They said that the Biden pardon of this coldblooded murderer was ``a slap in the face of law enforcement.''

President Biden also commuted the sentence of a drug trafficker involved in the murder of an 8-year-old boy and his mother. The Biden administration actually classified him, believe it or not, as a ``non- violent'' offender. Even the Democrat Senator from Connecticut said ``someone dropped the ball'' on granting that clemency.

In all, more than 8,000 criminals were pardoned or had their sentences reduced by Joe Biden. Now, that is more than any other President in history. It isn't even close.

This resolution that the Senate is asked to consider today does not condemn the Biden abuse of the pardon power. It does not condemn the pardons or the commutations of police officer killers, of murderers, of rapists. It ignores the pain and suffering of the victims and their families.

I oppose, as do my colleagues on this side of the aisle, any violence against police officers. I oppose pardons of violent criminals. These officers deserve our thanks and our prayers. They deserve not to be used in political games--games like the ones that the Senate Democrats are playing today on this very floor. Democrats should be ashamed, and Democrats should be embarrassed.

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