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McConnell On SCOTUS Vacancy

Senate Majority Leader discusses Garland nomination, rules out lame-duck confirmation and highlights Senate legislative action on Sunday morning news programs

March 20, 2016

LOUISVILLE, KY – The following are excerpts from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s interviews this morning:

FOX News Sunday
I can't imagine that a Republican majority in the United States Senate would want to confirm in a lame duck session a nominee opposed by the National Rifle Association, the National Federation of Independent Business that represents small businesses—that have never taken a position on the Supreme Court appointment before—they're opposed to this guy. I can't imagine that a Republican majority Senate even if it were assumed to be a minority, would want to confirm a judge that would move the court dramatically to the left. That's not going to happen.

Look, Barack Obama calling judge -- this judge a moderate doesn't make him a moderate. This judge would move the court dramatically to the left. He's enthusiastically supported by MoveOn.org.

The Senate has a role to play here. The president nominates, we decide to confirm. We think the important principle in the middle of this presidential year is that the American people need to weigh in and decide who's going to make this decision. Not this lame duck president on the way out the door, but the next president.

NBC Meet the Press
The American people are about to weigh in on who is going to be the president. And that's the person, whoever that may be, who ought to be making this appointment.

… the Senate has been quite active. This year we have another year which we have a great chance of passing every single appropriation bill for the first time since 1994. The Senate is not doing nothing during this election season. But we're not giving lifetime appointments to this president on the way out the door, to change the Supreme Court for the next 25 or 30 years.

ABC This Week
Well, the Senate has been very much at work for the last 15 months. We've passed a lot of legislation that the president has signed and it should – the president's chief of staff knows we're very much at work.

The principle is … the American people are in the middle of choosing who the next president is going to be. And that next president ought to have this appointment, which will affect the Supreme Court, for probably a quarter of a century.

… the last time the American people voted was in 2014 and they elected a Republican Senate. And under the Constitution, we have shared responsibility. This is not something he does alone.

CNN State of the Union
Who ought to make the decision? A lame-duck president on the way out the door, or the president we're in the process of electing right now? … we know what their tradition is. This nomination ought to be made by the president we're in the process of electing this year.

If you want to discuss the nominee just for a minute, even though Barack Obama calls him a moderate, he's opposed by the NRA. He's opposed by the National Federation of Independent Business which has never taken a position on a Supreme Court nominee before. The New York Times said it would move the court dramatically to the left. But this is not about this particular judge—this is about who should make the appointment. We're in the process of picking a president, and that new president ought to make this appointment which will affect the Supreme Court maybe for the next quarter of a century.

Senate Working in Bipartisan Way to Help Address Online Human Trafficking

Senate Will Vote Today On Measure To Address Cases Of Sex-Trafficking Linked To Backpage.Com

March 17, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today prior to the Senate voting on a bipartisan resolution regarding human trafficking:

“Let me begin by stating an obvious point. When it comes to filling the current Supreme Court vacancy — which could fundamentally alter the direction of the court for a generation — Republicans and Democrats simply disagree.

“Republicans think the people deserve a voice in this critical discussion. The President does not. So we disagree in this instance, and as a result we logically act as a check and balance.

“There’s no reason one area of disagreement should stop us from looking for other areas of agreement though. We’ll continue our work in the Senate as the American people make their voices heard in this important national conversation.

“For instance we’ll address another very important issue today, which I’d like to tell you about now…Senator Portman and Senator McCaskill are the top Republican and top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

“Over the past year, they’ve worked together in a bipartisan way to examine human trafficking.

“Their probe has revealed how trafficking has flourished in the age of the Internet. It’s also revealed how many cases of sex-trafficking — including cases involving children — have been linked to one website in particular: Backpage.com.

“One national group that tracks the issue has told the subcommittee this: nearly three-quarters of all suspected child-sex trafficking reports it receives from the public through its tip line have a connection to Backpage.

“Chairman Portman and the Ranking Member from Missouri have wanted to do something about this. They know they have to keep investigating.

“So they issued a subpoena to Backpage. They wanted documents about the company’s business practices. They wanted to know how it screens advertisements for warning signs of trafficking. And, as the leaders of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, they had every right to make these requests in the course of their investigation.

“But Backpage has refused to comply. Does that mean Senators Portman and McCaskill gave up? Of course not, and we shouldn’t either.

“They jointly introduced a Senate resolution that would hold the company in civil contempt and force it to turn over this required information.

“This resolution passed through committee with unanimous bipartisan support 15 to 0.

“And today it can pass the full Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support too. We’ll have that opportunity this afternoon. If we do, it will allow the Senate’s Legal Counsel to bring a civil suit in court and ask the court to order compliance with the subpoena.

“That’s critical for allowing this bipartisan investigation to move forward.

“I thank Ranking Member McCaskill for all she’s done. I thank Chairman Portman for all he’s done.

“We saw Senator Portman’s great work last week in passing bipartisan legislation to help address America’s heroin and opioid crisis.

“We’re again seeing Senator Portman’s great work in leading on another important issue, and doing so once more in a bipartisan way.”

McConnell On Supreme Court Nomination

March 16, 2016

‘The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country, so of course the American people should have a say in the Court’s direction…The American people may well elect a President who decides to nominate Judge Garland for Senate consideration. The next President may also nominate someone very different. Either way, our view is this: Give the people a voice in the filling of this vacancy.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today following the President’s announcement of his nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the United States Supreme Court:

“The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country, so of course the American people should have a say in the Court’s direction.

“It is a President’s constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice and it is the Senate’s constitutional right to act as a check on a President and withhold its consent.

“As Chairman Grassley and I declared weeks ago, and reiterated personally to President Obama, the Senate will continue to observe the Biden Rule so that the American people have a voice in this momentous decision.

“The American people may well elect a President who decides to nominate Judge Garland for Senate consideration. The next President may also nominate someone very different. Either way, our view is this: Give the people a voice in the filling of this vacancy.

“Let me remind colleagues what Vice President Biden said when he was Judiciary Chairman here in the Senate:

‘It would be our pragmatic conclusion that once the political season is under way, and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over. That is what is fair to the nominee and is central to the process. Otherwise, it seems to me…we will be in deep trouble as an institution. Others may fret that this approach would leave the Court with only eight members for some time, but as I see it…the cost of such a result — the need to reargue three or four cases that will divide the Justices four to four — are quite minor compared to the cost that a nominee, the President, the Senate, and the Nation would have to pay for what would assuredly be a bitter fight, no matter how good a person is nominated by the President…’

“Consider that last part. Then-Senator Biden said that the cost to the nation would be too great no matter who the President nominates. President Obama and his allies may now try to pretend this disagreement is about a person, but as I just noted, his own Vice President made clear it’s not. The Biden Rule reminds us that the decision the Senate announced weeks ago remains about a principle, not a person.

“It seems clear that President Obama made this nomination not with the intent of seeing the nominee confirmed but in order to politicize it for purposes of the election — which is the type of thing then-Senate Judiciary Chairman Biden was concerned about. The Biden Rule underlines that what the President has done with this nomination would be unfair to any nominee, and more importantly the rule warns of the great costs the President’s action could carry for our nation.

“Americans are certain to hear a lot of rhetoric from the other side in the coming days, but here are the facts they’ll keep in mind:

  • The current Democratic Leader said the Senate is not a rubber stamp, and he noted that the Constitution does not require the Senate to give presidential nominees a vote.
  • The incoming Democratic Leader did not even wait until the final year of George W. Bush’s term to essentially tell the Senate not to consider any Supreme Court nominee the President sent.
  • The ‘Biden Rule’ supports what the Senate is doing today, underlining that what we’re talking about is a principle not a person.

“So here’s our view. Instead of spending more time debating an issue where we can’t agree, let’s keep working to address the issues where we can.

“We just passed critical bipartisan legislation to help address the heroin and prescription opioid crisis in our country. Let’s build on that success. Let’s keep working together to get our economy moving again and make our country safer, rather than endlessly debating an issue where we don’t agree.

“As we continue working on issues like these, the American people are perfectly capable of having their say on this issue. So let’s give them a voice. The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the nominee the next President nominates, whoever that might be.”

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