First State Times

Volume 167, No. 94, covering the 1st Session of the 117th Congress (2021 - 2022), was published by the Congressional Record.

The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.

“PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT--Motion to Proceed” mentioning Thomas R. Carper was published in the Senate section on pages S3928-S3929 on May 28.

Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.

The publication is reproduced in full below:

PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT--Motion to Proceed

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar 46, H.R. 7.

The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (H.R. 7) to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other purposes.

Cloture Motion

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.

The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

Cloture Motion

We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 46, H.R. 7, a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other purposes.

Charles E. Schumer, Patty Murray, Tammy Duckworth, Angus

S. King, Jr., Elizabeth Warren, Jack Reed, Richard J.

Durbin, Maria Cantwell, Bernard Sanders, John

Hickenlooper, Benjamin L. Cardin, Tina Smith, Amy

Klobuchar, Thomas R. Carper, Mazie K. Hirono, Richard

Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse.

Unanimous Consent Agreement

Mr. SCHUMER. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motions with respect to Executive Calendar Nos. 130 and 127 ripen at 5:30 p.m., Monday, June 7; that the cloture with respect to the motion to proceed to H.R. 7 ripen upon disposition of S. 1260 and the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, May 28, be waived.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

January 6 Commission

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I have a brief statement on the vote on the January 6 Commission.

My colleagues, this was a case of good news and bad news about the Republican Party in the Senate.

The good news: Republicans worked with Democrats on comprehensive legislation to strengthen our commitment to scientific research, which will pass the Senate when the Senate resumes session.

The bad news: The Republican minority just mounted a partisan filibuster against an independent Commission to report on January 6. Both efforts should have moved forward solidly in a bipartisan way, but out of fear or fealty to Donald Trump, the Republican minority just prevented the American people from getting the full truth about January 6. The Republican minority just prevented the Senate from even debating the bill--no opportunity for amendments, no opportunity for debate.

There was an attempt by the Republican minority to shunt this vote into the dark of night, but because of today's Senate time agreement, it was done in broad daylight. The American people will see how each Republican Senator voted.

This should have been simple. The Commission was bipartisan, independent, straight down the middle. House Democrats accepted every change that House leadership requested. Speaker Pelosi and I supported and still do support the changes Senator Collins proposed, and we told that to other Senators.

Senate Republicans, for months, publicly supported the idea of a Commission, but now, all of a sudden, the Senate minority and the Senate minority leader waged a partisan filibuster against the bill.

This vote has made it official: Donald Trump's Big Lie has now fully enveloped the Republican Party. Trump's Big Lie is now the defining principle of what was once the party of Lincoln.

House Republicans canned Congresswoman Cheney for the crime of telling the truth that Joe Biden is President. Republican State legislatures seizing on the Big Lie are conducting the greatest assault on voting rights since the beginning of Jim Crow. Republicans in both Chambers are trying to rewrite history and claim that January 6 was just a peaceful protest that got a little out of hand. And now this--a partisan blockade of a simple, independent, bipartisan Commission.

I have heard all the excuses why Republicans are opposing this bill: It is too early. It goes on too long. It is not needed. Almost all of these excuses are meritless and were invented in the past 2 weeks.

We all know what is going on here. Senate Republicans chose to defend the Big Lie because they believe anything that might upset Donald Trump could hurt them politically.

We all lived through the horrors of January 6. I was no farther than 30 feet from those White Supremacist hooligans. Do my Republican colleagues remember that day? Do my Republican colleagues remember the savage mob calling for the execution of Mike Pence, the makeshift gallows outside the Capitol, men with bulletproof vests and zip ties breaking into the Senate Gallery and rifling through your desks, and police officers crushed between doorways? Shame on the Republican Party for trying to sweep the horrors of that day under the rug because they are afraid of Donald Trump.

Our democracy has long endured because leaders of good faith, even if they disagreed, even at political costs, shared a fidelity to the truth. That is not so today.

I hope this is not the beginning of an effort by Senate Republicans to prevent this Chamber from debating reasonable, commonsense legislation. We will soon see.

After the State work period, I will bring forward legislation that would help provide equal pay for women. Will our Republican colleagues let the Senate debate the bill, or will they engage in another partisan filibuster of urgent legislation? We will soon see.

Madam President, I have a lot of pages here, a lot of business to conduct.

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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 94