TUNE IN: I am speaking live on the floor of the U.S. Senate

On this vote, the yeas are 53, the nays are 45, and the motion is agreed to. Leader. Thank you, Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to speak for one minute. Without objection. Mr. President, can we have order, please? Senate will be in order. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, in a few moments, Senate Republicans will vote to advance another Donald Trump loyalist to the federal bench, Edward Arteo, in the Southern District of Florida. Mr. Arteo's nomination is a textbook example of a quid pro quo, if there ever was one. Listen to this. While Arteo was actively lobbying the White House for a federal judgeship in the aftermath of Donald Trump's election last year, while he was begging Donald Trump for a nomination to the bench, while he was meeting with Republican senators to angle for their recommendation, he was at the same time part of a panel of Florida state judges hearing Donald Trump's defamation case against the Pulitzer Prize board earlier this February. Did Mr. Arteo do the right thing and recuse himself from the case? Of course not. Did he inform anyone about this potential conflict of interest? Of course not. Instead, Arteo stayed on the case and, surprise, surprise, ruled in favor of Donald Trump. That's no coincidence. That's no accident. That is Donald Trump rigging our courts with his loyalists. Donald Trump gave Arteo the chance to prove his fealty to him. Arteo eagerly obliged, and Donald Trump rewarded him with a nomination for a federal judgeship. This nomination is just another example of Donald Trump making a total mockery of our federal judiciary. And it proves the point that the only thing, the only thing Trump cares about when it comes to judges is unyielding fealty to him and why we need to vote on these judges and be able to speak about these judges because there is so much, so much bad stuff and corruption going on. I yield the floor. The clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. Cloture motion. We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of Rule 22 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of Edward L. Artua of Florida to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida. Signed by 17 Senators. Under the previous order, the mandatory