"To Hold This Bill Up Is Cruel" | Senator Cory Booker on Judiciary Security Bill

I think the points that the senator from Kentucky is making, Mr. President, are worthy. We are facing a reality right now where there are lots of threats that are increasing against public officials all around our country, and I understand that. This is not a bill that Senator Menendez and I just wrote and brought to the floor. This is a bill that we worked through the committee process. It was a long and arduous process that was done in a bipartisan manner. And during the discussion that the committee had, the point that the senator from Kentucky brought up was brought up as well. There was a real concern about the safety and security of members of this body. But with the understanding and the commitment that there would be a bipartisan effort to work on this issue, every senator in the Judiciary Committee said we should let this go right now. This bill has been vetted, worked over in a bipartisan manner, and is ready to pass. Threats on the federal judiciary have gone up 500 percent, and I grant you, threats on members of Congress have doubled. But the threats on the federal judiciary are rising, and we saw that in the case of Judge Kavanaugh. And this body thought it enough not to hold up the protection of Supreme Court justices to protect the 535 of us. We passed a bill to protect Supreme Court justices. And so here we now have a bill that has been vetted through committee, has been worked on in a bipartisan fashion, and came out. And we have a commitment for the senator from Kentucky to say that nothing has been done is not right. We now have Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Amy Klobuchar working a bill through committee, through regular order, to make sure that we address the concerns that he's having. But this is my concern. Threats on the judiciary have gone up significantly higher than this body, and to grind this bill to a halt right now puts at risk members of the judiciary when we have the power in this body to protect our brothers and sisters in that branch of government. Why would we stop when there is goodwill in the judiciary committee to work on the concerns? There are two people committed to this bill and verbal commitments from everyone. So to stop this today creates a window of vulnerability that we know is real because we just saw a threat on a Supreme Court justice. And so for the sake of mercy, for the sake of caution, for the sake of the protection of people in the federal judiciary, let's pass this bill and I commit myself to joining with Senator Ted Cruz, to joining with Senator Amy Klobuchar, to joining with Chairman Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley, who have also spoken to their willingness to work a bill through regular order. That's what we should be doing. Our job as senators, if anything, first and foremost, is to protect the lives of American citizens. We have a bill that is widely bipartisan, that is proven to be urgent. A bill with the name of a young man that was slaughtered in his home. To hold this bill up is cruel, it is creating risk and jeopardy to people who serve in the judiciary. It is wrong, it is wrong, it is wrong. I ask my colleague, with all humility and with all compassion and empathy, to please let this go. I commit to him that I will fight and work with the bipartisan coalition that is working on ways to protect people in this body. I know that again, the hour is late, may I be recognized? Senator from New Jersey is recognized. I feel the same way. I literally turn to my staff, has Senator Paul's staff reached out to us at all? That's not the case. And to characterize this as the opposition, we're not in opposition to his bill. We're trying to protect federal judges, as is the unanimous vote of the Judiciary Committee. And so this is very frustrating that we didn't stop the Supreme Court judges, he had no objection to that, but for some reason other members of the judiciary, I just find that problematic. I'm willing to meet with him. I'm not in opposition to his bill. The meeting that should be had, I will do it, but with the two sponsors of a bill to protect the United States Senate. But to hold up the protection of other fellow citizens because we're not getting protection, to me, does not mark the nobility of this body and the self-sacrifice of this body.