Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senator Ben Ray Luján And On Continuing Work To Confirm President Biden’s Highly Qualified Judicial Nominees

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding Senator Ben Ray Luján’s recovery and highlighted the continued effort to confirm more of President Biden’s qualified nominees. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Yesterday we all received the awful and frightening news that one of our dear friends, Senator Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, suffered a stroke last Thursday after experiencing dizziness and fatigue while back in his home state.

Our thoughts, our prayers, our most fervent well-wishes go out to Ben Ray and his family. I was glad and relieved to hear that he is expected to make a full recovery—and all of us are rooting for him every step of the way between now and the day that he makes his return to the Senate.

Senator Luján has served in this chamber for only a year, but already he has become one of the most beloved member of this body. Public service literally runs in the family, and you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who fights for their home state like Ben Ray does for New Mexico.

As Senator Luján begins his path to full recovery, I want to offer encouragement and praise for his superb staff, who will continue their work providing vital constituent services for the people of New Mexico.

In the days to come we will continue working and communicating with Senator Luján’s staff about his recovery process, and all of us are hopeful and optimistic that he will be back to his old self before long.  

In the meantime, the U.S. Senate will continue to move forward in carrying out its business on behalf of the American people.

Now, it is going to be another busy day here on the floor of the Senate as we confirm more of President Biden’s nominees to his serve in his administration and on the federal bench.

For the information of all, we will be holding three votes starting around 11 a.m. this morning to either confirm or invoke cloture on a handful of nominees to serve as associate judges for the District of Columbia.

Later this afternoon—at approximately 2:15—we will hold three more votes on additional judicial nominees. Members should be advised additional votes may be scheduled as the day progresses, so I ask all of us to be patient and to be flexible.

We have a lot of votes to get through today. Most of these votes in old days would have just occurred by voice. But our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, just a handful, are making us vote, even for D.C. judges, circuit judges. But we have to get through them. The D.C. Courts have come to a standstill. And many other votes. So we'll have a lot of votes to get through today.

All of us want to get them done in a timely manner to respect the schedules of our colleagues.

So in order to move things along, I am urging my colleagues to be ready to vote early when each vote is called, so we can prevent extended delays and confirm as many of President Biden’s qualified nominees as possible.

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