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“This reform bill is serious. This reform bill is significant. This reform bill is substantial. And we should pass it. At a minimum, we should at least debate it on the floor of the United States Senate.”

Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke on the Senate floor about the Democrats threatening to filibuster the JUSTICE Act, which would keep an issue they claim to care about from being debated on the Senate floor.

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

“I come to the floor on the eve of what should be a routine vote in the United States Senate.

“Tomorrow, the Senate is scheduled to vote on a motion to proceed to the justice reform legislation that we ought to be considering in the United States Senate.

“It's important to point out to the American people what that means, that this isn't a vote yet on passage of the bill.

“It's not a vote to end debate. It's not a vote to amend the debate. Any Senator can amend or vote no or offer different substitutes for the bill. This isn't any of those things.

“The motion to proceed is a simple and rather routine agreement to begin debate on a bill. And yet here we are. It has turned out to be anything but routine.

“Senators on the other side, the other side of the aisle in this very chamber, are threatening to filibuster the motion to proceed.

“Filibuster even allowing us to debate a bill of great importance to the nation.

“In terms the American public might recognize, the Democrats are threatening to filibuster the very issue, the very issue that they claim to care about.

“Listen to them on television, you see them in the streets talking to groups. They claim to care about it.

“Welcome to the bizarre world of partisan politics and bankrupt leadership on that side of the aisle.

“On the same day that the minority leader will come to the floor to urge the Senate to pass justice reform legislation, he will also attempt to rally his Democrat caucus to block even starting a debate, and they seem to be following him.

“Refusing to even debate an issue which is so keen in the minds of the American people.

“He is telling his members to filibuster the bill.

“The JUSTICE Act deserves a debate. It deserves a debate for the American people to see and to hear and to watch on television. The American people deserve that.

“What they don't deserve is partisan obstruction. What they don't deserve is a filibuster.

“They need a debate. Amend the bill if necessary and then pass it.

“We want to try to stop what happened to George Floyd, a murder that we all witnessed, stop that from ever happening again in America.

“The American people know that. They took to the streets, and now they are turning their heads to Washington, to the Capitol, and saying what can you do to try to make sure something like this never happens again.

“We have a bill, a bill that addresses all of these issues. A bill that's ready to come for a debate, and yet again, the Democrats are threatening and are likely tomorrow to vote one after another after another to go up and vote no to even beginning debate on the bill.

“Incredibly, they began knocking this bill authored by Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina with many of us as original cosponsors, they began knocking this bill before they ever read it, before they knew what was in it.

“They attacked it before it was released while the bill was still in the process of being written, they were attacking it.

“Then Senator Tim Scott unveiled the legislation, and almost immediately, the Democrats decided to agonize over whether to block it. Agonizing over allowing a debate on the floor of the United States Senate. Agonizing over a debate. You hear them in the halls. I don't know, should we get on it? Shouldn't we get on it?

“What was the issue? Racial justice. We need to be focused on that and discussing it and passing meaningful legislation that will make measurable progress. Shouldn't be a tough call.

“Senator Schumer came and he said hey, you should have a bill on the floor by July 4. Here we are; it's before July 4 - brought the bill. 70 percent overlap in agreement of what the House has to offer.

“Here we are, and yet Senator Schumer is telling his Democrats line up one by one by one and vote no. We don't want to debate or discuss your bill even though it has a 70 percent overlap in agreement with what the House of Representatives is offering as a solution, a meaningful solution to a concern that all of us have.

“I don't say this often, but Senator Schumer ought to listen to Nancy Pelosi because the Speaker knows we're not that far apart.

“The Pelosi and the Scott bills share many of the same goals, much of the same underlying legislation.

“Senator Scott says they agree 70 percent of the time on the issues. At one point, Speaker Pelosi said she would love to go to conference with what we have going on in the Senate.

“The Wall Street Journal last Wednesday, published a chart, and it showed just how similar the two bills are. The JUSTICE Act in the Senate and the bill that the House is working on as well.

“The Scott bill ensures both African American communities and the law enforcement communities are protected.

“This is precisely why the JUSTICE Act can and should become law.

“Without a doubt, this is our nation's best chance for change, best chance in 25 years, best chance to put the 1994 Biden crime bill in the rear view mirror, chance to pass meaningful reforms, a chance to make a law that actually makes a difference, a difference in communities all across the country and lives of people all around America.

“So Democrats will be asked to vote tomorrow, and they have a choice to make. They can continue to filibuster to say no, no, no, we don't even want to get on the bill to debate it or to offer amendments to improve upon it, to look for common ground, or they can do what apparently they want to do which is continue the status quo which is not what we need in America today.

“They ought to be embracing bipartisan reform. The JUSTICE Act is not as one Democrat on this very Senate floor sadly described as a ‘token’. That's what he said on this Senate floor.

“This reform bill is serious. This reform bill is significant. This reform bill is substantial. And we should pass it. At a minimum, we should at least debate it on the floor of the United States Senate.

“Democrats plan to filibuster simply debating the bill. They should be held accountable by the very American people that they claim they are looking to help, claim they are looking to help when they have an opportunity to help those American people, all the American people when we vote tomorrow.

“So I urge my Senate Democrat colleagues, do not filibuster this historic bill. This is a wonderful opportunity to move our country ahead.

“We can build on the progress of the last four years, opportunity zones, permanent funding for historically black colleges and universities, the First Step Act.

“Let's build on this record. Let's debate, let's amend as we see fit, and then let us pass the JUSTICE Act and send it to that conference committee that Speaker Pelosi talks about and then send a bill to the President of the United States and have it signed into law and help our country move ahead.”

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