LIVE: Senate Democrats Speak After Thune Elected Senate Majority Leader

And make sure the communities aren't left behind. We also need to make progress on the farm bill. Because if we don't we go over the dairy cliff. And really so many dairy farmers and all their suppliers and workers would be badly hurt. And that again is up to our Republican colleagues to decide if they want to work with us. To get it done. We're ready to get to work. And finally a big priority for me. Has been still is and will be judges. The Senate will continue fulfilling our constitutional obligation. To consider and confirm highly qualified judicial nominees. And nominees to other agencies as well. Today the Senate will vote on the nomination of a U.S. district court judge for Illinois. I filed cloture on two more district court judges that will vote on in the coming days. And we'll work to get we're going to work hard to get as many confirmed as possible. Bottom line we've got a lot of work ahead of us. And as a Senate. As a party. Democrats are ready to get to work. Right away. Senator Murray. Thank you Mr. Leader. And so I will just cut right to the chase. Majorities are going to change hands. But one thing that remains the same here in the Senate. And is the appropriations process. Will be bipartisan. Here in this chamber. We have passed our bills out of committee. With overwhelming bipartisan support. These are bills that are ready to be signed into law. And they can go to the president's desk today if they had to. Now I want to make it clear. It doesn't matter who the president is. My position has not changed. As I have said many times over. There is no reason. For further delay. Or to impair government agencies. By forcing them to operate on autopilot. For months to come. We should pass our bipartisan full year spending bills. Before the end of the year. Democrats for our part. Have championed priorities in our spending bills that matter. To working people. Whether that's fighting to lower the cost of child care for parents. Working to shorten wait times for seniors. Who are dressed desperately trying to get their social security benefits. Or making sure that moms and babies do not go hungry. Neither chamber will have an overwhelming majority. And these spending bills will be a bipartisan product. Just as they always are. Rest assured. I will be fighting to make certain our democratic values. The values of working families in this country. Are reflected in the final bills that go to the president's desk. I also want to make clear. Getting a comprehensive bipartisan disaster relief package. Negotiated and passed as soon as possible. Must be a priority. So on that note. I want to announce that I will be holding. A bipartisan hearing. Of our full senate appropriations committee. One week from today. Senators on both sides of my committee. Will have the opportunity to hear directly. From top agency heads. This is urgent work. The American people must know. That in times of disaster. Congress will come together. To help every community. In every part of this country. No matter what. I have heard directly. From democrats and republicans. In this chamber. About how important this work is. I expect this to prove true in the senate. And I will be pushing for serious progress. On this front. Every day. Until we get every community. The help they need. Well let me begin. By adding my congratulations. To senator Thune. On his election as a republican leader. We all know a lot has changed. Over the last several weeks. But one thing hasn't changed. And that is keeping the people of America. Safe and secure. And we must ensure. That our military men and women. Have the resources they need. To remain the strongest. And most effective force in the world. And our adversaries are watching. Right now. Congress has the opportunity. The responsibility really. To step up and show the world. That we stand with our allies and partners. The National Defense Authorization Act. Is critical to that effort. And I am encouraged. By the progress we've made. Over the past month. In NDA negotiations. Between the senate. And the house. And I hope soon. I want to thank my colleagues. On the armed services committee. As well as Rita Schumer. And our colleagues in the house. We have an NDA. That makes our country safer. And stronger. I also want to commend the staff. Of both the house and the senate. Republican and democrat. For their diligence. During the last several weeks. This is a bipartisan defense bill. That addresses the long-term challenges. Posed by China. Russia. And other adversaries. It will provide an historic pay raise. For our military members. And defense civilians. The NDA is laser focused. On investing in the people. Platforms. Infrastructure. And technology. That will define the future. Specifically. It addresses the challenges. And opportunities. Presented by disruptive technologies. Like hypersonics. Artificial intelligence. Drones. And quantum computers. It also goes a long way. Towards modernizing our ships. Aircraft. And combat vehicles. And improving the lives. Of our women. And men. In uniform. The defense bill makes important progress. Towards achieving our shared. Bipartisan goal. A safe. Secure. America. In a peaceful world. And I urge my colleagues. To work with us. To get it passed. Quickly. Thank you. Yes. Yeah. There'll be time to. Analyze that later. Yes. Look. When you. When you face a setback. You have to. Pick yourself. Examine what happened. You have to pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. You have to learn. We're going to spend a long time learning. And then. Figure out. How to go forward. And move forward. And that's what we're going to do. We did some. We did some things right. We did some things wrong. There are things we must do. And. As I said. We're going to learn. From our. From what happened. And move forward. Yes. Look. We're going to try to. Do as much as we can. When it comes to judges. And nominees. Particularly those nominees. Where. It pays. The balance. Within the agency is effective. Yes. Look. The bottom line is. We always felt. Because democracy was so precious. The same thing we did. Four years ago. When we tried. To change the rules. And make sure that voting rights. And citizens united. And reapportionment would change. But for the rest of it. We said we would study it. And look at it. And talk to the caucus. If we retain the majority. We didn't. Yes. AI. Sorry. Look. We're talking to Speaker Johnson. We're talking to our. We had bipartisan support. For lots of pieces of legislation. The Commerce Committee did a good job. A number. A number of the other committees did a good job. And we're going to try to get as much done as we can. It would be a very good thing to do that. And we have a lot of support out there. In the communities to do it. Thank you everybody.