last opportunity to address any challenges. Then the States, as the Constitution directs, would make the final decision on their electors.
I have some colleagues who have said that a 10-day commission is not enough time, so they have counterproposed just ignoring the lingering questions.
We need to do something.
(Mr. Grassley assumed the Chair.)
Mr. Lankford. My challenge today is not about the good people of Arizona.
RECESS SUBJECT TO THE CALL OF THE CHAIR
The President pro tempore. The Senate will stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair.
Thereupon, the Senate, at 2:13 p.m., recessed subject to the call of the Chair and reassembled at 8:06 p.m. when called to order by the Vice President of the United States.
The Vice President. The Vice President, as President of the Senate, would like to give a brief statement with the indulgence of the Senate.
Today was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol, but thanks to the swift efforts of U.S. Capitol Police, Federal, State, and local law enforcement, the violence was quelled, the Capitol is secured, and the people’s work continues.
We condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms. We grieve the loss of life that took place in these hallowed Halls, as well as the injuries suffered by those who defended our Capitol today. And we will always be grateful to the men and women who stayed at their posts to defend this historic place.
To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the People’s House.
As we reconvene in this Chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy, for even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism at this Capitol, the elected representatives of the people of the United States have assembled again on the very same day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
May God bless the lost, the injured, and the heroes forged on this day. May God bless all who serve here and those who protect this place. And may God bless the United States of America. Let’s get back to work.
(Applause, Senators rising.)
The Vice President. The majority leader.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT
Mr. McConnell. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the majority leader and the Democratic leader be allowed to speak and that the time not count against the 2 hours of debate in relation to the objection raised on the State of Arizona.
The Vice President. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. McConnell. I want to say to the American people, the United States Senate will not be intimidated.
We will not be kept out of this Chamber by thugs, mobs, or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation.
We are back at our posts. We will discharge our duty under the Constitution and for our Nation, and we are going to do it tonight.
This afternoon, Congress began the process of honoring the will of the American people and counting the electoral college votes. We have fulfilled this solemn duty every 4 years for more than two centuries. Whether our Nation has been at war or at peace, under all manner of threats, even during an ongoing armed rebellion and the Civil War, the clockwork of our democracy has carried on.
The United States and the United States Congress have faced down much greater threats than the unhinged crowd we saw today. We have never been deterred before, and we will not be deterred today.
They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed. They failed.
This failed attempt to obstruct the Congress, this failed insurrection, only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our Republic.
Our Nation was founded precisely so that the free choice of the American people is what shapes our self-government and determines the destiny of our Nation—not fear, not force, but the peaceful expression of the popular will.
We assembled this afternoon to count our citizens’ votes and to formalize their choice of the next President. Now we are going to finish exactly what we started. We will complete this process the right way, by the book. We will follow our precedents, our laws, and our Constitution to the letter, and we will certify the winner of the 2020 Presidential election.
Criminal behavior will never dominate the United States Congress. This institution is resilient. Our democratic Republic is strong. The American people deserve nothing less.
The Vice President. The Democratic leader.
Mr. Schumer. Mr. President, it is very, very difficult to put into words what has transpired today. I have never lived through or even imagined an experience like the one we have just witnessed in this Capitol. President Franklin Roosevelt set aside December 7, 1941, as a day that “will live in infamy.” Unfortunately, we can now add January 6, 2021, to that very short list of dates in American history that will live forever in infamy.
This temple to democracy was desecrated, its windows smashed, and our offices vandalized. The world saw America’s elected officials hurriedly ushered out because they were in harm’s way. The House and Senate floor were places of shelter until the evacuation was ordered, leaving rioters to stalk these hallowed Halls. Lawmakers and our staffs, average citizens who love their country and serve it every day, feared for their lives. I understand that one woman was shot and tragically lost her life. We mourn her and feel for her friends and family.
These images were projected to the world. Foreign Embassies cabled their home capitals to report on the harrowing scenes at the very heart of our democracy. This will be a stain on our country not so easily washed away—the final, terrible, indelible legacy of the 45th President of the United States and undoubtedly our worst.
I want to be very clear. Those who performed these reprehensible acts cannot be called protestors. No, these were rioters and insurrectionists, goons and thugs, domestic terrorists. They do not represent America. These were a few thousand violent extremists who tried to take over the Capitol Building and attack our democracy. They must and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, hopefully, by this administration; if not, certainly by the next. They should be provided no leniency.
I want to thank the many in the Capitol Hill Police and Secret Service and local police who kept us safe today and worked to clear the Capitol and return it to its rightful owners and its rightful purpose. I want to thank the leaders, Democratic and Republican, House and Senate. It was Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Leader McCarthy, and myself who came together and decided that these thugs would not succeed and that we would finish the work that our Constitution requires us to complete in the very legislative Chambers of the House and Senate that were desecrated but we know always belong to the people and do again tonight.
But make no mistake—make no mistake, my friends—today’s events did not happen spontaneously. The President who promoted the conspiracy theories that motivated these thugs, the President who exhorted them to come to our Nation’s Capital egged them on. He hardly ever discourages violence and more often encourages it. This President bears a great deal of the blame.
This mob was, in good part, President Trump’s doing, incited by his words and his lies. This violence, in good part, is his responsibility and his everlasting shame. Today’s events certainly—certainly—would not have happened without him.
Now January 6 will go down as one of the darkest days in recent American history—a final warning to our Nation about the consequences of a demagogic President, the people who enable him, the captive media that parrot his lies, and the people who follow him as he attempts to push America to the brink of ruin.
As we reconvene tonight, let us remember, in the end, all this mob has really accomplished is to delay our
