On the recordJanuary 6, 2021
I first would like to say I appreciate the words of our leader, Senator Schumer, as well as Senator McConnell's call for a higher calling. January 6 is not typically a day of historical significance for our country. For centuries, this day is simply the day that we receive each State's certified electoral votes, and it has come and gone without much fanfare. In fact, this is only the third time in 120 years that the Senate has gathered to debate an objection, and as Senator Cruz well knows, both times these objections were resoundingly defeated. The last time the vote was 74 to 1. Why? Because Senators have long believed that they should not mess around with the will of the people. They have understood the words of our great former colleague John McCain from the State of Arizona, who once said that nothing in life is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself. In this case, my colleagues, our cause, despite our political differences, is to preserve our American democracy, to preserve our Republic because, as someone once said long ago, it is a republic if you can keep it. Now, I appreciate all my Democratic and Republican colleagues who have joined our ranks of coup fighters, who have stood up for our democracy, who stand tall for our Republic, and who believe in an ideal greater than ourselves, larger than our political parties. That ideal is America.…
